“Not that I know of. Even if she wanted to get back at him, or me, or both of us, she wouldn’t have evidence to use against us. I’m not even sure Kristen was at the party that night. If she was, she would’ve left early. She never sticks around at parties.”
“Then who would it be? Who would have evidence?”
“I don’t know, but we don’t even know if the evidence came from someone. The cops might’ve just uncovered something themselves. Something they missed before.” Jackson walks to the sliding door and opens it. “Rumor, you can’t stay. You need to get to your room in case someone starts looking for you.”
“They’ll see me on the camera. You don’t have time to have your friend erase it, and with all this going on, they’re going to be monitoring it more. I’ll go out the front and pretend I was just out on a walk.” I turn and head toward the front door.
“Wait!” Jackson catches up to me. “Someone could see you leaving. Go out the back and down a few houses, then go up to the sidewalk.”
I nod. “Okay.”
He takes my face in his hands. “I don’t know when I’ll be able to see you again.”
“I know.” I look down.
“I’ll still text you. And maybe we can talk at night.”
“Yeah,” I say, already feeling sad I won’t see him.
He leans down and presses his lips to mine. “I’m sorry about this.”
“Me too,” I whisper before pulling away. I turn and walk to the back door.
“Hey.”
I look back at him. “What?”
“I still owe you more driving lessons. And I never fed you last night so I owe you dinner.”
I half smile. “Okay.”
“I also owe you a day. A day with just you and me. I was hoping we’d do it today but . . .”
“It’s not gonna happen.” I turn to leave.
“It will,” he says, and I feel him behind me. “I promise you, it will.” He turns my face to his and kisses me. “I’ll see you soon.”
I leave before he says anything else. His words were meant to be hopeful, but they were just making me sad. I don’t feel hopeful right now. Not even a little. If Kristen did this, it’s only step one in her plan to break us apart. Next, she’ll tell Braden about us, or Brock.
And what if this new evidence makes it look like Jackson killed Andrea? What if he ends up going to prison?
When I get home, I go in the door and see Maria on her way out with a laundry basket.
She smiles at me. “Good morning!”
“Hi. You here to get the dry cleaning?”
“Yes. Brock had a few things he forgot to include yesterday so I dropped by to pick them up.” Her smile falls. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” I fake a smile. “I’m just tired. I went on a long walk.”
She looks down at my clothes, which are not clothes you’d typically take a walk in. And I’m wearing flip flops.
“I need to go,” I say, hurrying past her. “See you next week.”
As I’m making my way to the living room, I hear Braden.
“Rumor!”
