“Aubrey told me to invite you over for dinner one night soon,” Malcolm said as he settled his bar tab with the waitress.

I smiled. “I’ll try to, as soon as things settle down.”

“She’s worried about you.”

To tell the truth, I was worried about me too. “I’m fine,” I replied. “Lynn will be back soon. Then we’ll all get together and Lynn and Aubrey can try to beat us at cards.”

“The kids want to see you, too.” Aubrey and Malcolm had been married for ten years. He’d put her back together after Shelly happened to her. Now they had two little boys. The kids were perfect and awful all at the same time. Kids were never in mine and Lynn’s plans, not with her history.

“I’ll see them soon,” I said as I pulled some bills from my wallet. “How’s Aubrey doing?”

“Sometimes she still has nightmares,” Malcolm admitted.

“Bad ones?”

His head jerked in a quick nod. “Seems like when Lynn’s gone, she has more of them.”

Of course she did. Triggers followed patterns, and Aubrey’s were obvious.

“Call me if you need anything, okay?” Malcolm said.

“Tell Aubrey hey for me, will you?”

He rapped his knuckles on the table again. “Sure thing.”

He left, pushing through the doors and onto the street, and I couldn’t help but remember the night Aubrey went missing.

---

My phone had rung around midnight, jerking me out of post-sex sleep, and Lynn rolled over to hand it to me. “Who is it?” she whispered in the darkness.

“My mother,” I said quietly. “Mom?” I answered the phone.

“Mason,” Mom said, her breaths heavy like she’d been running.

I sat up, the blankets pooling in my lap. “What is it, Mom?”

“Honey, it’s Aubrey. You haven’t heard from her, have you?”

“No, why? Where is she?”

“No one knows. Her mom called. Said she hasn’t been home since yesterday and they’re worried.”

I lowered the phone from my lips and spoke to Lynn. “Have you talked to Aubrey?”

“Not for a few days, why?”

I put my mom on speaker. “Apparently, she’s missing. No one has seen or talked to her,” Mom said.

Lynn was already out of bed and was getting her clothes on. “Where are you going?” I whispered.

“I don’t know yet,” she murmured as she walked to the bathroom and pulled her hair into a ponytail.

“Well, I was just checking, Mason. If you hear from her, call me right away, will you?” Mom said.

“Of course.” I hung up. “What do you know, Lynn?” I asked, following her to the bathroom.

“Nothing yet,” she bit out, and then she went back to the bedroom and sat down on the edge of the bed to put her shoes on.

“What do you think you know?”

“Nothing yet.” She grabbed her keys.

“Where are you going?”

“To find Aubrey.”

“How the fuck are you going to do that?”

She stopped and glared at me. “How do you think?”

My heart jolted. “You think Shelly had something to do with this?”

“They had words last week,” Lynn muttered.

“About what?”

“You.”

“Me?”

“Yes, you.”

“Why did they have words about me?”

“Apparently, Aubrey made some disparaging remarks about you in public the other day. Shelly didn’t like it. I’m afraid…”

“You’re afraid of what?”

“You never know with Shelly.”

Then she slipped out the door. I rushed to get dressed so I could go with her, but by the time I turned the corner, she was long gone.

Twelve hours later, Malcolm and I were sitting on the couch together, twiddling our fucking thumbs, waiting to hear something from Lynn. Still no word. Lynn wasn’t answering her phone, and I had no idea what was going on. Then the door snicked open.

Lynn walked into the room, towing Aubrey in behind her. She shivered and could barely take a step. Lynn placed a finger to her lips and warned me with a flash of her blue gaze.

Lynn gently led Aubrey toward the bathroom, and then she stepped inside with her.

A moment later, Lynn came out. “She doesn’t want help from me. She says I look too much like Shelly. Maybe we should call your mother.”

“Maybe we should take her to the hospital.” I looked anxiously toward the bathroom door.

“I tried. She refused to go. She’s not hurt. She’s just tired. She’s been eaten up by mosquitoes and her feet are pretty bruised. But I think she’s okay. Just scared and tired.”

“What did Shelly do to her?”

“She dropped her off in the forest.”

“What the fuck!” Malcolm jumped to his feet. “She just left her there?”

“Apparently.” Lynn swiped a hand down her face in frustration.

“Where the fuck is she? I’ll kill her.” Malcolm began to pace.

“I don’t know. She hung up on me after she told me where I could find Aubrey.” Lynn started to gnaw on her fingernail. Then she winced. “Apparently, Aubrey got in the car with Shelly because she thought Shelly was me.”

Malcolm shook his head, cursing under his breath as he walked to the bathroom and let himself in. He didn’t come out for the next hour, but when he did, he had Aubrey under his arm, she was wearing his shirt, and his eyes were soft with something I’d never seen on him before. Compassion. Understanding. Maybe a little bit of love.

“I’m going to take her to my place.”

“You should call her parents so they’ll stop worrying.”

“Already did,” he replied quickly.

“Mal,” Lynn said, “this is all my fault.”

“No,” he bit out. “This is Shelly’s fault. Not yours. Somebody should have drowned that bitch at birth.”

“I’m sorry,” Lynn said quietly.

They left together, and Malcolm helped put Aubrey back together in the days following. A year after that, they were married. Aubrey and Lynn were tight, but Shelly still scared the hell out of her. The police said it was a harmless prank, but they hadn’t seen Aubrey that night. That prank was far from harmless. If Lynn hadn’t gone to find her, she might not have survived it.

But out of all of it, Aubrey and Malcolm found their way together, and that was what I clung to.

Out of all the havoc Shelly wreaked, that was one good outcome. Probably the only good outcome so far.

Lynn refused to see Shelly for a while after that, until the day that she needed her.