Page 33

Chapter Twenty-Nine

SUNNY

T he next morning, Sunny woke up with the sun on her face, with Asher snuggled behind her.

She gave a contented sigh as his arms tightened around her. Though she tried in vain to move his arms because she needed to pee.

“Where do you think you’re going?” a rough, sleepy voice said.

“I just have to go to the bathroom.”

“If you must,” he said as he loosened his grip and rolled to his back.

When she came back in, Asher was laying in her bed with his hands crossed behind her head.

“What are you up to today?” she asked as she came to sit on the bed next to him.

“I have some work to do with Abe,” he said as she sat up. “Do you want to come?”

“I would, but I really would like to get a little more work done around the house. I was thinking about painting the dining room.”

“Okay, well, do you want to meet for lunch at the diner. I might be done with Abe by then, and I could come and help you paint.”

“Okay, that sounds good.”

She watched from her porch as Asher’s truck turned to drive up the mountain.

Taking a sip from her rainbow mug, she couldn’t help but smile.

When she got back in the house, she thought about heading into the dining room.

If she was going to paint, she needed to prep it because there were definitely some small holes and cracks to fill.

She also needed to wash the walls and try to get some of the nicotine off the walls from her dad’s cigarette habit, but something about the parlor called to her.

She hadn’t been back in since the first morning here but wanted to make it her own, just like her mother had. There was still so much of her mother in that room. That thought made her heart ache.

She wished more than anything to talk to her mother about what was happening. Perhaps she would explain the red glow in the seemingly nice man’s eyes. She’d experienced many things in life, but that one was new.

Slowly, she slipped open the pocket doors into the parlor. It was still like it had been, shut out for years.

Yes, maybe she had told Asher she was wrong. Maybe instead of painting, she would start cleaning up in here.

She looked around the room. Shelves on one side held books, crystals, and little odds and ends she knew nothing about. The other side had a fireplace above a mantle her mother had always decorated for all the pagan holidays.

Since they died in the spring, it was still set up to celebrate Oester. There were pictures of her, her mother, and her grandmother.

Sighing, she started with the table in the middle of the room where her mom had always read cards for people. She grabbed a dust rag and got to work.

When she came back to the mantle, she stopped. She needed to go to the diner.

She checked the clock in the dining room. Even though she wasn’t supposed to meet Asher there for another hour and a half, something told her to go to the diner right then. She’d learn the hard way many times when she got this feeling to follow it.

She grabbed her keys and purse from the table in the hallway and drove herself into town.

At 10:45, she pulled into the diner. The parking lot was almost empty, with the breakfast crowd clearing out.

“Sit wherever you like,” Betty called before turning around. “Sunny! What a nice surprise. What can I get for you?”

“Ummm, just some sweet tea for now. I’m meeting Asher here for lunch.”

“It’s a little early for lunch, isn’t it?” Betty asked as she poured her a cup of tea.

Before Sunny could answer, the bell from the door rang out.

And who did she see coming into the diner?

Nox Whittaker.

“Hey, Nox, what can I get for you?” Betty asked.

“Can I get a grilled cheese sandwich to go?”

“Coming right up.”

He looked at Sunny and smiled.

Sunny could see he was the nice guy he purported to be, but those red eyes were so unsettling. She expected him to go to the bar and wait for his sandwich.

But she watched as he went into the phone booth and deposited enough money to make a call she could tell wasn’t local. While he was too far away to listen to, his face was stern.

Sunny sat at the bar, trying not to stare at him, wondering just what he was up to.

“Well, Sunny Palmer, as I live and breathe,” said a low, gravelly voice behind her. “I heard you were back in town, but I haven’t had a chance to chat to ya yet,” said Ol’ Ray.

“Hey, Ray. How ya holding up these days?”

“Oh, ya know me, just trying to stay outta trouble, but trouble always finds me.”

Sunny was trying to pay attention to Ray, but her eyes kept drifting back to Nox.

“I don’t trust that fella,” grumbled Ray.

This was the first time she’d heard anything less than glowing about him.

“What?” Sunny said, turning to him in surprise. “Why’s that?”

“I know everyone likes him, but I don’t trust him. I’m good at readin’ people, and something about him doesn’t sit well with me.”

“Hey, Ray,” Betty said as she came over. “What can I get for ya?”

“Hey, Betty, do you have any paper?” Nox asked.

“Sure thing,” she called as she brought him a notepad and a pencil.

He wrote down a number before hanging up.

Then he disappeared into the bathroom.

This was it. Sunny went over, snatched the notepad, and walked to the women’s bathroom. On her way, she stopped and snagged a crayon from the kids’ menus.

Once in the bathroom, she ripped the paper off the blue crayon, making sure all the little paper peeling made it into the trash can. Then she traced the crayon on its side gently on the paper. A smile spread across her face, and an address appeared on the paper.

Feeling like a proper detective, she ripped off the piece of paper, folded it, and slid it into her pocket. By the time she made it out of the bathroom, her aunt was handing him a sandwich. Standing still by the bathrooms, she watched him take the bag and head out to his car.

He set the bag on the seat next to him and turned his car on before pulling out of the parking lot.

She needed to follow him. She knew that as surely as she knew she belonged in the Hollow.

“Hey, Aunt Betty, I gotta go. When Asher comes, will you tell him something came up?”

“What are you up to?” she asked, hands on her hips.

“I’m not sure. Just tell Asher I had to go.”

She took a drink of her sweet tea before heading out the door, then unfolded the piece of paper in her pocket.

It was an address in Charleston, so it was about two hours away. Maybe she would need to tell Asher she was going, but she wanted to catch Nox there.

He was up to something, and this might be her only chance.