“Morning, Charlie,” Abby says as she stumbles into the room. She looks adorable with her sleepy eyes, crazy hair, and pink pajamas. She sits up on one of the stools and rests her head on her arms. “Before you suggest I go back to bed, this is just how I wake up,” she mumbles. I pull out a mug and make her a cup of coffee. She quickly adds the cream and sugar that I slide her way, and then sits quietly, sipping her coffee and watching me work.
After she finishes her mug, she's a whole new person. “Okay, I’m Abby now,” she jokes. Closing the lid of the iron down, I turn and give her a grin and shake my head.
“You okay this morning?” she asks, sounding concerned. My brows furrow in confusion. I don’t know why she's asking that, I don’t even remember having a nightmare last night, which I was already thanking God for.
“You were whimpering in your sleep and thrashing around. I tried to reach for your hand to wake you up, but you were moving too much. Cole just woke up and saw you and pulled you onto his bed. You stopped thrashing when he held you, but you still whimpered so I took your bed and held your hand. You finally went back to sleep after that.” I'm a mixture of horrified and impressed. I'm impressed they were able to stop the nightmare before it really started, but mortified they had to calm my crazy thrashing down.
“Before you go and apologize, it’s okay. We didn’t mind a bit. Alice used to get night terrors. They started in the fifth grade, actually. That’s why we started the weekend sleepovers and they just kind of stuck. We were just happy we could give her one night of peace a week and her parents a break. It only lasted a few months, but we kept the tradition going,” Abby explains. I study her face for a minute, making sure she's not just trying to make me feel better. But as soon as I have the thought I shake it off… Abby wouldn’t lie to me.
She jumps up and helps me make the rest of the waffles, talking about ideas for fall break and just life in general. I can’t respond, but somehow she makes it feel like I’m not out of the conversation at all.
The others wake up slowly and join us for waffles. It’s only a few minutes later that Sophia walks in, talking to someone on the phone.
“Charlie, it’s Detective Flynn. He wanted to let you know that the papers we found helped point them in the right direction. They even got a warrant and dug into the email servers at your dad’s old job. They think they have it narrowed down now. He just wanted to let you know they made some progress,” she says, before walking back out and finishing the conversation. She didn’t even realize I’d kept it from the others and I feel kind of guilty that I have. When I look around, waiting for the questioning glances, they all pretend that they didn’t hear and start their conversations right back up. That’s why I love them, they aren’t going to push me to talk. They know I'll share when I find the courage.
We plan out the rest of our fall break while we eat, which looks like it's going to be pretty busy. They don’t even know how much it’s going to help me. I’m already grateful the constant distraction and plans will keep me from dwelling on the case or the kidnappers.
Friday
Morning
Charlie
Adam's truck pulls up to my house ten minutes early, like always. I'm wearing the school colors and have my hair pulled into a ponytail. For once I feel like a real high school student. Normally I wouldn’t get this dressed up, but this is for Alice.
Her boyfriend, Andy, will be at the game playing against our school. It's the only game scheduled during our break, since they apparently start their break next week.
"Hey, Charlie. Look at you all decked out with school pride," Adam teases as I hop in. I grin over at him and raise my eyebrow. He has his school shirt on as well.
"Let's do this!" Trent yells from his spot in the back seat. Thank God Adam has an extended cab truck to fit us all.
"We have to get Abby first. Cole's family always goes to these games, so he rode with them," Adam informs me, shifting to drive and taking off. They talk back and forth about the game, but I don't care about basketball that much, so I tune them out. Abby is already waiting outside on her porch when we pull up. She runs down the walkway and yanks open the door, diving in next to me, so I have to scoot into the middle. She joins right into the conversation like she was there for the whole thing. Seriously, it's just basketball.
Apparently I completely underestimated how big of a deal basketball really is in this town. The parking lot is packed, carloads of families still pulling into spaces and hurrying into the gym.
We follow the flow of the crowd, buying our tickets at the door and trying to find a space on the bleachers. Alice is waiting for us, glaring at anyone who bothers to get too close, daring them to take the seats she’s saved for us. She might be shy, but she’s fierce. We hurry over and claim our spots. She's so excited that she's practically glowing. I've never seen her light up like this and it makes me like this guy already.
"There he is!" she hisses, pointing out a tall guy who's chatting with his coach. When he turns, we’re able to get a better look. He has longer, wavy blond hair and green eyes. He looks over at her and winks before running off to join the rest of his team.
"Girl! He's adorable! Is he joining us for after game food?" Abby asks excitedly.
"No, I'm joining him and his family for dinner. They drove down to watch the game, so we're riding with them after it's over," Alice answers absently, her eyes glued to her boyfriend. I can't help but smile; she looks so happy.
"You into basketball, Charlie?" Adam asks after a moment, like it just dawned on him that I might not like it. He chuckles at my noncommi
ttal shrug. I’ve literally never watched a game, just played it in phys ed.
"Don't let her fool you, she's awesome at it in gym class," Trent says, giving me a fist bump. I grin at him but wave off his praise.
"I've heard you're better at dodgeball," Alice jokes. I shoot her a playful glare when she turns around. I'll never live down the Callie incident. At least this week we don't have to worry about her messing with us.
The game finally starts, the gym falling silent so the only thing echoing in the room is the quick squeaks of sneakers on the overly waxed floors. I follow along for a bit, but I lose interest pretty quick, so I pull up an ebook on my phone and start reading. A few moments later, a text pops up.
Adam: Bored already?
Me: Don't tell Alice. I can play the game in gym, but I'm not much for watching live sports.
Adam: I can take them or leave them. Except baseball... that's my sport.