Cloudburst (Storms 2)

“You know why Linus in Peanuts had a blanket? Same reason.”

“Oh, you’re really funny.”

“Believe me, it’s my full intent to be.”

I had to laugh. “Okay, I’m calling to ask if you would like to come over to the March residence after school tomorrow, after you drop off your sister, of course.”

“Of course.”

“Of course you’ll come or of course after you drop off your sister?”

“To this foggy brain, they seem one and the same. In a word, the answer is yes. Do I need anything special to get onto the property—a passport, blood tests, FBI clearance?”

“Normally, all three, but tomorrow is a free day, so you’re in luck.”

“I’m truly grateful.”

“You don’t know where I live or anything, do you? Or did Gary describe it?”

“Now, let me think before I answer that. I don’t want you to think I’m some sort of fortune hunter or anything.”

“I have no worry about that. I have no legal ties to anything here, so it wouldn’t do you any good, anyway.”

“Oh.”

It occurred to me that I might be assuming too much. How many of the students at Pacifica really understood that I was a ward and not an adopted child?

“Disappointed?”

“Actually, relieved,” he said. “The parents of the last heiress I went out with had me fingerprinted and followed.”

“That still might happen,” I warned. Knowing Jordan, I was actually only half kidding.

“Now you do make it sound interesting. Shall we discuss the details at school tomorrow?”

“Every chance we can get,” I said, and he laughed.

“I’m beginning to think that with you, I might not need a magnifying glass after all.”

“The jury’s still out for me as concerns you.”

He laughed again. I heard some noise behind him.

“Where are you?”

“I’m in Santa Monica,” he said. “On the beach.”

For a moment, I couldn’t speak, nor could I swallow. Did his going there have something to do with me? Was he trying to imagine what my life had been like?

“Why?” I asked.

“I just needed my dose of ocean. It calms me down. Did it do that for you?”

“Sometimes,” I said. “I wasn’t exactly a visitor, a tourist, and I didn’t have the luxury of leaving or turning it off.”

“Understood. I’m on my way home. To be continued,” he added, and hung up before I could say another word.

Kiera would never stand for a boy hanging up before she had, I thought. She would let him know it, too, and maybe never see or speak with him again. I was trying to keep myself from getting too aggravated about it when my phone rang. It was Ryder.