“Dinner’s ready, everyone,” her mother called.
Clara’s tummy rumbled so loudly that Indie laughed. “Let’s get some food into us.”
With the sun shining, they ate outside—grilled barbecue ribs, corn on the cob, potato salad, coleslaw, and green vegetables.
As she ate, her gaze kept inadvertently shifting to Holden. Sometimes he looked up and caught her gaze, and every so often she thought she caught a glimmer of something on his face. Emotion that she could have sworn matched the ones inside her.
She’d just finished eating when her phone rang. She frowned when she saw Malcolm’s name on the screen. They’d exchanged numbers at one of the runs, and he’d messaged a couple times just to check in since the bar incident, but he’d never called.
She set her plate down and moved around to the side of her mother’s house to answer the call. “Malcolm, hey. Is everything okay?”
“Yeah. I, um, need to ask you something. I actually asked Helen to ask, but she said the night was such a haze that she can’t remember.”
That sounded ominous. “What is it?”
“Did Helen say anything to you while you were outside? Did she mention anything about work?”
“She didn’t say much,” Clara said carefully, not sure why Malcolm sounded so nervous. “She just mentioned the woman who died.”
She wasn’t sure why she left out the other part. Maybe because it felt kind of like ratting Helen out?
There was a small pause before Malcolm spoke. “Okay. Sure.”
“Malcolm, is there anything going on at the hospital? Anything the community should be worried about?”
“No.” Malcolm’s answer came quickly. Almost too quickly. “Absolutely not. I need to go. Talk soon?”
“Yeah. Talk soon.”
She hung up. That was…strange. After the attack, she hadn’t really given a lot of thought to what Helen had told her. But if people were going to the hospital and getting worse rather than better, the public should be made aware, shouldn’t they?
“Hey.”
She jumped and spun to see Holden behind her, beer in hand. “Holden, I didn’t hear you.”
“Sorry.” His gaze shifted to her phone, then back to her. “Is everything okay?”
“Yeah. That was Malcolm. He just had a quick question.”
“About what?”
“It’s not important.” Or at least, she hoped it wasn’t.
He stepped closer. “Clara, is something going on?”
“With Malcolm? No, of course not.”
Holden watched her closely, as if trying to spot a lie, and she tried not to squirm. Finally, he nodded. “Okay. Come on, I’ll walk back with you.”
He stepped away, and her feet just started moving with him.
Was this it? Was this the moment to tell him?
Of course it was. She just needed to spit the words out.
He frowned down at her hands, which were wringing together. “Are you all right?”
“Actually, there’s something I want to tell you.”
