“Neither have I.”
But that wasn’t entirely true. Hadn’t the last several years of her life been one giant lie? A game of hide-and-seek—except the people who were supposed to be seeking her never came. Until now. And Donovan was the last person she wanted on her trail.
“I don’t understand,” Ethan said slowly. Carefully. “Why can’t we go to the cops for help?”
Nora brushed past him and sat down on the couch with a sigh. A cloud of dust puffed up around her and she sneezed. Twice in quick succession. “Because they’d take Everlee away. Tiffany is not exactly the mother of the year now, is she?”
“But—”
“No buts. We can’t lose her.”
“You’ve lost her now.”
“She’s safe now,” Nora said, rubbing her nose with the back of her hand.
“With Quinn?” Ethan put his phone on the table between them, then sat down in the La-Z-Boy. Another explosion of dust. They both sneezed. “That’s not a permanent fix, Nora, and you know it.”
Did she ever. “That’s why we’re going to find Tiffany.”
“What about Everlee’s birth father?”
Nora froze. Breathing shallowly, she attempted a joke. “She was immaculately conceived.” It came out brittle.
“Tiffany never struck me as virginal.”
“He’s not in the picture, okay?”
“Why not?” Ethan pressed. “Seems to me we could use this information against Donovan.”
“It’s complicated. Look, you don’t understand. It’s been over six years. We worked so hard to keep Tiffany and Everlee together that—”
“He doesn’t know, does he?” There was no judgment in the question, just a calm statement of the truth, but Nora’s blood fizzed just the same. She shivered.
“If I have my way, he’ll never know.”
“Why not?”
“He doesn’t deserve her. He never did.”
Ethan didn’t ask any more questions after that. He sat on the edge of the rocking chair, elbows on his knees, and stared at Nora across the dim room. She couldn’t see his eyes.
“Sometimes you have to take matters into your own hands,” Nora said quietly, as if in explanation. She felt the need to make him understand that whatever they had done was for love. “Tiffany and Everlee are supposed to be together—and far, far away from here.”
“But Tiffany took off. Without Everlee.”
“We’re going to fix that.”
He didn’t say anything, but Nora could almost hear the questions swirling in the air between them.
“There are a couple of motels in Key Lake,” Nora said, changing the subject. Her tone carried a note of finality, but it was diminished when she broke into a wide yawn.
“I thought we were roughing it.”
“This is definitely roughing it. The house is dingier than I remember,” Nora admitted. “Tiff and I used to keep the place in decent shape. We shook out the cushions in the spring and swept the floors . . . We spent the night in the summertime when we could open the windows to catch a breeze.”
“This place is a museum, Nora.” Ethan looked around, taking in the velvet print above the couch and the crocheted doily on the end table.
“When Tiff’s grandparents moved out, they only took a few things with them. They were . . .” She fumbled. “Unique people. Kept mostly to themselves, didn’t much care for the stuff most people get all caught up in.”
“I can tell.” Ethan leaned over and tapped the face of his phone. “It’s one thirty,” he said. “Are we going to stick around and see if Tiffany comes back?”
“She won’t.”
“But Donovan?”
Nora glanced around and felt the skin prickle at the back of her neck. She felt like someone was watching her, just outside the room, and she wrapped her arms around herself to ward off the sudden chill. “He’s already been here.”
“What?” Everything in Ethan tensed. He perched on the edge of his seat, vigilant. “How do you know?”
Nora pointed to the front door, clearly visible from the tiny living room where they sat. It was hanging open a couple of inches, the bolt still protruding from the casement. “I have the key,” she said, holding up the set that she had taken from the piece of loose siding next to the tiny front porch. She hadn’t needed it because the lock had already been popped, forced open by a blunt instrument that hacked away at the soft, moldy wood. Tiffany would have used the key.
“Why didn’t you say something?”
Nora shrugged. “You were walking around the perimeter of the house when I let myself in. It didn’t seem relevant until now.”
“Relevant?” Ethan was visibly upset. “It didn’t seem relevant to share that someone had already broken in? You’re insane, Nora.”
“I just know Donovan. It’s not like he’s going to walk in here and kill us both with a chain saw.” But her words, so blithely spoken, made her stomach somersault. What did she know about Donovan Richter? How could she claim what he was and was not capable of? She said, with more conviction than she felt: “If he was here and she was gone, there’s no reason for him to come back.”
Ethan looked skeptical, but he asked: “Can you sleep? Here?”
Nora folded her arms behind her head and closed her eyes. “Can you?”
“I can sleep anywhere.”
“Me too,” Nora said. But that was a dirty lie.
“And tomorrow?”
“We find Tiffany.”
But Nora wasn’t sure what they were going to do. And she doubted she’d be able to sleep, but Ethan tactfully pretended not to notice her distress. He pushed himself out of the chair and cracked open the double-hung window on the wall behind him. Then he grabbed a straight-backed chair from the kitchen table and shut the front door as firmly as he could, securing the chair beneath the wrecked handle. As if that would save them.
“Thank you,” Nora said softly.
Ethan just eased back into the La-Z-Boy with an elaborate sigh. Yanking up the footrest, he crossed his arms over his chest. “Good night, Nora.”
“Night.”
Within minutes, he was snoring lightly. Or pretending to.
There wasn’t really a breeze, but the cool night air ghosted into the room and raised goose bumps on Nora’s arms all the same. She felt clammy and restless, haunted by memories of this place and the friendship that had taken her so far from herself. Tiffany was more than a friend to her, more than a sister even. They shared a secret, and in some ways a little girl.
It seemed everyone wanted to stake their claim on Everlee.
? ? ?
Nora thought she wouldn’t sleep, but when Ethan touched her shoulder she bolted upright and realized that the sun was streaming through the windows of the old Barnes house.
“Good morning,” he said with a smile. “I hate to wake you, but I was afraid you were about to fall off the couch.”