Wait. Did she say a month?
I haven’t even been in Cedar Creek Cove for a week.
I stare blankly at her, the gears rotating in my head. “You saidmonth, Jess. I just moved here.”
She widens her eyes, rocking slowly on her heels. She knows she said too much. She changes the subject, “You didn’t eat the bowl of fruit I made you.”
“Not hungry.”
“Would you eat if I brought you something better?”
I shake my head, but my stomach protests my response, releasing a growl. Jeez. I haven’t eaten anything since lunch yesterday. Yet I also don’t want to consume anything they offer me. I mull it over for a second, my eyes darting around the room while she waits, so I don’t have to look her in the eye.
She starts to hum a tune.
“Maybe,” I say.
She gives a contented smile and turns, heading back down the stairs. “I’ll be right back.”
When she gets down the stairs, a bit of hope festers that she’ll be so immersed in her mission to feed me that she forgets to lock the door. Of course I’m wrong. It closes, followed by a click that makes my stomach drop. I set the fork on the dresser and drop myself on the edge of the bed.
Waiting.
Waiting.
And flipping waiting because there’s nothing else to do.
When I start to think she’s forgotten about me, the door opens again. She walks up the stairs with a plate in each hand and two bottles of water tucked under her arms.
The smell of baked crust and melted cheese wafts through the room, and I hastily sit up in response.
She hands me a plate, placing the two water bottles on the comforter before she crawls up on the other end of my bed. She sits across from me, crisscrossed with her plate in her lap as if we’re best friends about to share secrets, and blah, blah, blah.
She’s not my friend.
I’m here against my will.
She picks up the slice of pizza on her plate and folds it in half, smiling at me before putting it in her mouth. Her chewing makes my mouth water.
Fine.You win, Jess.
I eat my pizza—only to fuel myself and have the energy I’ll need to escape. We hang out in the stillness, with only the rain drumming against the roof.
“So, are you thethem?” I question suspiciously, swallowing.
Her head tilts back and forth. “Not exactly. But you are here because of me.”
I still, my eyes turning into little slits. “Why, because of you?”
“I start my freshman year at the University of Washington soon. I won’t be here to take care of them anymore while the boys work during the week and take care of the family business.”
Business.Lindenvale Hill Orchard.
She gestures to me using the hand that isn’t holding the slice of pizza. “Hence, why you’re here.”
Not for long.
A thought blooms in my head. The door at the base of the stairs has a gold knob with only a small hole that goes through it. So, I’m assuming that the other side is the flip lock.
