THREE WEEKS LATER
THE doorbell rings, and I struggle to get the door open without messing up my nails. Catherine, Julie, and I got mani-pedis for the Mardi Gras Ball tonight. The polish I picked was called “Cajun Shrimp.” I thought that was appropriate since my family has decided to make Louisiana home.
“I have a delivery for Anna Boyd.”
I can’t help but squeal at the huge daisy arrangement filling the doorway. My boyfriend rocks!
The last three weeks have been crazy. It was three days before the suits let us leave Arizona. Dad flew out and was so pissed at what Ethan and I did that he lectured us off and on for two days. And when he wasn’t scolding me, he was hugging me and telling me over and over how sorry he was that this happened to us. In the end, they flew us back to Louisiana while a couple of agents drove Fred’s Mustang home.
I carry the flowers back to my room. Dad stayed with the factory but moved to the accounting department, so we were out of the tiny cottage and into a house not far from Ethan’s.
Teeny pokes her head in a few minutes later and says, “Don’t forget Ethan said I could take a ride in the limo before you go to the dance.”
“We won’t forget,” I answer.
Teeny is better, but she still freaks if we don’t get home when we say we will. And I don’t think she’ll ever get over her fear of men in suits.
She stayed with Pearl when Dad was with us, and she didn’t speak to me or Dad for three days after we got back. She was mad we left her behind.
But she forgave Ethan immediately. Figures.
It’s chaos when Ethan and the rest of the group finally show up at the house. We’re riding with Will, Catherine, Julie, and Trey. Dad drags us all in front of the fireplace for pictures. He takes shots of us as a group and then of each couple. It’s pretty embarrassing.
I hug him on my way out, and he whispers, “I’ll e-mail these to Mom. She’d love seeing you all dressed up like this.”
Mom is in a treatment facility in Baton Rouge. Dad’s the only one who’s seen her and has been trying to talk me into visiting her soon. Not sure I’m ready for that yet.
We take Teeny for a ride through the neighborhood; she presses every button and climbs all over us.
The school dances are different here. In Arizona, the school would have rented a ballroom from one of the best hotels. We would have had a three-course meal first, then danced to a well-known band. Not in Natchitoches, though. The ball is in the gym, and decorating means throwing tons of green, yellow, and purple streamers on anything that stays still long enough. There are not one, not two, but three balloon arches. It’s pretty cheesy but I love it.
Ethan and I head straight for the dance floor, where a slow song is playing. He pulls me close, and we sway in rhythm to the music, my face buried in his neck and his arms tight around my waist. It’s hard to believe I’m here. With him. In a cute dress Catherine and I went shopping for last week.
It’s moments like this when Thomas creeps into my mind. When I realize how lucky I am to be here. There’s not a day goes by that I don’t try to figure out why he didn’t kill us. And I still have the nightmare at least once a week.
I raise my head slightly and look over Ethan’s shoulder to see Ben and Emma dancing nearby. “I’m still not sure it’s a good idea for us all to go to the cabin together,” I whisper in Ethan’s ear.
“It’ll be fine. Will and Catherine will be there too. I owe Ben a weekend at the cabin, and he’s holding me to it.” The suits tracked Ben down about an hour from the fishing cabin and held him the rest of the weekend, not believing he didn’t know where we were. “And just think—a road trip with no drug smugglers, hit men, or government agents. It’ll be great.”
Ben and Ethan have made some headway in repairing their friendship. Emma and I have formed an unspoken truce. We’ll probably never be friends, but at least she’s not hostile anymore. I can’t tell if she’s scared of me or impressed by me.
Ethan and I are sort of like rock stars at school now. No one knows the whole story, but people have heard just enough to make us seem really cool and mysterious. I’m back to my original name, hair, and eye color, and it seems to freak people out.
“When do you have to be home?” Ethan asks. Dad’s loosened up a lot and even helps Ben’s dad with his books. There’s a small chance now that his family might not lose his farm.
