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Back When She Returned Save as PDF
Chapters (48)
  1. TITLE PAGE
  2. COPYRIGHT
  3. CONTENTS
  4. PROLOGUE
  5. ONE
  6. TWO
  7. THREE
  8. FOUR
  9. FIVE
  10. SIX
  11. SEVEN
  12. EIGHT
  13. NINE
  14. TEN
  15. ELEVEN
  16. TWELVE
  17. THIRTEEN
  18. FOURTEEN
  19. FIFTEEN
  20. SIXTEEN
  21. SEVENTEEN
  22. EIGHTEEN
  23. NINETEEN
  24. TWENTY
  25. TWENTY-ONE
  26. TWENTY-TWO
  27. TWENTY-THREE
  28. TWENTY-FOUR
  29. TWENTY-FIVE
  30. TWENTY-SIX
  31. TWENTY-SEVEN
  32. TWENTY-EIGHT
  33. TWENTY-NINE
  34. THIRTY
  35. THIRTY-ONE
  36. THIRTY-TWO
  37. THIRTY-THREE
  38. THIRTY-FOUR
  39. THIRTY-FIVE
  40. THIRTY-SIX
  41. THIRTY-SEVEN
  42. THIRTY-EIGHT
  43. THIRTY-NINE
  44. FORTY
  45. FORTY-ONE
  46. FORTY-TWO
  47. FORTY-THREE
  48. ABOUT THE AUTHOR

“They’re going to be coming any minute. You have to go now. You can’t wait.” She took a step backward, ready to bolt. “Remember what Abner always says—when you go, you don’t look back. Go, Kate.”

My sobs shook me. “Margo, no.” But she had already turned her back and started running to camp. For a second, I almost followed her, but Shiloh’s breath against my chest gave me the courage I needed to turn and run into the night.

FORTY-ONE

FORTY-ONE

ABBI

NOW

A hand over my mouth startled me awake. My entire body tensed. Mom’s face came into view as she hovered over me. She held her finger up to her lips and motioned for me to get out of bed. The shape of the hotel room formed around me as my eyes slowly adjusted to the dark. She wore Shiloh in a tight wrap across her chest and anxiously jiggled her as she threw the covers off me. What was going on? Why were we being quiet?

“Hurry. We have to hurry,” she mouthed as I stumbled out of bed, scanning the floor for my clothes.

“Where are we going?” I mouthed back.

She frantically shook her head and pointed to my Nikes in front of the bathroom door. I threw on the jeans and T-shirt I’d been wearing earlier and knelt down to pull on my shoes while she peeked out the front window. I started shoving things into my bag, but she grabbed me and pulled me to my feet.

“There’s no time,” she whispered in my ear.

She pressed her face against the peephole before opening the door and stepping outside onto the patio. She grabbed my arm and hurried us down the cement corridor, never taking her eyes off the parking lot below us. She rounded the corner past the ice machine, where the staircase led down to the ground floor.

“Mom, what’s going on? You’re totally freaking me out,” I said as soon as we hit the stairs. Her nails dug into me. She acted like she hadn’t heard me. Was she having one of her posttraumatic episodes or whatever they called it?

We reached the parking lot and darted through the lines of cars until we reached the street. She pulled me to a stop. She furtively looked in each direction. “Where are we going?” I asked.

“I’ll explain it all as soon as we get there,” she said breathlessly.

“I need to call Dad.” I fumbled in my pocket for my phone. Where was it?

Mom glanced behind us, then took off running down the left side of the street. She stopped as soon as she saw I hadn’t moved from my spot on the curb and raced back across.

“Abbi, we have to go. Come on.” Something was wrong with her face. Why did she look so strange?