Page 42 of The Summer Request
Lisa was no saint, but perhaps all those hours in Sunday school had helped her more than she realized.
She took the diary and ran her fingers over the cover. It looked a bit worn, but not as worn as it should have been. “Lou told her that if they had kids, the responsibility to raise them would be entirely hers. He said she could give up her career, but he wasn’t going to do the same.”
“Hiscareer?” Val stood again, full of fire, now shouting down at them. “He wouldn’t even have a career if it weren’t for Justine! He’d still be running that smoothie shop! What a pig.”
Lisa laughed. “You don’t even like kids.”
“I don’t like them formyself, but that doesn’t mean I think other people shouldn’t have them if they want. Especially someone like Justine. I just assumed she didn’t want them.”
“I knew she wanted kids,” Michelle said softly. “After Ben died, she moved in with me to help with Tyler. She kept joking she was going to become his adoptive second mother.”
Lisa sat up, her hip popping as she did. “You never told me this.”
Michelle looked up at her, a sad smile on her face. “I know. I was ashamed. After Ben died, I had a hard time getting out of bed. I couldn’t do basic things like get groceries. Justine moved in for three months until I was able to function again. She never told you?”
Lisa and Val shook their heads. “Never.”
“That’s Justine.” Michelle paused. “She would’ve been a great mom.”
“Just when I thought I couldn’t get more angry for Justine…” Val let out a small scream and kicked her high heel into the wall. It left no mark.
She let out a huff. “When we get out of here, I’m going to double my efforts to prove you-know-who did you-know-what.”
Lisa narrowed her eyes. “You mean – ”
Val cut her off. “Don’t say it. They could be listening.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Michelle said. “I don’t think we’re getting out of here alive. They’ll tell everyone that we became Emerald Elites and that we’ve disappeared to run this circus.”
Val nodded. “Yeah, that tracks.”
Yeesh. Lisa didn’t realize her friends werethatdefeated. She reclaimed her seat against the wall. “They’re just trying to scare us. We haven’t done anything wrong.”
“Since when are you so cool under pressure?” Val asked.
She shrugged. “This isn’t real trouble. I know what getting in trouble feels like, and this isn’t it.”
They both looked at her questioningly, and she almost spilled the beans about Neil.
Almost.
Instead, she started reading aloud from Justine’s diary. After one entry, she passed it to Val, who gave a much livelier reading, complete with a deep, boorish voice for Lou.
Before long, both Michelle and Val were too enthralled by the ghosts of Justine’s words to worry about being trapped in an empty, windowless room.
They were nearly through the entire thing when they heard someone approaching.
They stood expectantly, and the door opened to reveal the smug face of their captor, Keith.
“Hello, ladies,” he said as two of the large security guards filed in on either side of him.
He was too afraid to face three little women by himself? Coward.
“We’d like to leave,” Michelle said firmly. “Or we’ll be pressing charges.”
Keith laughed. “You signed up to be here all week. Do you think the police are really going to believe your sob story?”
“Allweek!” Val spat the words out and got closer to him. “We didn’t sign up to be locked in a box for a week.”
