Me & My Invisible Guy (9 page)

Enough!
It was just our first date, and I was already stressing over what secrets I was allowed to keep from a boyfriend.

“Normal’s okay. Actually, normal can be great.” Liam looked at me, I mean,
really
looked at me, like he was trying to see something inside of me. His eyes were the color of milk chocolate, and I wanted to reach over and brush his hair out of the way.

Then I happened to glance up and see Lexi coming through the door with a couple of other girls. I rolled my eyes, and Liam turned to look over his shoulder.

“I think she’s stalking you,” I said. And ticking me off.

“Don’t worry about it,” he said.

I didn’t
want
to worry about it, but she was making a beeline for our table. I sat back in the bench seat as she stopped at the end of the table.

“Funny running into you two here,” she said.

“Hilarious,” I said.

Liam looked at her. “I think your friends are waiting for you.” He pointed to the booth they had grabbed near the windows.

“Oh, they can wait. I was going to ask if I could get a ride to church on Sunday.” Lexi smiled at him, a picture of feigned innocence.

Liam cleared his throat and looked at me. I tried to act uninterested, but my whole body tensed, waiting to see what he would do.
I will not kill Lexi.

“Sure. I guess so.”

“Thanks!” Lexi grabbed his hand. “That’ll be such a help.” She bounced off, and he turned his attention back to me.

“Sorry about that.”

I wasn’t sure what he was sorry about. Lexi? Giving her a ride?

“We’re just friends, in case you’re wondering,” he added.

“I think she’d like to be more than friends.”

Liam fixed his eyes on me. “I’m more interested to know how you feel.”

I felt my cheeks grow hot as he took my hand in his. “About…?”

He grinned. “This. You. Me.”

“I’m pretty interested.”

He picked up my hand and kissed it. “Glad to hear it. Because I am, too.”

Now I was positive that there was a silly grin on my face, but I didn’t care.

The crowded restaurant seemed to disappear as we talked. I found out all sorts of things about him. He was the younger of two and was probably grossly underplaying his musical talent. I found myself wanting to hear him sing.

And he seemed genuinely interested in me. I told him about my family—leaving out the bits about Darby, of course—and about my friendship with Tess. By the time we left, I was no closer to understanding why I liked him so much, but I was surer than ever that I wanted to be around him. As much as possible.

Then we got in the car and I saw the time.
Ten o’clock?
Panic set in immediately. I couldn’t bring myself to even look at my phone.

I gave Liam a smile. “I need to get home. Quick.”

CHAPTER 7

He drove fast and mercifully didn’t ask any questions. As he pulled into the driveway, I saw my dad running up the porch stairs with a flashlight. He stopped when he saw the car.

“Thanks, Liam. I had a really good time, but I’d better go,” I said.

“Can I do anything to help?”

“No. No. Everything’s fine. I’ll see you tomorrow.” I jumped out of the car and hurried over to Dad. He pressed his hand to his mouth, his eyes wide.

Mom pushed open the front door. “Thank God… wait. Darby’s not with you?”

I shook my head.

Mom grabbed the flashlight from my dad’s hands. “Where the hell have you been?” She took off down the front steps and started up the sidewalk.

I looked at Dad. “I’m sorry…. I didn’t mean to be this late.”

“I just got here myself. We’ve searched the house, and her car’s still here. Any ideas?”

I couldn’t handle the fear in my dad’s eyes, so I looked at the ground and really thought. It was dark, so she wouldn’t walk in the woods. But why would she walk
anywhere
at this hour? Maybe she wasn’t getting better like I thought. But
this time I was the fool. Mom had been trying to warn me, and I didn’t listen.

I bit back the tears. Dad rubbed my shoulder. “It’s okay. I’m sure she’s fine. I’m going to go find your mom.” Dad went down the stairs.

“What can I do?” I asked.

“Find her.” He disappeared into the darkness, and I went inside. I threw my bag near the stairs and turned my cell phone back on. Maybe Darby had called or texted.

But all I found, other than texts from Tess, were seven texts and two very upset voice mails from my mom. I deleted them. All of them.

I went to the back porch and looked toward the woods.
Is she out there?
But then I remembered something. When Darby first got home from the hospital, she’d go to the elementary school a lot. To the left of the building was a creek and an outcropping of rocks that she’d sit on for hours. I couldn’t remember the last time she’d gone there, but it was worth a shot. I grabbed a flashlight and ran outside, where my mom and dad were having a quiet but fierce conversation.

Mom was crying. I tried to tell myself that she was just worried, but it didn’t help.

“I have an idea where to look,” I said, running past them.

I heard my dad protesting behind me, but I kept going. My cell phone buzzed, and I answered it, thinking it could be Darby.

But it was Tess.

“What happened?! I’ve been dying!” she said.

Liam seemed a million miles away at that moment. “Great.”

“Great? That’s it?”

“More than great.”

“Okay, now we’re getting somewhere. Are you running on a treadmill or something?”

I slowed my pace as I turned the corner and approached the school. Under the glow of the parking lot lights, I could see Darby walking toward me. I swallowed a relieved sob that came out of nowhere.

“Lexi was there,” I choked out, trying to pull my emotions back in before Darby got to me.

“We have to put a monitoring device on Lexi. She could be a significant problem. And speaking of significant problems, can I come over again tonight?”

