The Perfect Lie (The Perfect Stranger #3) - Charlotte Byrd Page 0,35
point to the bedroom, and say, “Take anything you want.”
We’re not really the same size and when she comes out, she’s swimming in my clothes.
Suddenly, she looks like the child and I'm the adult. Perhaps that is appropriate. That was often our relationship status when I was growing up.
I want to tell her so much about Tyler to try and process all of this, but I can't.
The one thing that I can do now is to protect him and keep my promise to keep his identity a secret. No matter what.
“The money belonged to Tyler,” I say.
His name slips out, but it's common enough that it should not be a problem. “I took it without his permission. I helped him get it, but it's all his. I was worried that he wouldn’t let me have it.”
“I'm so sorry, Isabelle.”
“He probably would have let me have it to save your life, but I didn't even ask. I was so selfish.”
“Don't blame yourself, honey. If you hadn’t done what you did and you had asked him and he said no, then they would've killed me. You saved my life. That's worth something, right?”
I nod and she wraps her arms around me and pulls me close to her. I sob into her chest and she holds me for a long time. She hasn’t held me like this in a very long time.
“How long do you have this cabin for?” Mom asks after I pull away.
“A few more days.”
“That's good.”
Something outside of the window catches my attention and I look up. That's when I see Mrs. Bowden driving by the house, very slowly. Our eyes meet and she looks terrified.
She grabs her phone and starts to dial, shaking her head.
“We have to get out of here,” I say. “Something’s not right.”
“What are you talking about?”
“We can't stay here,” I say, shaking my head.
I'm not always best listening to my intuition, but in this case, I know that I should.
22
Isabelle
I know that something is off by the way that Mrs. Bowden looks at me. Before she was always friendly and at ease, but now her eyes narrow and she looks frightened.
I could be wrong, but I don't want to take any chances.
Tyler is gone. I thought that he left because of me, but now I wonder if it also had something to do with Mrs. Bowden.
I don't have much time to figure anything out. I run into the bedroom and throw all of my stuff into the one remaining suitcase.
“What are you doing?” Mom asks, coming in.
“We have to go. We can't stay here.” I throw the suitcase over my shoulder and grab two armfuls of stuff.
“You paid for this place. Why are we leaving?”
I pause for a moment in the doorway and look at her with a smirk on my face. My head is tilted and I shrug my shoulders.
Finally, she gets it. I knew that she would. She doesn't look like she's a stranger to running away from problems and luckily, she doesn't have much with her.
I throw everything into the back seat and then run back to the cabin to take one last look around. When I get back into the car, Mom is already sitting in the front passenger seat with her seat belt on.
I pull out of the spot and gun it down the street. When I turn onto the main highway running through town, I hear police sirens. I pray to God that they're not coming for me, but I have no way of knowing.
I blend in with the rest of the traffic. I don't drive too fast or too slow. I don't hold my breath because I don't want to pass out but my thoughts are forced and difficult.
I don't know where we’re going. I don't want to head back down to the desert and I don't want to head back through Running Springs where I was thrown into the van.
Both places bring back bad memories, but I have to choose one.
When I get to Running Springs, I don't look around and just keep driving. Jensen's Foods shows up briefly in my field of vision, but I don't let myself linger. A few minutes later, we get through the town and I let out a sigh of relief.
“What happened back there?” Mom asks when we almost get to the bottom of the hill and into the Southern California sprawl. “Are you in trouble, Isabelle?”
I shrug.
I don't want to tell her anything and yet I don't have anyone else