Page 180

“And he left?” Grace asked.

“He tried to get me to go with him. He really wanted to see the world. But I liked it here.”

“Oh . . . so he’s a good man with different goals.”

“Yeah. That’s the issue.”

All of them went silent.

Piper leaned forward. She still kept to herself, but would touch us if we needed her. “Are you okay?”

“I know what you’re all thinking. How could this be how it ends?” I sighed. “Maybe I’m asking myself the same thing.”

“You want him to stay,” Mollie said.

“Yeah, of course I do, but that’s a fever dream. We promised to listen. He’ll never love this town like I do, and if I were in his shoes . . . Well, telling me to go with him wouldn’t work either.”

“I’m sorry, Jade,” Grace said. “I really am.”

“I’ll figure it out.” I looked away.

“You sound like you need a distraction,” she added. “Maybe we should plan on helping Marjorie spread the word about the town meeting tomorrow.”

“Yes.” I sat up straighter. “The more people there, the better.”

Propping my chin on my palm, we all made a plan. It was a good distraction, so much so that I was soon laughing like usual.

The future was going to come crashing down any moment now.

I’d take this small moment of peace for as long as I could.

42

GABRIEL

Strawberry Springs Neighborhood Watch

Marjorie Brown: So now you all know why I’ve needed a fucking pitchfork.

Comments:

Mark Bell: We need more than that.

Jade Clark: Guys, sh. This place isn’t safe.

Kerry Winsor: Say it isn’t so! I can’t lose this group, I CAN’T. WHEN WILL THE ATROCITIES CEASE!!!

The entire town seemed tense out of nowhere. I wasn’t sure what had changed overnight, but clearly, something had spread.

What was worse was that it wasn’t in the Facebook group. For once, I had no idea what it could be.

That bothered me more than I expected.

Most people tried to smile at me and nod, but it was different than usual.

Was there a rumor about me?

Were they pissed about Jade and me?