He stopped as I eased away, sighing again.
His smile perked up. “Anyway, you’re all set for this week, and to reward you for how awesome you’re going to do on your final exams...” He paused, dipping his hand into his bag. He came out with an envelope, shiny and pearl-like with the finish. He grinned. “An invitation to the Mallick family’s annual Christmas party. It’s going to be awesome and snooty and snooty and awesome. My parents put it on every year. I used to be able to avoid it when I was in Arizona, but they’re making me go since I’m technically home.”
“I like how this is a reward for me,” I teased, swiping the envelope. I opened it up. It had my name in elegant calligraphy and everything. “This looks like a big deal.”
“I hate it, but it is,” he said, his chuckle light. “Anyone who’s anyone will be there, and it might be a little more bearable with you there.”
I pushed the invitation back inside the envelope. “This is really nice of you. Like really nice, but this isn’t like a date or anything, right?” I asked, making his brow jump. I gnawed my lip. “I mean, I’d love to go, but if this is a date…” I didn’t really want to lead him on, not really feeling him like that.
Brown eyes lifted toward the fluorescents. “Relax, ’Zona. No offense, but I’m not really into you like that.”
The words basically taken right out of my mouth, I shoved him. “Nice.”
“Sorry.” He raised his hands. “And it’s nothing against you. I mean, you’re a total bombshell and all, but I’m not really wanting to be tied down by anything this close to college. Anyway, everyone is invited to this thing. I gave Birdie and all them their invitations earlier today.”
I got what he said about not wanting to be tied down before college and agreed, but I had to say, my cheeks did warm a little at being categorized as a “bombshell.”
I opened the invite again. I guess I needed to figure out something to wear.
Twenty-Seven
December
Thanks to Ramses Mallick, aka Dr. Brain, I managed to pass my final exams without having to repeat the first half of my senior year. I wasn’t out of the dark by any means. I’d studied to pass, not for comprehension, but as long as I did a little studying of my own over break, I could definitely be prepared for the second, and what would hopefully be the final half of my senior year. I was ready to go, get out of this place for good, and at least if I had my high school diploma, I’d have a fighting chance of doing something with my life once I put that school and this town in my rearview mirror. I had no intentions of staying like I had only a couple months ago, no reason now that Paige was gone.
This would be the first Christmas I spent without my sister, my first Christmas without virtually anyone. I wasn’t going back to LA for the holidays. Though, I’d been invited. I spoke to Aunt C. whenever she could get me to answer, but despite her protests and damn near commands I’d come to her home, I wouldn’t be. Rosanna saved me a place on her couch with her daughter coming home from br
eak, and I decided to take it.
That didn’t stop my aunt’s Christmas presents from coming. She’d sent a couple, a few put under Rosanna’s tree, filled with gifts for her kids and even some for me. I told Rosanna she hadn’t had to do that, but she did anyway, and I’d gotten them all something too, grateful her family had allowed me to stay with them. She was cooking now, testing recipes for the day in question. I’d been on holiday break a few days and decided to give her a hand by walking down to the gas station and getting her some eggnog. I obviously wouldn’t be drinking any of it, but since I was out of almond milk myself, my trek into the sleet and snow benefited both of us. I found it in the cooler next to the actual milks and nearly bumped into an officer reaching for a Gatorade on my way from the refrigerated section.
“Sorry, sir.” The apology instinctual, I lifted my hands, then nearly dropped my plant milk when he lifted his hat a little.
He stopped too, round hat on and star badge glistening. The sheriff, the actual sheriff from my sister’s… case stood in front of me.
And we both hadn’t seen each other since that day.
My mouth went instantly dry, my gaze averting. I wanted out of here—now, but couldn’t seem to make myself move. So much of that night had been a blur, but not this guy, his face burned into my memory. He’d been the one behind the glass with my dad most of the night before he’d taken Royal and the other boys away. He’d been the one who sent the worst news to be delivered to me outside of my mom dying. I’d been so young then, the doctors delivering it then.
Sheriff Ashford, a middle-aged man with a gray mustache, wet his lips. His fingers slid back and forth on the Gatorade in his hand, all this awkward for him too. “You’re, uh, the Lindquist girl.”
The one and only now, I nodded. “Yes… yes, sir. That’s me.”
He acknowledged that by taking his hat off his head, his swallow hard. “I didn’t hear you were back in town.”
He heard I’d been out of town, but then again, this moderately sized city was oh so small. Everyone knew everyone’s business, and anyone who hadn’t been living in a storm cellar for the past few months knew about me. I mean, how many people’s sisters went missing only to turn up in the way she ultimately had?
My stomach sour, I swallowed hard. “Yes. I’ve been back a few weeks or so.”
“Hmm,” fell from his lips, his hand gripping his Gatorade. He put out his hat toward me. “I see you got some holiday stuff.”
His reference to the eggnog, I lifted it. “Tradition for some people. I’m out getting it for a friend.”
His grunt touched the air again, the hat bending under his hand. He really didn’t want to be here. I really didn’t want to be here. He cleared his throat. “I, uh, can imagine this season will be pretty hard for you. There’s not a day that goes by where we don’t think about your sister and what happened over at the station.”
Get me the fuck out of here.
I blinked, swallowing once more. “Yes, sir, and I appreciate all you guys did. I’m sure that was hard.”