A crooked purple star had been hidden behind my parents’ storage-room shelf for longer than I could ever remember. At two in the morning, Claire pulled the shelf aside and said she’d drawn it herself. Then Mom called her by a childhood name I’d never heard, and Claire ran barefoot into the darkness.
“I made that.”
Claire’s voice carried up the stairs so clearly that it woke me.
For a second, I had no idea where I was.
Claire’s voice carried up the stairs so clearly that it woke me.
Then I remembered the old guest room, the quilt Mom had insisted on putting on our bed, and the fact that my fiancée was supposed to be sleeping beside me.
She wasn’t.
***
I pushed myself up.
Downstairs, Claire spoke again.
“How do you have this?”
My fiancée was supposed to be sleeping beside me.
Mom answered, but too quietly for me to make out the words.
Then Claire shouted.
“I can’t believe it!”
I was halfway down the stairs when the front door flew open.
Claire ran across the porch barefoot, still wearing the T-shirt she’d slept in.
“Claire!”
Claire ran across the porch barefoot, still wearing the T-shirt she’d slept in.
She didn’t even look back.
Mom ran after her, barefoot herself.
“No! Wait!” she begged. “Cee-Cee…”
By the time I reached the driveway, Claire was already inside our car. Gravel kicked behind the tires as she backed out and tore down the road.
Mom ran after her, barefoot herself.
I stood there staring after the taillights.
“What in God’s name just happened? And who’s Cee-Cee?”
Mom wasn’t watching me.
She was staring at the empty road with one hand pressed against her mouth.
What happened next changed everything… FULL STORY on the next page.
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