Page 44 of Life and Death
“I don’t remember which one she was.”
She shrugged. “I didn’t catch many names, either. I only remember yours because you used to pull my hair.”
“I did? I’m so sorry!”
She laughed. “Your face. No—that was just my brothers. But I totally could have convinced you that you were guilty.”
It was easy to laugh with her. “Guess so. Hey, can I ask you something?”
“Shoot.”
“What did that girl—Sam—what did she mean about the doctor’s family?”
Jules made a face and then looked away, toward the ocean. She didn’t say anything.
Which had to mean that I was right. There was something more to what Sam had said. And Jules knew what it was.
She was still looking at the ocean.
“Hey, um, I didn’t mean to be rude or anything.”
Jules turned back with another smile, kind of apologetic. “No worries. It’s just . . . I’m not really supposed to talk about that.”
“Is it a secret?”
She pursed her curved lips. “Sort of.”
I held my hands up. “Forget I asked.”
“Already blew it, though, didn’t I?”
“I wouldn’t sayyoudid—that girl Sam was a little . . . intense.”
She laughed. “Cool. Sam’s fault, then.”
I laughed, too. “Not really, though. I’m totally confused.”
She looked up at me, smiling like we already shared a secret of our own. “Can I trust you?”
“Of course.”
“You won’t go running to spill to your blond friend?”
“Logan? Oh yeah, I can’t keep anything from that guy. We’re like brothers.”
She liked that. When she laughed, it made me feel like I was funnier than I really was.
Her husky voice dropped a little lower. “Do you like scary stories, Beau?”
For one second, I could hear Edythe’s voice clearly in my head.Do you think I could be scary?
“How scary are we talking here?”
“You’ll never sleep again,” she promised.
“Well, now I have to hear it.”
She chuckled and looked down, a smile playing around the edges of her lips. I could tell she would try to make this good.