Darby came up to me, looking confused but perfectly normal. Perfectly safe. I smiled at Darby and turned my attention back to Tess. “Can you give me twenty minutes?” I asked.

“See you then!” Tess said.

I hung up the call and texted my dad:

Found her!

“You saw my note?” Darby asked.

“Yeah,” I lied. “It was just getting so late.”

We started back home. “I didn’t realize that much time had passed, and I forgot my cell. Sorry about that.”

“No big deal,” I said. Another lie.

“How was the game? I need to come watch you cheer sometime.”

“It was good. I know you’re so busy with school.”

Darby laughed lightly. “Just two classes.”

“But it’s something.”

We got home and found Dad at the counter with his laptop and my mom sitting at the table grading papers. As if they didn’t have a care in the world.

“Hey, Darby!” Mom said.

I walked into the kitchen and casually scanned the countertops while my mom asked Darby about school. I didn’t find it until I got to the fridge—a note stuck next to the ice dispenser:
Hey guys, Taking a walk to the school. Be back soon. Love, Darby

I pulled the note from the fridge, and when Darby turned away for a moment, I tossed it in front of my mom and left the room.

I found Tess sitting on the front porch, waiting. “Sorry,” she said. “Had to get out of there.” She turned, revealing a red, swollen cheek.

“Tess, what
happened
?”

I dragged her inside and sent her up to my room. Swinging by the kitchen, where Darby was still talking to Mom, I dug around in the freezer for a bag of frozen peas. Dad raised his eyebrow at me, but I just smiled at him and ran up to my room.

Tess was sitting at my computer desk looking at a project I’d been working on. “What’s this?” she asked.

“A new logo for the wrestling team. Do you like it?”

“Yeah, it’s great. How do you come up with this stuff?”

“I don’t know.” I handed her the peas, and she gave me a funny look. “Just put it on your cheek. My mom always used these as ice packs.” I sat down on my bed. “What happened?”

Tess shook her head. “It was my own fault.”

“I don’t believe that for a minute, Tess.”

“It was. Darren was over again, and he was being drunk and stupid, and he kind of hit on me.”

“Kind of hit on you?” Darren was her mother’s on-again, off-again, sleazy boyfriend.

“I shoved him when he got too close, and my mom backhanded me. I should have just left.”

I looked at her closely, trying to measure how much of the story I was getting. “Tess, this has got to stop. What about Ashley?”

“Ashley’s at a friend’s house. She’s fine.” Tess adjusted the peas and leaned back on the chair. “Sorry to ruin your first-date high.”

“Tess. Nothing’s more important than you.”

“They’ll sleep it off. She probably won’t even remember it in the morning.”

“You will.” I sat down on the bed and turned to face her. “We’ve got to do something. What if he tries something on Ashley? She’s not as strong as you are.”

“He wouldn’t dare. I’d kill him.” Tess’s eyes were hard. I knew it wasn’t just a figure of speech.

“There’s got to be somewhere you can go for help.”

“I told you. There’s nothing I can do. If I report it they’ll put us both in foster care, probably apart. Do you have any idea what the foster care system is like?” Tess’s words were quick and angry.

“We have to do something,” I said, more to myself but still out loud.

“I’ve looked at every alternative. I just have to get through eighteen months. That’s it. That’s the plan. That, and staying out of Darren’s way.” Tess moved the peas from her face. “How bad does it look?”

I cringed. “It’s gonna bruise. What will you say?”

“That I tripped and fell. Easy breezy.”

On Saturday Tess refused to talk anymore about getting help, so to take her mind off everything, I suggested shopping. When we came downstairs, Darby was chopping up fruit for a smoothie. “Wow. What happened? Get kicked by one of those cheerleaders?” she asked.

“If only.” Tess climbed onto a stool. “Any word on a spot?”

Darby blended the drink, then poured the pink mixture into a glass. “Actually, yes. I got a callback from one leasing agency, and it looks promising. But they need to get an okay from corporate to officially let us use it. Of course, if they manage to rent it before, then they’ll cancel on us, but it’s sat empty for nearly a year.”

“What’s the address? I’d like to swing by and take a look.”

Darby handed Tess a piece of paper. “I’m still talking to two others, just in case. I figured we’d better have a backup plan.”

“You’re awesome, Darby!” Tess turned to me. “Do you mind if we do a drive-by before we hit the mall?”

“Sure.” I glanced at Darby, trying to gauge whether we should invite her. I kind of wanted to be alone with Tess, knowing she’d never talk in front of Darby. But at the same time, I could hear my mom’s instructions echoing in my head. “What are you doing today?” I asked her.

Darby shrugged. “I’ll probably finish working on my essay. I’m good,” she said.

“Is Mom home?” I asked.

“She’s on the elliptical downstairs. Why?”

“Oh, no reason,” I said.
Just need to escape before she comes up, that’s all.

“Well, go and have fun then,” Darby urged. She smiled at me, and I caught a faint glimpse of the old Darby. It was happening more often, I was sure, but I couldn’t just forget the danger either. Especially after last night.

No one outside the family was supposed to know about Darby. Some people knew a few things: that she was sick, that my parents were worried, that she had dropped out of school. All of it true, but it was only part of the story.

Darby had gone away to the University of Virginia to study art history. She had always wanted to become a curator or professor. I was busy with high school, so for a while I hadn’t even realized there were problems, but both Mom and Dad grew more and more anxious when Darby would call home. Then during Christmas break last year everything went haywire.