Page 51 of Thunderstruck
The instant Cole is gone, August shuffles me into the kitchen and directs me to a stool at the counter where Gramps is assembling sandwiches. “Tell us everything,” he says as Gramps leans in.
I blink. “Everything about what?”
“You and Cole!” Gramps says, like it should be obvious. “When did you start dating?”
“Never,” I reply. “We’re not dating.”
“But you’ve been to my house.”
“Once.”
“Did he make you dinner?” August asks.
I glance between the two men, trying to decide how much I should tell them. Cole didn’t prepare me for a full on interrogation. “Yes, but—”
“Date,” both men say together. Then Gramps says, “You were driving his car.”
“Because he’s letting me borrow it,” I argue. “I…” I pause when my phone buzzes with a text. Though it’s rude to check it in the middle of a conversation, I so rarely get texts that I’m too curious not to.
It’s from a number I don’t know.
Unknown number:
How is Cole?
“Bad news?” August asks.
Looking up, I shake my head and smile at the way he looks so concerned on my behalf. “Just a text from a number I don’t recognize. It must be someone who knows Cole.”
“Is it a 310 or a 424?” Gramps asks.
I look down at the area code. “Um, a 310.”
“516 or 891?”
“891.”
“That’ll be Bonnie,” Gramps says with confidence.
Sure enough, another text comes in a second later.
Unknown number:
Oh, this is Bonnie, by the way! Bonnie Aiken.
“You have all of Cole’s friends’ numbers memorized?” I ask as I save Bonnie’s number in my contacts. “I don’t even have my own parents’ numbers memorized.”
Gramps scoffs. “Kids these days.”
“Not all of us have a photographic memory,” August says with the weariness of someone who has had this conversation many times.
They start arguing, and I turn my full focus to my phone.
Carissa:
Hi Bonnie!
I think he’s okay. We’re with his dad and grandpa right now.
