BooksBarbecue
Back The House Party
Chapters (57)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. April 2008
  4. 1
  5. 2
  6. 3
  7. 4
  8. 5
  9. 6
  10. 7
  11. 8
  12. 9
  13. 10
  14. 11
  15. 12
  16. 13
  17. 14
  18. 15
  19. 16
  20. 17
  21. 18
  22. 19
  23. 20
  24. 21
  25. 22
  26. 23
  27. 24
  28. 25
  29. 26
  30. 27
  31. 28
  32. 29
  33. 30
  34. 31
  35. 32
  36. 33
  37. 34
  38. 35
  39. 36
  40. 37
  41. 38
  42. 39
  43. 40
  44. 41
  45. 42
  46. 43
  47. 44
  48. 45
  49. 46
  50. 47
  51. 48
  52. 49
  53. 50
  54. Author’s Note
  55. Acknowledgments
  56. About the Author
  57. About the Publisher

“I’m on it,” Maja said mechanically, adding call john to the bottom of her to-do list, before realizing that it was already on there, near the top.

When she got off the phone with the insurance agent, she dialed Ted’s cell to give him the update, but it went straight to voice mail.

Maja sighed and hung up without leaving a message. What she wanted to do was to climb into bed and pull the covers over her head. But instead she forced herself to dial John’s number.

Despite Cindy’s chirpy enthusiasm, John did not take the news that he was going to be sued well at all. “They’re trying to pin this on my guys?” he said. “That’s bullshit.”

“They said something about the garage door opener being left out,” Maja said.

John let out a short breath. “I don’t know anything about that,” he said. “We’ll have to let the damn insurance companies figure it out.”

His tone didn’t give Maja much comfort. “In the meantime,” she said, “I’m not sure if there’s much we can do at the house.”

“I’ll have my guys board it up,” John said. “Then I guess we’ll see what happens.”

“When this is all figured out, we’d still like to have you finish the work on the house,” Maja said, trying to sound hopeful.

There was a long pause, and then John made a noncommittal noise before quickly getting off the phone.

When Maja hung up, she crossed out call john from her to-do list, and then added a new item: ask aneeta for contractor recommendations.

17

When Will went into the locker room to change for track practice on Thursday afternoon, he saw three boys huddled together, laughing as they looked at a cell phone. One of the boys called Will over and said, “Check this shit out.”

The boy holding the phone looked up, and Will saw that it was Brendan, the kid who’d asked him about the party in the parking lot on Monday morning. Brendan snapped his phone closed and told the kid next to him to shut up.

The kid didn’t take the hint. “Dude, show him the picture!” he insisted, but Brendan shook his head. The other kid grabbed the phone, and Brendan tried to snatch it back, but he was too slow. Will grabbed it before Brendan could get ahold of it.

Will flipped open the phone and stared at the screen. He had an idea of what he was going to see—he’d already seen it, after all, the night of the house party. Even so, it was hard for him to look at the picture of Maddie passed out on the floor. Just looking at the picture gave him the same rush of adrenaline that he’d felt that night as he pushed the kid through the screen and off the deck.