Chapters (100)
- Cover
- Dedication
- Prologue
- June
- 1.
- 2.
- 3.
- 4.
- 5.
- 6.
- 7.
- 8.
- 9.
- 10.
- 11.
- 12.
- 13.
- 14.
- 15.
- 16.
- 17.
- 18.
- 19.
- 20.
- 21.
- 22.
- 23.
- 24.
- 25.
- 26.
- 27.
- July
- 28.
- 29.
- 30.
- 31.
- 32.
- 33.
- 34.
- 35.
- 36.
- 37.
- 38.
- 39.
- 40.
- 41.
- 42.
- 43.
- 44.
- 45.
- 46.
- 47.
- 48.
- August
- 49.
- 50.
- 51.
- 52.
- 53.
- 54.
- 55.
- 56.
- 57.
- 58.
- 59.
- 60.
- 61.
- 62.
- 63.
- 64.
- 65.
- 66.
- 67.
- 68.
- 69.
- 70.
- 71.
- 72.
- 73.
- 74.
- 75.
- 76.
- 77.
- 78.
- 79.
- 80.
- 81.
- 82.
- 83.
- 84.
- 85.
- 86.
- 87.
- 88.
- 89.
- 90.
- Acknowledgments
- About the Author
- Also by Meg Mitchell Moore
- About the Publisher
He nodded. “And I don’t mean to intrude on your life, really and truly I don’t. I only want to see that you’re okay. I just want to know that you survived what I put you and your mother through. I can disappear as quickly as you want me to. We can have zero contact after this. I just needed to—” He took a deep breath and looked almost teary. “I just needed to see. With my own eyes. And look at you! You’ve survived and thrived. You’re just as lovely as you are online, on your channel . . .”
“My channel?”
“And that’s why I started leaving those comments.”
“Comments?”
Alexa’s brain couldn’t catch up.
“Yes, as JT76—”
“JT76?”
“My initials. Plus my birth year. I tried to be kind. It’s just, Alexa, I really needed to know I didn’t destroy your life by giving things such a bad start. I don’t expect to be involved in any way, but I needed to lay eyes on you and know I didn’t ruin everything forever. That’s why I got in touch with your mom, last year. Though I don’t blame her for not answering, really I don’t.”
“Got in touch with my mom?” repeated Alexa. “Last year?”
“And I know I’m supposed to wait until your eighteenth birthday. But since you’re leaving soon . . . I didn’t wait. And I really do know a good Realtor in L.A. I really can help you get set up.”
“Wait a minute,” said Alexa. “I’m still catching up.” Her phone, which she’d been gripping in her hand, started to ring. Her mom. She declined the call: she’d call her back.
Then it started ringing again.
“Seems like I caught you at a busy time,” said Jacob Thornhill. “But I’m on the East Coast for a week or so. I’d love to talk more, if you’re willing. I understand you may need some time to think about it.” He pressed a business card into her hand. “There’s no rush. Here’s my number. When you’re ready. If you’re ready.” He turned and walked back to his car.
Again Alexa’s phone rang, stopped, started again. Her mother must have noticed that the Acura was gone from Brooke’s driveway, and now, of course, there would be hell to pay.
84.
Sherri
False alarm, said the next text from Alexa to Sherri.
She was starting to sober up now; getting sick in the bushes had sped that along.
In their situation, she didn’t think there was any such thing as a false alarm. It took some serious maneuvering but Sherri was eventually able to work her car out from its spot and out of Brooke’s long driveway.