She gives me a questioning look. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah. Why? Why are you looking at me like that?”
She shakes her head. “I don’t know. Forget it.” She walks to the door. “I should go. I need to get to the dry cleaners before they close.”
I race up to her. “Shayla, wait! What’s going on?”
“Nothing.” She forces out a smile. “See ya later.”
As she hurries down the hall, I run past her, stopping just in front of her to block her path.
“Tell me what you know about my dad.”
She swallows and looks down. “You didn’t hear this from me.”
“Yeah. What is it? What do you know?”
Her eyes lift to mine. “He’s not in rehab. I saw him here last week.”
Chapter 6
I stare at her for any signs she might be lying. I don’t really know the signs, but I don’t feel like she’s lying.
If my dad’s not in rehab, then where is he? And why isn’t he letting me live with him instead of making me stay with his brother?
“You saw my dad here?” I ask. “At the house?”
“Not at the house. In La Jolla.”
“Where?”
“I need to go,” she says, trying to get around me.
“Tell me where you saw him.”
“What’s going on?” Trystan’s voice says from behind me.
“I was just coming to get your dry cleaning,” Shayla says.
I turn to face Trystan. “She said she saw my dad here last week. Why didn’t you tell me he’s out of rehab?”
“Because he’s not. My dad went and saw him there yesterday.”
“Did he get moved to a place in La Jolla?”
“No. He’s at some place in the desert.” He looks at Shayla. “Why are you making shit up? We pay you to clean, not spread rumors.”
“Sorry,” she says, rushing past me. “Must’ve been someone else.”
She races down the hall, and I hear her shoes clicking on the stairs as she goes up to Trystan’s room.
“Why would she say that if it wasn’t true?” I ask.
“To mess with your head.” He folds his arms over his chest and leans against the wall. “You can’t trust people like her.”
“Why? Because she’s the maid?”
“She’s not the maid. She just helps out her mom sometimes.”
