Seb wasn’t worried. Not too much anyway. He zoomed down the stairs and opened the door. The first thing he saw was Jade’s car still in his parking space. He grimaced, wondering where she was. He expected her to be halfway to the Little Rock airport by now since he refused her. Shrugging, he got in his car. Whatever Jade Smith was doing right now, he wasn’t interested.
Chapter 7
Kalista sped down the dirt road toward Viv’s house, squeezing the old leather wheel in her hands. She didn’t know the speed limit and she didn’t care, although the plastic bags full of groceries sitting on the floor next to her were tossing back and forth. Whatever—she’d fix them when she got to Viv’s. Then she’d use her stepmother’s phone to give her father a very large piece of her mind.
After her interview with Mr. Hudson, she’d gone to the diner to try to call her friend Abbie, but her phone didn’t work. It was like it was dead, but it still had more than half the battery life left. Before she went to the Piggles Wiggles or whatever that store was called, she saw her phone carrier’s office in a strip mall and stopped to have them look at the phone.
“Your service has been shut off,” a guy wearing a red shirt, square, dark-framed glasses, and a handwritten name tag that said John, told her.
“What does that mean?”
“You don’t have service.” He tapped on a computer keyboard. “Do you have your passcode so I can see your account?” “Passcode?”
“For the account. I can’t access it unless you have a code. It’s like a pin code.”
“Oh, for the ATM. Sure.” She leaned forward and whispered it to him. There were a few people in the store, and she didn’t want them hearing it. Ryan had had his pin stolen a couple of times.
“It should be five numbers, not four.” The guy tilted his head at her.
Kalista mentally went over the pin in her head. She was sure it was four numbers. “Then it’s not the one for the ATM?”
John’s jaw fell open, then shut again. “It’s a five-digit code specific to your phone account. Did you get your phone here?”
“No. In California.”
“Then you would have given the tech the code when they were setting up the phone.”
She waved her hand. “Daddy did all that.”
He smirked and continued to type. “What’s his name?”
“Raymond Clark.” She gave him Daddy’s address and phone number.
“Here he is. I see he’s also on your account.”
“Because he set it up. I already said that.” She crossed her arms, her purse dangling from her left wrist. She didn’t have the time or patience for this.
John scanned the computer screen. “Looks like he’s turned off your phone.”
“What?”
“There’re some notes here... yeah. About an hour ago he asked us to put a lock on it too. The only person who can turn it back on is him.”
“That can’t be right!” she wailed, not caring that the customers were now looking at her. “I have to have my phone.”
John’s gaze darted from the customers and back to her. “MissClark, you’ll have to take that up with your father. I can’t turn your phone back on. Only he can.”
“Ooooooh.” She snatched her cell off the counter. “Thanks for nothing!”
The trip through the Pig Wig wasn’t much better. They had almost nothing she wanted, although she did find everything on Viv’s list. At least she was able to get a few bottles of sparkling water. Harrison was definitely a bigger city than Clementine, but she was still in culture shock. And now that she didn’t have a working phone, how was she supposed to talk to her friends? Or Ryan?
Kalista whipped into Viv’s driveway and brought the truck to a stop near the tiny house. When she stepped out into the heat, her throat constricted from the dust and debris coming from the three riding lawn mowers that were mowing the huge yard on Bo’s farm. She hated Arkansas. It was hot, everyone talked funny, it smelled like manure, and now she couldn’t even speak to her friends or Ryan. Oh, and she also had ajob.What a joke.
Workers were setting up tents, mowing the yard, working in the barn, and doing other stuff she didn’t care about as Viv came out of the house, looking fresh, happy, and like she belonged here. “How did everything go?” she asked as Kalista stormed past her, leaving the groceries in the truck.
Then she stopped. Viv didn’t deserve to be ignored. It wasn’t her fault she didn’t have phone service. She turned and faced her stepmother. “I got the job and everything on the list. I need to call Daddy right now.”
Viv frowned. “Are you okay?”
