“Will do, Squirt. Listen, I’m almost at Hillstone, but I want to catch up. Can I call you later or tomorrow morning?”

“Sure.” My stomach curdled. “Wait. Is your job safe?”

She snorted. “It is for now.”

“Shouldn’t we talk about the apartment?” I’d opened a Pandora’s box. It was too late to turn back now. My voice almost a whisper, I said, “I saw the notice in your room before I left.”

I was met with silence.

“Mom?”

She sighed into the phone. “We have time for that later. For now, don’t worry about it, okay? I’m at the restaurant. I love you.” She ended the call.

I buried my face in my hands. It was the perfect storm—an imminent rent hike, my blowing the opportunity for a full-time job, and now the threat of my mom getting laid off. We could wait until the sky opened up, or we could heed the warning and fix it now. I had no control over the fate of Mom’s job or my landlord’s decisions, but there had to be a way to honor my contract with Tea by delivering a complete and satisfactory story. Think, Adi, think.

An hour later, I had nothing.

The deluge was coming and there was no umbrella in sight.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Four

Don’t worry about it.

Well, shit, Mom. Why didn’t you just ask me to hang the moon while you were at it?

I paced the wood floor, each lap seeming shorter than the last, like the space was shrinking and the bare blue walls of Room E were closing in on me.

Enough of this. I shrugged on my jacket, grabbed my purse and notebook, and closed the door behind me. I’d figure out where I was going when I got there.

Before exiting the B&B, I stopped in the kitchen, on the hunt for a leftover muffin from breakfast. Maybe if my mouth was busy chewing, my brain would follow suit and wake up. Spotting Lorraine, I recalled my earlier conversation with Kate. I cleared my throat to make my presence known. “Um…Lorraine?”

“Yes?” Lorraine, wearing a two-piece, carnation-pink velour sweatsuit, closed the dishwasher and faced me.

“I read online you’re the town legislator. Do you have time to answer a few questions for the story I’m writing on Pleasant Hollow?” Considering my other interviews went nowhere, it was a long shot. But she was a genuine source of town information, and I had to try.

A spot of color dotted both her cheeks. “The town meeting is in an hour. You’re welcome to observe!”

I laughed to myself. It was the first time a local had welcomed me to anything, but this was the most affable version of Lorraine I’d seen since my arrival. “I’d love to! Where is it being held?”