“There’s some sort of a big meeting happening.” I paused, then added something her father and Ihadn’tdiscussed. “At the rooster.”
Juliette sighed. “I guess it must be important. My father hates the drive to Pine Creek Gorge.”
“That’s Pennsylvania, right?”
She nodded. “My uncle Anthony has a country house there. They call itthe roosterbecause whenever they have meetings up there, the neighbor’s rooster always wakes them at the crack of dawn. My dad always complains about going. No one knows it—because God forbid the boss have any weaknesses—but my dad actually gets carsick, and it’s a five-hour drive.”
“Don’t blame him for keeping that under wraps.” I smiled. “Carsick does sound kind of wimpy.”
“Would you mind taking a ride to the bookstore with me? There’s a new book I might get to turn into a screenplay, and I haven’t read it yet. I’d like to pick it up, especially if we’re on lockdown tomorrow for Lord knows how long again.”
“Sure. Just give me a minute to change my shirt.”
“Okay.”
Inside Juliette’s room, I closed the door behind me before going to my duffel bag. I’d hidden the cell phone my captain had given me in a side compartment. Pulling it out, I turned my back to the door, in case she suddenly opened it, and turned on the phone. As soon as it illuminated, I typed in nine words.
The Rooster. Anthony Ginocassi’s house. Pine Creek Gorge, Pennsylvania.
CHAPTER 19
Juliette
A day stuck in the house with Wes normally wouldn’t have seemed all that bad, but he’d been a little off ever since last night. I might’ve thought it had something to do with the quarantine order, but we’d been through worse, and he’d never seemed this affected. Before bed last night, I’d asked him if something was wrong, and he said no, so I’d opted to go to sleep, hoping everything would be better today.
But this morning, he’d left the bed without saying anything, and when I got to the kitchen, he was uncharacteristically quiet during coffee and breakfast. Things had been going so great with us... Perhaps that was too good to be true. Maybe some of the guilt and fear that had held him back for so long had started to creep in again.
By mid-afternoon, Wes was outside installing a new mailbox for me, since my previous one had been accidentally destroyed by a delivery truck. I took the opportunity of an empty house to call my mother. I neededto vent, and she was once again the only person I could trust and who also understood everything I was going through. Mom and I had downloaded a secure app recently that allowed us to call each other and hopefully bypass any tapping. I could never be completely sure it was safe, but I told myself it was.
“Hey, honey. I wasn’t expecting to hear from you today,” Mom said after she picked up.
“I know.” I exhaled. “I really need to talk to you, and you might not be too happy with what I have to say.” I swallowed, a little nervous to admit everything.
“Now you’re worrying me.”
“It’s nothing bad.” I paced, looking out the window to make sure Wes was still a safe distance away. “Well, at least not anything you didn’t already see coming.”
I explained to my mother where things had gone with Wes and me recently.
“You’re right that this situation is no surprise,” she finally said. “I’d ask what you were thinking, but Iknowwhat you were thinking. That man is irresistible.”
“It’s not just physical, Mom. It’ssomuch more than that.”
“He really had me convinced he wasn’t going to go there with you when I confronted him,” she said. “Either he’s a good actor, or you really did a number on him.”
“Wes had no intention of losing control. He’d tried to stop it from happening for a long time. I’ve been the one who’s more forward.” I shrugged. “But everyone has a breaking point.”
She sighed. “I just hope your father doesn’t find out.”
My stomach sank. “That goes without saying.”
“You both need to be careful.”
“Weknow that. Believe me.”
“All right. Besides the obvious downsides to this situation… Are you happy?”
I wanted to cry. If she’d asked me that question a couple of days ago, my answer would’ve been much different. I’d beendeliriouslyhappy exploring a relationship with Wes. But today? I didn’t know what to think anymore.
