Page 24 of Our Darkest Summer

There was a girl kneeling in the flower beds around the gazebo. She looked awfully familiar, but I couldn’t quite place her. “Who’s that?” I asked, forgetting about my question to Cora.

The two girls followed my gaze and their answers came simultaneously. “Samantha Jones.”

“She was at Braxton’s party last night. You might’ve seen her.” Aaliyah grinned. “Braxton has a thing for her.”

“He has a thing for everyone.” Cora laughed, relaxing back into her seat.

I only met him yesterday, but I could absolutely picture that. Aaliyah was right, though. Samantha was the girl Braxton chased after at the party. She just looked—I narrowed my eyes—very different from the leather jacketed girl as she kneeled between the colorful flowers in a gardening apron and a bandana.

“Did you guys all go to the same school?” I asked, turning my attention away from the auburn girl.

“Oh no. Braxton lives in California. They only have a vacation house up here,” Cora explained.

“He goes to Caltech. I think he’s starting his fourth year there? But if you ask him, he’ll tell youallabout it, in a long speech.” Aaliyah rolled her eyes. “So, my advice, don’t bring it up to him.” We shared a laugh.

“But he throws the best parties in town,” Cora said.

“All summer and almost every day,” Aaliyah confirmed while my mind wandered back against my will to my meeting with Thomas in Braxton’s house.

He was acting so differently. The memory made my toes curl.

Lila placed our orders down on the table bringing me back to the present. “By the way, I found that box you were looking for,” she said as she glared at Aaliyah, who then sucked in an excited breath.

“With the journals and everything?” she asked, and her sister nodded. “Where did you find it? I looked for them everywhere.” She took a big sip from her coffee, waiting for her sister’s answer.

“It was exactly where you left it,” she sighed. “Hidden from Mom in the wall panel under the window.”

Aaliyah let her head fall back as she sucked in a sharp breath. “Right. I totally forgot about that one. Thanks.”

“If you still insist on using secret hiding places, you should at least keep track of them, Al. Write them down or something.” Lila shook her head before she walked away.

Secret hiding places?As if hearing my unasked question, Cora tipped her head with a smile, picking on the bottom of her pink top.

“Aaliyah has this thing about hiding her stuff away.”

“Yes, because Lila used to read all of my stuff,” Aaliyah clarified. “And then, when I got older I realized I’ve a ton of things I wouldn’t want my parents to find if something had happened to me. It’s not as crazy as it sounds. Everyone does this.”

Everyone does this.

An idea clicked in my head.

Chapter Thirteen

Thomas

The door closed behind Kinsley,and I turned back to my brother who was eating a cookie at the kitchen island. I slid the letter in front of him and his forehead creased.

“What’s this?” he asked with his mouth still full with the bite.

I sat down across from him. “Read it.”

“But it’s addressed to Dad.”

“Read it,” I repeated. He frowned but reached for the envelope and pulled out the letter.

I didn’t take my eyes off of him while he read. Instead, I studied every brow twitch and grimace as he scanned through the few lines on the paper. My brother had very talkative features, which came in handy if you wanted to know what he was thinking.

“What is this?” he repeated, this time with a more serious tone.