A moment after the caller hung up, they called again. Whoever it was, they were persistent. Probably Michele again.
Hallie had barely been able to believe the messages she’d left her daughter yesterday. She’d heard plenty of stories about parents behaving badly, but it was something else seeing it up close, seeing how familiar with the behavior Audrey was, even when it cut deep into her soul.
The phone lit up again and Hallie figured she needed to do something about it. If they kept ringing, who was to say it wouldn’t bypass the phone’s silent features and wake Audrey up?
As carefully as she could, Hallie slipped out of the bed and padded around to Audrey’s side. She was surprised when she saw who was calling.
Zora.
Was she supposed to answer it? Zora was in LA. It was ridiculously early over there. If she was calling so insistently, that could signal something bad had happened.
She tiptoed over to the balcony door, slipped into her boots without tying the laces, grabbed several blankets from a chair, and slid through the door. Ordinarily, she wouldn’t answer otherpeople’s phones, but she had to check if Zora needed Audrey awake.
“Audrey’s phone,” she said after answering the call.
“Hello, not Audrey,” Zora said, sounding somewhere between protective, amused, and a little confused.
“Hi, Zora.” Hallie felt particularly sheepish now that she was speaking to the woman and it didn’t seem to be an emergency. She should have just let the phone ring.
Zora laughed. “Okay, so you know who I am. My reputation precedes me. You love to see it.”
“Right. Yeah. Um… Audrey’s girlfriend, right?” It felt weird saying that after spending all night in bed with Audrey—thinking not very platonic things about her.
Zora choked on a loud, surprised laugh. “Her girlfriend? No way that’s how she described me!”
Hallie’s stomach twisted. She really shouldn’t have answered the phone. “Well, I suppose she didn’t actually say that…”
Had everyone been right? Were the two of them not together? And Hallie was stuck finding that out from Zora? She really should have asked Audrey.
Zora was positively cackling. “Let me guess. You’re River’s newgirlfriend?”
“Oh.” She couldn’t fully function around the fact that Audrey had mentioned her to Zora—who wasnother girlfriend. “Yeah. Yep. That’s me.”
“Okay, Hallie,” she said, more than a little amused. “What’s Audrey up to?”
“She’s just sleeping.”
“Is that right? And she… left her phone in a public spot? Doesn’t sound like her.”
Hallie grimaced. She definitely, absolutely, emphatically should not have answered the phone. “No. It was on the bedside table.”
Zora laughed loudly again. “You know, you two sneaking into each other’s beds at Sinclair Fest was not on my bingo card, but get yours, girl. I guess I know why she hadn’t messaged me in a day.”
“Ah. Well. We’re, um, not still at the cabin with her family.”
Instantly, Zora went silent, alert. “What happened?” she asked, her voice murderous.
Hallie understood that. If Zora wanted to start taking the Sinclairs out, Hallie was more than willing to join her. “I think that might be something best heard from Audrey.”
“I’m going to fucking murder them.”
“Yeah, I get that.”
“So, the two of you left?”
Hallie nodded even though Zora couldn’t see her. “I had to get her out of there.”
“Where’d you go?”
