Embrace (5 page)

It was one of those work trucks with the racks for ladders.

“Kaylee, there’s no one there.” And even though I couldn’t see anyone, I was still freaked out. “Come on. Let’s get in the Jeep.”

We did. I started the engine and cranked the heat.

“Where’d he go?” Kaylee kept shifting in her seat so that she could look behind us and next to us. Between her behavior, what I’d felt when we walked outside, and the fact that someone had slashed Josh’s tires, I really didn’t feel safe sitting in a Jeep with a soft top that didn’t offer all that much protection from a psycho with a knife.

Behind us, a street lamp grew brighter, illuminating the rusted out minivan beneath it; it sparked, and then only the orange glow of the filament could be seen.

“What if that guy sees Josh or Isaac?” Kaylee reached for the door handle. “We have to warn them!”

“I didn’t see anyone.” I grabbed her wrist before she could bolt out of the car. “The guys are fine.” Only, as sure as I was that
I
didn’t see anyone, I wasn’t so sure that
she
didn’t see someone. What if she was right and this guy went after Josh or Isaac? What if he was waiting for Kaylee or me to step out of the Jeep? I scanned the back of the parking lot looking for movement. There was none.

A car’s engine roared to life, making it impossible to hear if someone were to approach.

Something then tapped against the metal of the Jeep. Kaylee and I grabbed each other’s hand.
Tap
.
Scrape
. Neither of us moved. When my door swung open, I jumped. Kaylee screamed.

“Sorry,” Isaac said. “I didn’t mean to scare you. Tire’s changed.”

Josh pulled up behind us, and Kaylee got out. “I’ll see you later,” she said and ran to his Mustang.

I climbed over the stick shift to the passenger seat, and Isaac waited for Kaylee to be safe inside Josh’s car before he got in. I wondered if she felt as unsafe as I did being in a car with a vinyl top.

“Does Josh have any idea who’d slash his tires?” I asked.

“They weren’t slashed.” Isaac backed out of the parking spot. “He probably ran over a nail or something.”

I would have sworn on my mother’s grave I’d seen a gash in one of the tires, but, then again, maybe what I had seen was the nail sticking out of the sidewall. “How’d you fix the front tire?”

When Isaac didn’t reply right away, I thought he was going to deny that both tires had been flat, and I couldn’t imagine why. Unless he thought someone had done this to Josh’s car to make a point that hanging out with Isaac was not a good idea. Didn’t Isaac tell me just this morning that he’d gotten into a fight with someone? What if that person held a grudge? What if Isaac’s family hadn’t moved because his father was tired of driving from Amesbury to Rowley? What if they’d moved because this other guy still had it out for Isaac?

“The front wasn’t as bad as the back,” Isaac finally said. “Josh will be able to drop Kaylee off at home and make it to his house. His dad has an air compressor in the garage. He can fill it there.”

I wasn’t buying that Josh had just so happened to get nails in two tires. He was very particular about where he drove that car. He’d drive ten miles out of the way if it meant he could avoid road construction and damn near came to a complete stop over railroad tracks because he didn’t want to mess up his suspension.

I was afraid to ask Isaac if he knew what really happened back there. Not because I was afraid of the answer but because I was afraid he’d get mad at me for prying into his business. If he wanted to tell me, he would. And just because Isaac had gotten into a fight with some guy didn’t mean that he’d hurt me. Right?

As we drove to my house, I decided not to let my imagination get the better of me.

“Thanks for dinner,” I said when we were parked in my driveway.

“Thanks for helping today.” Isaac looked at me, his eyes smoldering as he leaned over the stick shift and brushed my lips with one of his feather-soft kisses that sent a warm tingling sensation all the way to my toes.

No one who could get my heart beating as fast as it was with such a brief kiss could possibly be bad. I was sure of it.

“Sweet dreams,” he added.

And that’s exactly what I planned on having that night: steamy, sweet dreams of him.

Chapter 4

School

“I H
AD
T
HE
W
ORST
night’s sleep,” Kaylee said when I got in her car the next morning. She had dark circles under her eyes. “I kept dreaming that Freddie Krueger was after me. In my dreams I was doing everything possible not to fall asleep, and then when I finally woke up I couldn’t fall back to sleep. Madison, I swear someone was in that parking lot last night.”

Kaylee didn’t scare easily. She was the one who loved to see the latest horror movies at the theater. I didn’t like seeing her upset.

I rested a hand on her arm in reassurance. “Kaylee, I didn’t see anyone. You had to have seen a shadow of a lamp post or antenna, or maybe there was something in the back of the pick-up truck.” I was trying to remember if there were any pipes or brooms or even a ladder.

She glanced at me, her expression hopeful. “Do you really think so?”

“Yes.” I didn’t sleep well either, but it wasn’t monsters from the movies that kept me up. “I need caffeine if I’m going to make it through Mr. Chapin’s class. It’s my treat.”

