She couldn’t work here.Sure, there were some people who could write anywhere, anytime. They were unicorns who just got the job done, and she wasn’t one of them. She needed light and movement. She at least needed a window.
Were the walls closing in on her? Because they felt like they were closing in on her.
And why was it so quiet? Weren’t sheriff’s offices supposed to be loud? The wrongly accused were supposed to yell and argue and threaten to fight the deputies for their freedom. Or was that only in movies?
Obviously, there weren’t enough bad guys in Amber Ridge.
She lifted her phone and texted her best friend.
Aspen: I’m dying.
Callie: You are not.
Aspen: Okay, maybe not dying, but definitely not thriving.
Callie: What’s wrong?
Aspen: I’m working in a small dark room that kind of feels like it’s getting smaller by the minute…Jesse put me here.
Callie: What room and why did he put you there?
Aspen: He didn’t want me to be at the house by myself after what happened yesterday. He even got angry at me for going to the grocery store.
Callie: Good.
Good? Good! Whose side was she on?
She hit her friend’s number, and Callie picked up on the first ring.
“I’m on the side that keeps you safe,” Callie said before Aspen could get a word in.
“Are you a mind reader?”
“No, I just know you too well.”
“Hm.”
“Aspen, he’s trying to protect you.”
She knew that…so why was she fighting him?
“We kissed.” The second the words were out, she scrunched her eyes.
They didn’t just kiss, but she could barely wrap her head around what had happenedafterthe kiss.
Callie did a half gasp, half scream. “Finally!”
“Finally?”
“Come on. Jesse is kind and smart and sexy, and you’relivingwith him. I thought you would have hooked up ages ago.” Her voice softened. “And I can’t help but think that the old Aspen would have.”
The old Aspen…the pre-Dylan Aspen.
She grazed her fingertips over the keys of her laptop. “I just…I don’t know how I’m supposed to trust my judgment after Dylan.”
“Oh, honey. Will you ever tell me exactly what he did to you?”
She swallowed, the little bomb of truth on the tip of her tongue. She should have told her best friend long ago. Usually, they told each other everything. But the shame that burrowed deep inside her for staying with him after what he’d donestilldrowned her.
