Jake chuckled. “I’m scared to ask…”
“So, you know I’ve always hated how small this town was? Everyone is always in each other’s business?”
“Yes, you’ve mentioned it a few times,” he replied drily.
“We can use this to our advantage!”
“How are we going to do that?”This can’t be good.
“We get the town in on our plan too. Duh.”
Jake paused as he thought about how this could go down. Regardless of whether they recruited the help of the town, no doubt everyone would get to talking soon about Gia’s reappearance. What he didn’t want to happen was for news to get out that she was back, which would bring her and Willowbrook unwanted attention.
“If we do that, we have to be strategic about who we ask.”
“Obviously.” Marley rolled her eyes at him. “I’m not going to ask Gossiping Gertrude to help us.”
“Gossiping Gertrude? You mean the old lady who lives on the corner of Maplewood?”
“Yes, her. She is the worst gossiper ever.”
“Okay, so who do we trust?”
“You let me handle that part.”
For whatever reason, Jake trusted Marley. She seemed to read people and their intentions well.
“All right, let’s get inside and talk to Miss Lina about organizing a charity event. We’ll pretend Gia’s also on board so she can’t turn it down.”
“Okay, kiddo. Lead the way.”
Nine
GIA
Gia was restless and itching for a fight. After spending the better part of the morning weeding the garden, she went inside to wash off the dirt and sweat. She’d finally unpacked her belongings late last night and placed them in the small closet, along with her suitcase.
She’d need to do laundry soon.
After catching up with Kim and still evading all of Jerry’s calls, she lay on the uncomfortable mattress and stared at the popcorn ceiling.
It wasn’t simply boredom scratching at her, but a sense of deep-seated guilt she couldn’t ignore anymore. She knew what she needed to do, but she feared what it meant. Instead of watching TV in the living room, she’d opted to hide away in her bedroom.
Gia was a coward.
There was no denying it, but she couldn’t take this feeling anymore.
Minh and her parents were at the restaurant, but she’d opted to stay behind and catch up on sleep. She hadn’t slept well the night before, and everyone knew she was not a morning person. And while she still felt like she was walking on eggshells, it felt nice to know not much had changed in the Lien household.Besides the addition of two members of the family, things were pretty much as she remembered.
The ceiling fan spun around and around. It did nothing to quell the rising heat in her body as panic gripped her. Despite her familiar surroundings, it was all too easy for her thoughts to spiral. She’d been trying to do her breathing exercises and meditation for the past fifteen minutes with no benefit.
She couldn’t help but feel as though there was a ghost haunting her in this house. When she had been yanking the weeds out back, she could have sworn she heard children laughing. Except nobody was home, and the neighborhood was quiet. It was a school day, so none of the kids were outside playing.
And last night, she could have sworn she felt a familiar hand on her shoulder in the middle of the night. It woke her up from a dead slumber, and she hadn’t been able to fall back to sleep.
Right now, though she knew she was alone, she didn’tfeelalone. It was the unerring sense that someone orsomethingwas in the room with her. Silently watching her.Judgingher. And the ghostly presence found her disappointing—like all those around her were actually in the land of the living.
Rolling over, Gia shoved her face into a pillow and let loose a muffled scream.