“Coffee works for me.” Kaylee took a right at the light, heading toward the strip mall.

I had so many questions about what had happened at The Grill, questions I was sure Isaac would brush off with a smirk and too few words. Like how he and Josh had managed to change the tire in a matter of minutes; only a pit crew at the Indy 500 could work that quickly. Not to mention, I would have bet my entire savings—all nine hundred and two dollars of it—that the front tire had been as flat as the back. And how had Isaac’s four little words—
We can fix it
—managed to calm Josh so quickly? There was only one thing Josh loved more than that Mustang, and she was sitting next to me.

“Did Josh say anything about his car when he drove you home last night?”

Kaylee shook her head. “Not much, why?”

“I don’t know. Just curious, I guess.”

I had to be reading too much into nothing. Kaylee wasn’t worried about the tires, so I told myself that I shouldn’t be either.

We drove through the drive-up window at the coffee shop, then sped to school. Kaylee parked a few cars down from Josh’s Mustang.

She grabbed her backpack off the seat behind her. “We better hurry. We’re late.”

We arrived to first period ten minutes after the bell. Mr. Chapin, who had been leaning against the front of his desk, talking to the class when we got there, stopped teaching and watched us take our seats.

“Ladies, I trust this will be the last time you show up to my class tardy.”

I nodded. Kaylee smiled apologetically.

“And I trust you’ve read the assigned pages in
Death of a Salesman
.” It wasn’t a question.

Kaylee nodded this time. I swallowed and hoped my expression didn’t give away that I was already behind on the assignment.

“Good,” Mr. Chapin said. “Because I just finished telling your classmates that the book report counts for fifty percent of your grade this quarter and the quizzes another twenty-five.”

Mr. Chapin was known for his love of American literature, crazy long essay assignments, and pop quizzes—three things I could have done without my entire life and still been perfectly happy. Not to mention, I didn’t need to be reminded just how far behind I was first thing in the morning.

I sank lower in my chair. I’d only taken Chapin’s class so that Kaylee and I would have the same first period. I held my cup under my nose and breathed in the scent of pumpkin spice syrup, knowing it was the only thing that was going to make the next hour bearable.

The caffeine kicked in by the end of class, and I was feeling much more alive. It seemed to do wonders for Kaylee too.

“Oh!” She unclipped the bulky set of keys with the ugly spider from her purse. “Give these to Mark.”

I held them up by the carabiner. “Do you think he uses all these keys or just carries them around to look important?”

Kaylee and I giggled as we left the classroom.

“I’ll see you in History,” she said as she headed in the opposite direction.

I walked slowly through the halls to my second period Food class, hoping I’d run into Isaac. I had no such luck. Mark was in class, though, so I gave him his keys. At lunch, I thought I saw Isaac waiting in line a few people ahead of me, but when I tapped the guy on the shoulder, he turned out to be a tall freshman with spiked brown hair like Isaac’s. By the end of the day I was tired, disappointed, and couldn’t wait to get home.

“Madison, just call him,” Kaylee said when she pulled up to my house.

“I’ll seem too anxious.” Besides, I told myself, maybe he didn’t want to talk to me. I didn’t want to call him and make a fool of myself.

“You are anxious,” Kaylee pointed out. When I shot daggers at her with my eyes, she rested her hand on my arm. “How about I call Josh and have him call Isaac. That way you can find out what he’s up to.”

“No,” I said stubbornly. “I’m serious Kaylee, don’t tell Josh that I’m going crazy waiting for a call. Promise me.”

She rolled her eyes as she drew a cross over her heart, and I knew she’d keep her promise. “At least come over and hang out.”

“I can’t. I told my dad I’d watch Chase. I’m taking him to the park. Come with us? We’re going to play Hot Lava.” Kaylee’s company would make the time go by more quickly, and Chase loved having her around. We’d all benefit.

“Tempting,” she said. “But if you’re not going to come over, then I might as well catch up on my reading before Chapin asks me a question I can’t answer.”

I sighed. I should really be reading too. I opened the car door and got out. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

As soon as Kaylee pulled away, I regretted not taking her up on her offer to have Josh call Isaac. I unlocked the front door and stepped inside to find Chase sitting at the bottom of the stairs, shoes and baseball cap on.

“Hey, squirt.” I tugged on the brim of his cap. “Where’s Dad?”

“In the kitchen, talking to Officer Zimmerman.”

“Let me go say hi, and then we’ll go to the park.” I dropped my backpack on the floor in the foyer.

Chase nodded.

Officer Zimmerman’s voice drifted out of the kitchen. I stopped in the hallway and listened.

“Never seen anything like it. Coroner’s been asked to re-examine the body. Make sure nothing was missed the first time around.”

“They think there was foul play?” Dad asked.

“Won’t know until the report’s in, but it would explain a few things.”

