Lily sprang up and walked as fast as she could out the door and toward the large black box perched crookedly near the road. Another repair on her list of things to fix. Heart hammering, she opened the off-kilter door and drew out an unaddressed manila envelope.
She started to tuck it under her sweater, then glanced toward the front window of the upholstery shop and decided hiding it would look more suspicious. She was allowed to get envelopes, just like she was allowed to have visitors late at night. What she wasn’t allowed to do was use a client’s property as if it were her own.
What if Sharon had seen a strange car pull up and leave an envelope? What if she was putting little details together and passing them around like treats to every friend and acquaintance? Lily could lose her job and her home, and all her careful plans to get a better job, a better home, a better life for her son.
By the time she made it back to her office, she was wiping nervous sweat off her forehead again.
Unlike her ex-husband, she was clearly not cut out for a life of crime.
Worried that another customer would arrive or Everett would choose the worst moment to make his return, Lily quickly sliced open the heavily taped envelope and looked inside. Then she did tuck it beneath her sweater before she grabbed her keys and locked up.
A murmur of voices rose from the building to her right where she’d just directed the latest renters, but she headed left toward the vehicle storage area with only a quick glance toward the gate. Instead of hiding her route, this time she relied on speed as she zigzagged through the trailers and Jet Skis and motorhomes.
After a quick knock on the door of the only occupied RV in the lot, Lily’s head pivoted back and forth until she was dizzy. She knocked again. “It’s me!”
When the lock clicked, she pulled the door open herself and slipped in, causing the woman to quick-step backward in a panic.
“I’m sorry. The grounds are open right now, and I can’t be seen. Your papers arrived.” She thrust the envelope forward. “Make sure everything is there. We can leave tonight.”
The woman immediately dumped the contents onto the dinette table. Before Lily looked away, she saw a driver’s license, a debit card, and a cheap black cellphone. A few moments later, the woman whispered, “It’s all here, I think.”
“Okay. Let’s go around eleven. There’s a bus that leaves at eleven forty-five. Are you ready?”
Amber looked around in resignation, her hand smoothing over pale strands of hair that had snuck out in all directions from a ponytail. “It’s not like I have much to pack.”
Lily reached out to pat her shoulder. “You look like you got some sleep, anyway.”
“Not much else to do. It’s been good for me. Good for us.” She touched her belly again, her eyes softening with grief.
“Do you need any food? For now or to take with?” When Amber shook her head, Lily gave her arm a gentle squeeze. “Then I’ll see you in a few hours.”
She slipped out the door and raced back toward the office, lighter now that she didn’t have the documents on her. This would be over tonight.
After cutting down a narrow lane to dash toward the nearest building, she stepped clear of the last RVs and glanced toward the sound of an engine. And just like that, disaster struck.
She nearly collided with another body before it jumped away with a yelp. Lily drew in a breath so sharp it hurt; then her heart clenched with pain when she realized it wasn’t a stranger she’d almost run into. It was her son.
“Everett!” she gasped, as if he didn’t know his own name.
Had he seen anything? Had he followed? His face looked pale and stricken, lips parted and eyes wide with shock.
“I’m sorry,” she stammered. “I was just . . .” Her mind blanked. This was her place of work. She did . . . things around here every day. Vital things. But now she couldn’t think of one task to throw out for cover? “I was just . . . Are you ready for dinner?”
“Huh?” he grunted.
“We’ll keep it simple with grilled cheese tonight,” she managed to say in an almost-normal voice. “And tater tots. We haven’t had tots in a long time.” She forced a smile and kept talking. “We can count the ketchup as a vegetable just this once, all right? I won’t make you eat a salad.”
“Yeah.” He laughed, though it cracked with nervousness. Why? Because he’d seen something he shouldn’t have?
“Okay,” she said, mind spinning between addressing the issue or ignoring it. She finally grasped on to the excuse of their fight. That was probably why he was acting strange.
“Okay,” he repeated, before hurrying past her to grab his bike.
Even if he’d seen her go into the RV, that couldn’t mean anything to him. The woman would be gone tonight. He wouldn’t have time to snoop around. Unless he did it right now. “I need you to unload the dishwasher before I start dinner,” she blurted over her shoulder as she walked away. “Can you do it now?”
“Yes. Sure. I’m coming.” She heard the scuff of his shoes and then the crunch of tires. He would follow her home, and by tomorrow, if he had any time to poke around, there would be nothing left for him to see.
But she couldn’t forget that moment of stark alarm on his face.
She’d emphasized to him over and over again how important it was to follow the rules in life, to stay out of trouble, to be honest. She could never tell him the truth she hid from everyone: that she worried about Everett’s morals no matter how nice a boy he was. That she feared he’d inherited more from his dad than dark hair and a tendency to freckle.
Something had been deeply wrong with his father, because Jones had lived a friendly, normal, open life while he’d been embezzling money, hiding it away, and planning his escape. Some dark flaw had allowed him to do that, and on her loneliest nights, Lily wondered if Jones had been born that way . . . and what that could mean for Everett.
She could never tell him that. She could barely admit it to herself.
She needed to set a better example for her son, and she couldn’t put her livelihood in danger, and now this damn cop was sniffing around? No. She’d been blessedly cop-free for a few years now, since they’d finally given up their fantasy that she was hiding Jones under their noses.
No, this had suddenly gotten too dangerous. She’d call Zoey and put a stop to this tomorrow. No more risks. They just weren’t worth it.
CHAPTER 4
“Everett,” she whispered softly, barely a breath of sound in the dark. Her son didn’t stir, so Lily kissed his messy brown curls and backed slowly out of his room.
He’d been so cuddly tonight, more like the little boy he’d been last year than the teenager he’d been this afternoon. After dinner she’d finally made those cookies, and they’d snuggled on the couch and watched some old Steven Universe episodes. In the end neither of them had apologized because neither had brought up the argument at all. Not healthy, maybe, but she’d been relieved.
This day had been far too much to handle already, and there was only more stress coming before she could fall into bed. She’d just wanted to feel his warm little shoulder snug against her side, and his head tipping to rest on her when he got sleepy.
When she teared up at the memory, she knew without doubt that the day was breaking her down.
“Keep your shit together,” Lily whispered to herself as she tucked her license into her pocket and grabbed her keys. She’d only be gone half an hour, forty minutes at most, he’d be fine, and then she’d be in bed, and tomorrow would be as normal as she could make it.
After turning off every light except the bathroom, she locked up and practically tiptoed to her car, as if anyone else lived within shouting distance. When she pulled up as close as she could to the RV, the door swung out and the woman hurried out to open the passenger door.
“Thank you,” she gasped as she buckled up.
“It’s nothing,” Lily lied, and handed her the bus number and time she’d written down. “That one leaves at eleven forty-three, heading south. You set up an anonymous email account on the new phone?”