“Amy,” she says, her eyes scanning up and down my body. I reach out and take the cloth, setting it on my forehead, recognizing it as something our dad used to do when we got sick. “When… when was the last time you had your period?”
“Trust me,” I say, hiccupping, “I am not on my period right now. If I was, it would explain…”
My voice dies away when I see the way Kirstin is looking at me, my mind scrambling to put together her expression with the way I’ve been feeling lately. Tired. Hungry. Angry. Crying and throwing up.
“Oh, myGod,” I hiss, body bending at the realization. I suck in a great breath of air, wheeze it out, and feel Kirstin’s hand on my back, once again guiding me in the direction of the table. “Oh, my God.”
“Okay, breathe, just breathe,” she says, forcing me down into a chair, like she thinks I might pass out.
And I just might.
For a long moment, she just rubs my back, and I stare out the window at the tree in her front yard, the one that was dead that day in January, when I was here for the twins’ birthday. It will be May in just a few days.
So much time has passed.
“Amy,” Kirstin says gently, “do you know who…”
“Evan.” His name comes out of my mouth numbly, and with it brings a fresh wave of pain and panic. “Oh,God—hehatesme. What am I going to do about this?”
“Okay,” Kirstin says, disappearing into the kitchen and returning a moment later with two tall glasses. She sets one down in front of me, then says, “Don’t worry. It’s iced tea. Now, I want you to tell me everything. From the start.”
I stare at the condensation on the glass, not sure if I can bring myself to do it.
“Amy,” Kirstin presses, and I let out a sigh, looking up at her—and I think, not for the first time, that the only thing Kirstin got from Mom is her eyes.
“Okay,” I say, and then I do. I tell her everything that she doesn’t already know. About the cops outside his cabin. About what I started to suspect when it came to McKay. What I confirmed in the meeting with him today. “They’re supposed to have the town council meeting in, like, an hour,” I say, glancing down at my watch. “But I know Evan doesn’t want to see me. I’ll just email the recording to the?—”
“No,” Kirstin says, standing up, shaking her head.
I blink at her. “No?”
“No,” she insists, already pulling out her phone. “I’m texting Greg to come home. I’veneverseen you as happy as you were with Evan. You need to get over yourself and tell him you want this, too. Tell him about your… situation. You need to tell himhow you feel, Amy, and let him decide howhefeels about this whole thing.”
“But—”
“You said it yourself,” she says, pointing at me with her phone. “By the time they get the recording, it could be too late. We are going there.Rightnow.”
Something like hope and joy starts to rise up inside me. I could have decided at any moment to go up to Granite Peaks, but it’s like I needed permission. Needed someone else to tell me it’s a good idea.
Now, here she is.
“Okay,” I say, standing.
“Well,” Kirstin laughs, pushing my shoulder so I sit back down, “you can finish your tea. I actually can’t leave until Greg gets home.”
Despite everything—the excitement, the adrenaline bubbling up in my throat—I laugh. There are a million things I could say to my sister right now, but I settle on the most obvious.
“I love you,” I say, and she makes anawface, reaching over and ruffling my hair.
“I love you, too.”
As we walk downthe hallways of Granite Peaks Town Hall, trying to find the room they’re all in, I hear a voice echoing from a set of double doors.
“…we have several complaints, including one that the hazard caused a car accident. You really think McKay would go to all this trouble to hire all these different people and file formal complaints against you and your land, Mr. Thatcher?”
I walk faster, not stopping to think about what it will look like when I burst through the doors, breathing hard, determined to help. Everyone turns to look at me, eyes going wide, and I catch Brendon glance at Kendra, making a little hand gesture.
“Amy?” Evan says my name like he didn’t mean to, his eyes locked on me. Kirstin catches up to me, bumping into my back as she barrels through the door a little too quickly, just like I did.