“I thought she died in her sleep. Joe, she was in her nineties.”

“And as spry as a woman in her fifties, until recently,” Officer Zimmerman retorted. “I was one of the first on the scene when the center called. I didn’t think too much of it at the time, her being as old as she was, but the veins in her face and arms created a roadmap just under her skin. With what people liked to say about her…” There was a pause, then Officer Zimmerman added, “Do us both a favor and keep your kids inside. Okay?”

“Sure,” Dad agreed.

After a few seconds of silence, I took the last few steps into the kitchen. They sat at the table, two open cans of Pepsi in front of them.

“Hey,” I said.

“Madison.” Officer Zimmerman inclined his head in way of greeting. “How’s school?”

“Good.” I smiled and looked at my dad.

“Well.” Officer Zimmerman stood and grabbed his hat off the table. “I better get going.”

I raised my hand in a half-wave goodbye. As soon as I heard the front screen door close, I asked my dad, “Was he talking about Mrs. Lawson?”

Dad opened the refrigerator and grabbed a beer. The owner of his own business, he never drank before going to paint someone’s house. I knew then that whatever it was had my dad worried.

He chugged half the bottle. “They found a suspicious area in the woods not far from where you kids like to get together. It looked like someone was sacrificing animals or something.”

“What does that have to do with Mrs. Lawson?”

The news reporter had said she was found in her room, not outside in the middle of trees.

“Detectives found a locket that belonged to her in the brush. Mrs. Lawson’s nurse said she never took it off.” Dad finished the rest of his beer. “I want you to be careful who you’re hanging out with, you got that?”

“Sure.” It wasn’t a hard promise to make; I was always with Kaylee when I was out. “Dad, no one was hacked up or anything, were they?”

“Joe couldn’t say much, but I don’t think so.” Dad grabbed another beer. “I’m going with you and Chase to the park.”

“Won’t that put you behind schedule with your clients?” October was one of my dad’s busiest seasons because that was the time of year people realized their house really did need a fresh coat of paint before winter.

“You let me worry about that.”

I almost told him that if he was going to take Chase to the park, then I would stay home and do homework, but I didn’t. I got the feeling he needed to be with both of us for a little while.

In the short time it took us to walk the three blocks to the park, I had convinced myself I’d hear from Isaac before dinner, but he didn’t call or text me. I checked caller ID on our house phone as soon as we got home, in case he called there instead of my cell. Nothing. I kept both phones near me the rest of the night. He never called.

Isaac didn’t call Tuesday either.

By Wednesday, I was ornery and working hard not to take my bad mood out on Kaylee.

“Josh said he’s been busy helping his parents,” Kaylee told me on the way to English. “I bet if he knew you wanted to see him again—”

I blocked the classroom doorway. “Don’t you dare tell Josh to have him call me.”

“Madison, you’re being ridiculous,” Kaylee whispered back. “Just call him, then.”

“I don’t want to come across as desperate or a pest or obsessive.” I turned and walked into the classroom.

Kaylee followed so closely behind me that she stepped on the back of my Converse sneakers twice. When I turned to tell her to be careful, she hissed, “It’s been three days. Wait a couple more and the only thing you’re going to come across as is uninterested.”

“Ugh!” I sunk into my seat. She was right, which annoyed me. I really wanted Isaac to call me. I wanted him to be thinking about me as much as I was thinking about him, which was obviously not the case or he’d have tracked me down on Monday. “Fine. If I don’t run into him by the end of the day, I’ll call him.”

“Good,” Kaylee said, “because you’re driving me nuts.”

“Whatever,” I mumbled.

I took a different way to my second period Food class, hoping I’d run into Isaac and save myself from having to call him. I was almost to the classroom when I saw him. Even with his back to me, I recognized his olive green jacket. He was talking to Paige.

Damn her
. Why did she have to go after Isaac?

The worst part was she was laughing—it looked sort of sinister to me, but since I hated her I probably shouldn’t have passed judgment. I’d never really taken a good look at Paige since she’d changed her look, but the black clothes, pale face, and dark make-up worked for her. Her skin was smooth and her eyes big. I still preferred the shy, plain-looking girl I used to know, though, the one who had actually been my friend.

Isaac leaned in closer to her and said something I couldn’t hear. She listened, wetting her lips.

Oh! If he kisses her!

I bit down on the inside of my cheek to keep from screaming in frustration. The corner of Paige’s mouth rose to a smirk.

Kaylee was right; the only thing I was coming across as was uninterested. I’d given Paige three days to move in on the guy I liked. I was such an idiot. Tears welled up in my eyes, and I fought to calm my breathing. I couldn’t break down and cry in the middle of the hallway. Not where Isaac would see me. Not in front of Paige. I ducked into the nearest classroom as Paige stepped around him.

“You know where to find me,” Paige called over her shoulder as she walked by my hiding spot.