“Um. Vertigo, I think?”
I frown. Then it comes to me. “Is that Marion’s favorite movie?”
“Maybe?”
“It doesn’t mean she’ll be there.”
“I know, I just— You said you wanted to do something. It’s something we could do.”
I do want to spend time with him. Especially since I’ll be gone all day tomorrow. I still need to come up with an excuse for where I’ll be—but maybe if I spend the rest of today with him, he won’t even notice I’m gone.
“Okay,” I say finally, and give him a smile. “Let’s do it.”
12
Dad agrees to us going to movie night, so long as we go there and come straight back, staying away from the woods.
Davy and I walk the four blocks to the park. It’s a warm night, mosquitoes in the air. I slap at one that lands on my arm. There are crowds of people here, their blankets already set up, leaning into each other, drinking out of thermoses and SOLO cups, munching on grocery store cookies.
I walk quickly along the side of the park, as far from the crowds as I can get, staring straight ahead of me, willing the sun to go down faster. Davy, in contrast, walks slowly, peering at every brown-haired white girl we pass.
“Slow down, Addie,” he says at one point.
“I just want to find a good spot.”
He sighs. “No one’s looking at you.”
I pause. And for the first time, I look out at the crowd. Davy’s right.
“Addie,” comes a voice behind me.
I turn.
It’s Gen.
She’s in shorts and a crop top, her black hair pulled back into a braid. I look around but don’t see Jeremy anywhere.
Gen hasn’t spoken to me directly since our fight junior year. Although she did reach out to me once to see how I was doing after Fiona died. I left her on read.
Sometimes I wonder if I shouldn’t have.
“Um—hi,” I stammer.
“I heard you were there when they found Thatcher’s body,” she says abruptly.
Anger rises up inside of me. That’s what she wants. Gossip. “Yeah, and?”
Her eyes widen and she takes a step back, holding up her hands. “I was just going to ask if you were okay.”
“I’m fine,” I snap.
“Do they think, like…” She trails off.
But I’m not in the mood to stand here and discuss murderer theories with my ex–best friend.
“Gen?”
And all of a sudden, Jeremy appears through a crowd of people.
Especially not with my ex-boyfriend here, too.
Jeremy’s eyes go straight to me. “Oh. Hey.” He takes his hat off, runs a hand through his hair, puts it back on—a nervous habit he’s had for as long as I can remember.
No one says anything for a long moment. I don’t like being stared at like a circus attraction, so I mutter, “I gotta find Davy,” and take off through the crowd without looking back.
I managed to avoid them both the whole school year. Why am I suddenly running into them everywhere now?
Why are they suddenly together all the time?
It’s my fault. I know that. I cheated on Jeremy. I made him leave me. I know he has the right to do what he wants now.
But I can’t help but wonder how long it took Gen to move in once she heard Jeremy and I were broken up.
My brother is standing just five feet away, frowning back at where I left Gen and Jeremy. “Are they dating?” he asks me abruptly.
“I don’t know. I don’t care.” I try and make it sound true.
I start walking again, not slowing. We head to the far back of the local park, which adjoins with the state park. Davy and I set up our blanket at the edge of the trees. I know Davy chose the spot because if Marion comes, she’ll likely cut through the woods behind the Montgomery property, which lets out not far from here. I’m not sure if he really believes she’d come to something like this after her brother’s funeral, but I don’t know enough about Marion and her ways of processing grief to say for sure he’d be wrong.