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The woman’s cheeks went red.
“That’s only what they want you to think,” Waldren said smoothly. “He’s just an uncle who has a big head.”
“You know what? Yeah,” the woman said. “You do seem the jealous type.”
“This will all be fixed once he’s in the private school I’ve chosen,” he told her. “And he’s no longer out in the middle of nowhere.”
“That’s right,” she said as she crossed her arms. “You did say you’re moving.”
“To Nashville,” Waldren added. “Where he can get the education he deserves.”
“You’re not even from here,” I hissed. “Do you really think you can lie and say you raised him?”
Waldren’s eyes narrowed for a second as I poked a hole in his story, but then he wrapped an arm around his girlfriend. “Come on, babe. I’ll let you meet Eric under much better circumstances.”
They walked off, but I stared until they got into the car.
“How dumb is that woman?” I asked. “His story doesn’t match up.”
“Sometimes we believe what we want to,” Mollie said quietly.
I turned to her. “We?”
“Ah, I mean her. Sorry. Tired brain.” She shook her head and looked back at the field. “We should go say hi to Kerry. She’s staring, and I bet she has questions.”
I blinked past my curiosity and nodded. “We’re not telling her who that was, right?”
“Absolutely not. We can make up some excuse.”
“Tell her he was just lost, because that’s exactly what he is.”
17
MOLLIE
Strawberry Springs Neighborhood Watch
Kerry Winsor
Weird person at the school? Talking to Cain? What the heck happened today?
Comments:
Jackie Anne: That’s between them.
Kerry Winsor: We all know you’re weirdly protective of Cain, but this is NEWS.
Tammy Jane: I know nothing. So I don’t know how much news there really is.
Kerry Winsor: Ugh. I knew I should have tried to talk to him and not Mollie.
When we wereon the way back to the farmhouse, I started getting texts. For a while, I tried to ignore them, but when I saw it was my dad, I knew I was introuble.
“You better go up to your room and sleep,” Cain said as we pulled into the driveway.
“I’m all?—”
He glared. “Don’t even try.”