“I don’t know.” We stared at each other. “Should I be concerned?”
It probably looked as though I were overreacting. Gary didn’t get why this was so important to me, but making him understand could get Manning and me in more trouble. I’d promised Manning I’d keep my mouth shut. “No,” I said with a deep breath. “He’s just been a good friend to—us. Our family. And Tiffany.”
“Okay. So you’ll go check on her?”
There was nothing left to do. It wasn’t as if I could go into town and talk to Manning myself. At least Tiffany could drive. Once again, she was my only link to Manning.
Tiffany was frazzled. She’d thrown her hair up in a messy bun, and her bangs stuck to her forehead. “Kimmy, why are you taking everything out of the bag we just packed?” she asked.
“I can’t find my Walkman.” As Kimmy dug around, her dirty socks jumped onto the floor like fugitives on the run. “I need it for the bus.”
“But you guys wouldn’t shut up on the way here!” Tiffany began shoving Kimmy’s things back into the duffel. “You didn’t even listen to music.”
I put my hands on Kimmy’s shoulders. “We have games planned for the bus. You won’t need your Walkman. Right now, I need you to do a job for us.”
Kimmy pouted. “What job?”
“Go around to every bed that doesn’t have a sleeping bag, yank the sheets off the mattresses, and pile them in the middle of the cabin. Sounds fun, right?”
I’d given her permission to cause mayhem. She sprinted the two feet to the nearest bed. “You make it too hard on yourself,” I told Tiffany.
“If I ever, ever mention having babies, remind me of this experience,” Tiffany muttered. “I’m just glad Manning isn’t here to see me like this.”
That’s because he’s with the police, I wanted to snap at her. But that wasn’t the way to get through to Tiffany. “What’d he want?” I asked. “When I sent you to talk to him.”
“Iris!” Tiffany gaped behind me. “Are you kidding me?”
I looked back to find Iris grinning in red lipstick. She made kissing noises. “Oh, Manning. I lo-o-o-ve you.”
I recognized that lip color—it was Chanel. This wouldn’t go well. I was about to intervene when Tiffany stood up. “Come here,” she said to Iris.
Iris took a step back.
“You did it wrong. I taught you guys the other night how to use lip liner. You should’ve put that on first because now the lipstick is bleeding. You look like a hooker.”
“Tiffany,” I said through my teeth.
“What?” she asked me. “Do you want her to look like a hooker?”
Iris narrowed her eyes and then went to Tiffany, digging the lipstick from her pocket. She handed it over. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay.” Tiffany popped off the cap, inspected the lipstick, and muttered under her breath, “This would cost you a month’s allowance, but it’s okay.”
If I hadn’t been so concerned about Manning, I might’ve fainted with shock. Somehow, at some point, Tiffany had been struck with an ounce of patience. Though it made me happy to see her try, I needed her to focus. “Tiff? What’d he say?”
Tiffany capped the lipstick, sat on the ground, and put it in the mesh pocket of her luggage. “Who?”
“Manning.”
She blinked up to me. For the way she’d just screeched at Iris, her voice was eerily even. “He’s in trouble because he left camp last night.”
I scratched my elbow. I shouldn’t feel guilty about lying. How many times had Tiffany lied to me or omitted information to get her way? “Do you know why?” I asked.
“Don’t you? You talked to him.”
My palms sweat. I didn’t know what she was talking about. “When?”
“This morning. You were the one who told me to go to his cabin. Didn’t he tell you all this?”
“No. He said it was . . . adult business.”
Tiffany arched an eyebrow and laughed. “You’re an adult, aren’t you? You’ve been trying to act like one lately. To be like me.”
My face reddened. “What do you mean?”
She looked away. “Manning doesn’t think it’s a big deal, whatever the police want. But he wasn’t sure how long they’d keep him, so he might need me to come pick him up later.”
“That’s a long drive to get back here.”
“Who else is going to do it? You? His family? He wants me there.” She sat on her overstuffed suitcase and tried to pull the zipper closed. “All I know is it has to do with something that happened last night. He wouldn’t tell me more.”
I knew it. Either he’d lied by saying it didn’t involve me, or there was something else going on. Manning wanted to protect me, he’d made that clear since we’d met, but at what point was he making things worse? I didn’t exactly feel safe with him in custody, unable to talk me through our next move.
“Can I come with you to pick him up?” I asked.
Tiffany yanked on the zipper so hard, her fingers slipped, and she flew backward. “Fuck.” She shook out her hand. “God, that hurt. And I broke a goddamn nail.”