I enter the lobby, the woman at the front desk looks at me the way everyone else has been looking at me, like I’m broken, or a zombie. Maybe it’s just me thinking they’re looking at me that way because it’s how I feel inside: dead.
I request a smoking room with a king size bed. I have no clothes with me, no cosmetics—nothing. But I’m alone, and that makes me feel like I have everything right now. The quilt over the bed is cool with a satin finish, and it’s welcoming when I slide myself under the covers. I reach into my back pocket, and pull out my phone and place it beside me. It’s vibrated over and over again for the past two hours. I’m guessing I must have at least a dozen missed calls, and as many texts.
I click the display and find calls and texts from Mom and Dad, Aspen, Tanner, and Hayes. Maybe they’re all in cahoots, talking about how crazy I am. That’s it. I’ve gone fucking nuts.
By the look of their messages, they’re all worried. Except Aspen…she’s pretty pissed off. And hurt. And if I’ve wrongly accused her, then I can’t say I blame her. I scroll through each message, deleting as I go…until Hayes’s number pops up again. He’s calling this time. I press the answer button, then immediately move my thumb over the end call button. I stare at the phone rather than lifting it to my ear. I hear his voice, calling out my name. I like the way it sounds coming out of his mouth. He puts a funny little accent over the i…
Dammit.
I press the phone up to my ear, to hear him say it again. But instead, he says, “I can hear you breathing. Talk to me.”
“Did you know Blake?” I ask, my voice soft, my breath rushed.
“What?” he asks. “Why would you think that?” There’s an angry inflection in his voice, which makes me wonder if it’s because he’s been caught or if he’s truly perplexed.
“Tanner told me that Mel was your girlfriend and that Blake ran off with her…that you made threats against them both. Is that true?” There’s a tremble in my voice, making me sound weaker than I want to. I want the truth. From everyone. From anyone. “Did you know my brother? Was Mel your girlfriend?”
“I am at a loss here,” he says. “I don’t know anyone named Mel; I never knew your brother. But I most certainly have a vendetta…that part is true. It isn’t against your brother, though, or anyone you know, for that matter.”
What? Can I believe him? Am I the stupid girl who fell for the psychotic arsonist who took everything away from me?
“Are you still there?” he asks.
“I, uh…I am,” I say.
“Where are you?” He sounds concerned for me. Can someone fake the sound of worry and concern this well? Anything is possible.
“I don’t know.” I really don’t. Not only do I not know where I am, but I’m not sure I know who I am either. “I’m at a hotel, somewhere. I need to be alone, to think.” I know what I sound like right now. I know every word coming from my mouth is like a cry for help. If someone I cared about were acting this way, I’d be worried about them, too.
“You shouldn’t be alone.” I shouldn’t be with you. “When did your brother date this girl?”
“I don’t know. Maybe three years ago.”
“My daughter Ella was a year old then, and I wasn’t dating a Mel. I was still with my ex, Cassie.” I realize he could be lying, but I can’t imagine him staging a picture of a little girl to be his dead daughter on his dresser.
“Oh.”
“Felicity, tell me where you are…really.”
“I honestly don’t know. I drove for a couple of hours, pulled off the highway and into a hotel lot.”
“There’s probably a notepad in the desk drawer,” he says.
I roam across the room to the desk, where I find letterhead. “I’m at the Hilton, in Holyoke, Massachusetts.”
He’s silent, but I hear tapping. “Found it. I’ll be there as soon as I can. Please, Blondie-locks, stay put.”
I don’t have the opportunity to argue or even say no. Everything he’s said could be a total lie…or it could be the truth, which would make Tanner the liar and not Hayes. And then there’s Aspen.
Is anyone capable of telling me the truth?
I squat down in front of the little fridge under the TV, pulling