“Not for a while. I told him we’d be late.” Ethan and I have been inseparable since we got back. I don’t think he’ll ever know what it meant to me that he was there when I needed him, but I’m trying every day to show him.
Catherine waves to us from across the room. “I think everyone’s ready to head to Will’s,” Ethan says.
Time for the after-party.
I step away, and he pulls me back quickly, kissing me on the small daisy tattoo that’s showing on my bare shoulder, before letting me go again.
I giggle and walk toward the closet where they’re keeping our coats.
The party at Will’s starts as a small group of us hanging out around his pool, but it isn’t long before his house is packed.
I’m curled up next to Ethan on one of the loungers, sipping a beer. It’s chilly out, but that doesn’t stop Will from taking some stupid bet to jump into the pool and stay there for at least two minutes. He will apparently do anything for ten bucks.
“Will’s such a dumb-ass,” Ethan says.
“Yes. He is. Look at Catherine, she’s pissed.”
“She’s pissed because she just wanted it to be a few couples here tonight.” I turn toward Ethan, moving in closer, and just before he can kiss me, the chair we’re in gets bumped and I almost fall off.
Ethan sits up and looks around, but whoever knocked into us has moved on. “Damn, I’m with Catherine. There are way too many people here.” He looks at my beer and says, “I’ll grab us a couple more, then we’ll get the limo driver to take us for a ride. Get away from the crowd for a little while.”
“Sounds like a good plan.”
Just as Ethan turns to leave, I tug on his pants and say, “I forgot to thank you for the flowers. They are beautiful.”
He stops and looks at me funny. “Flowers? What flowers?”
I sit up and stare at him. A creepy feeling washes over me, and I ask, “You didn’t send me a bouquet of daisies today?”
He looks really confused. “No.”
I let out a nervous laugh. “It must have been Dad. He knows how much I love them, too.”
Ethan waits a few long seconds before he nods slowly and walks away. I don’t think he believes Dad sent the flowers. I don’t think Dad sent them either, but who else would do that?
With him gone, I get cold. My coat is hanging off the back of the lounger, so I pull it over me and use it like a blanket. But there’s something inside—it feels square and hard. I dig around in the coat and realize it’s in the pocket, so I pull it out. It’s my journal, with a single daisy stuck between the pages. A sinking feeling comes over me, and I search for Ethan, but he’s across the patio, talking to Trey.
I shove the journal back in the pocket and jump up from the chair. Oh, God… Oh, God… Oh, God. I race to the bathroom, but Ethan stops me before I make it there.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. I’ve got to go to the restroom. I’ll be right back.” And I pull away from him.
Once I’m alone, I lock the door and slide down the wall to the floor, opening the journal to where the daisy is.
And there, scribbled on the page, is a note for me.
Dear Anna,
I’m sure you have questions, and someday maybe I’ll answer them for you. I thought it was important for you to have this back. I hope the nightmares that haunted you are gone. Maybe one day we’ll meet again.
P.S. Tell your friend the tracker was a clever move.
Oh, shit. Maybe one day we’ll meet again. What in the hell does that mean? I rip the page out and tear it into pieces. Then do the same with the flower. How did this get in my coat pocket?
Then I remember someone just knocked into our chair, right where my coat was draped over the back. I scramble from the floor and race back out to the pool, ignoring Ethan calling my name.
I search the crowd, looking for Thomas, but he’s not here.
Ethan comes up behind me and says, “Anna, you look scared. What’s wrong?”
I turn and bury my head in his chest, squeezing him tight. “Nothing. It’s nothing.”
He leans his head close to my ear and says, “I’m here if you need me.”
I move my hands to his face and bring his lips to mine, kissing him softly. “I know. And that’s the only thing that makes everything okay.”
He hugs me tight while I look behind him, scanning faces like I did a few seconds ago. And like I will do for the rest of my life.