Meet Me at Midnight - Jessica Pennington Page 0,108

the pranks, Miss Walters.” Officer Jennings smiles at me and shakes his head. “I don’t think you’re cut out for a life of crime.”

I nod. “That won’t be a problem.”

* * *

I’m having a WWMD moment as I pull into Nadine’s driveway.Hopefully this isn’t one of those situations where I’m not supposed to approach her. Part of me thinks I should just cut my losses, never see her again, and call it a day, but what would Mom do? She’d apologize. And if I’m being honest with myself, I’m probably not going to sleep until I do the same. The guilt of knowing what I did and that Nadine knows it’s me is threatening to eat me alive.

Nadine’s front porch faces the road, and I’ve never actually stood on it. When we needed something—which was rarely—we always went to the back door, the one closest to our houses. I knock twice, and wait. It feels like I’ve swum a team relay by the time I see Nadine’s scowling face through the narrow glass pane that runs down the center of the door. She cracks the door enough to wedge her body into it, but no farther. As if I’m going to burst into her house and set it on fire or something.

“Sidney.” She looks behind her and back to me. “Haven’t you done enough here?”

“I just wanted to apologize.”

Her voice is gruff and annoyed. “Apology accepted.” The door is half closed when I put a hand on the knob. She looks from my hand to my face.

“And to say thank you for not pressing charges. I know you could have, and I’m just…” I take my hand off of the door and she closes it another inch. “Thank you.”

“I’m not the one to thank…” She jerks her head to the side, and through the crack of the door I can see Lindsay standing in the doorway to their kitchen. “But you know while you’re here, maybe we should talk about how you can fix all of this. You know, those forks aren’t going to pull themselves out. And my yard still smells like mashed potatoes when the sprinklers go off…” I hear a snort and see Lindsay throw her hand over her mouth.

“Mom, let’s just leave it alone.” Lindsay pushes past her mom and grabs my elbow. “We’ll go pull some forks out, okay?” She pats her mom on the shoulder and pulls the door shut behind her, pulling me along with her toward the side of the house.

We’re walking in silence toward the backyard, her hand still on my elbow, when I say, “Why are you home? I thought you were at school during the week.”

“Asher called me this morning.”

Wow. Heat fills my cheeks. That was … quick. I pull my elbow away from her in a swift jerk. “He wastes no time.”

“He didn’t ask me to come back, he just asked me to talk to my mom. About—” She waves a hand toward the yard, still littered with white plastic. “What went down last night.” She shakes her head and there’s the hint of a smile on her lips. “It’s easier to talk my mom into something in person. I’m sorry she threatened you. It was a bit much for forks and mashed potatoes.” She reaches down and pulls a white fork out of the grass.

Lindsay is the reason I’m not going to be a forking criminal. And Asher. Even after everything I said last night, he fixed this.

I bend down and pull a fork out of the ground, and then another. “Thanks. You didn’t have to do that. I mean, I really appreciate that you did that. Like, really appreciate it.”

“It’s no big deal.” She tosses some forks into a little pile and I follow.

“I’ve never really been that nice to you.”

She smiles and shrugs. “You’re not mean, though.”

I laugh.

“What?”

“Nothing. I’m just getting a lot of really glowing endorsements this summer.” I throw a few more forks on the pile. “I’m sorry about that.”

“I’m sorry, too.”

“For what?”

“You know what.” She gives me a sideways glance. “I know you saw me and Asher.”

I don’t say anything, just keep pulling forks out of the ground. “It’s old news.”

“Yeah, but I’ve always felt weird about it.” There’s a beat of silence as she grabs another fork. “My boyfriend broke up with me that summer. I was on this medication that made me gain ten pounds and—well, I don’t think it was a coincidence. Anyway, Asher was nice to me, and…”