“Do we really need that?” Liz asked.
“If we want it all done by Friday. We’re too close to it all. Being sentimental is slowing us down.”
“There’s nothing wrong with being sentimental,” Liz protested.
“I can call the office, make some inquiries,” Janine said to my mom. “Can’t hurt. Just give me a couple of minutes.”
Kasey and Liz exchanged a look as she pulled out her phone, heading into the living room.
“There’s sentimental and then there’s codependent,” my mom said after a moment. “Big difference.”
“It’s furniture,” Kasey replied, her voice flat. “Save us the psychoanalysis, please.”
As my mom grumbled something in reply, I looked at Ben. When he raised his eyebrows, I had to bite back a smile before my mom could see it. Our secret. I liked the way it felt, having one.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Bzzzz.
Beep.
Ding!
With every alert, every chime, my body reacted like a rat trained by a bell. Even from a distance, it was all I could hear.
A couple of hours earlier, after the consignment ladies had left, followed by Kasey and Liz, I’d gone into my bedroom. The plan was to only close my eyes for a second.
The next thing I knew, the sun was setting on the other side of what I now couldn’t help but think of as the Bone Breaking window. I rolled over, as if I could push myself back into unknowing, distracted sleep.
Bzzzz!
Ding!
“Jonathan says he’s on the way,” I heard Anne say. “And he got too many fries.”
“Not possible.” That was Lana. “I’m starving.”
Ding!
“What’s with the notifications?” she asked. “Got a girl we don’t know about?”
“Group chat for that school project,” Clark replied.
A sigh. “Do you ever take a break? It’s summer. Classically a time off.”
“Not for me.”
Bzzzzz!
Ding!
I squeezed my eyes shut. Then, like an answered prayer, I heard something else. Music.
Guitar chords, to be specific. First it just sounded random, little pieces, but then the notes arranged themselves into something I recognized, although I couldn’t quite place it.
“Wow,” Anne said. “You got that thing working?”
“Tuned it and put on new strings,” Ben replied. More notes, faster. In contrast to the motorized beeps and chimes, it sounded uneven, a little messy. But alive. It also, like so much else, made me think of Colin.
