Page 53 of Sycamore Circle

Bo had been right. She should’ve already gone to the police station. She needed to get some help.

No, what she really needed was to start letting more people in, instead of always acting like she was fine. She wasn’t fine.

Glancing at the paper again, Joy realized that Bo might grumble that she should’ve already gone to the police, but he’d be at her side as soon as he could.

If he could get away.

Besides, doing nothing no longer felt like an option.

CHAPTER 18

After everything that had happened—all the stress of the missing shrug, and then her father not-so-subtly interrogating Chloe about her mom’s dating life—they arrived to discover that Miss Diamanté had canceled class. The story from one of the other dancers was that their teacher had gotten some kind of flu, had determined to power through and teach anyway, and then gotten really sick just a few minutes before class time.

Since Chloe had shown up late, she’d missed all the commotion. She’d simply waved goodbye to her dad, raced inside, and discovered the news when all the other girls were already turning around and leaving.

Maybe a better daughter would’ve called her father right away and asked him to pick her up, but Chloe wasn’t that good. As far as she was concerned, she had two hours of freedom, and there was only one person she wanted to see—Finn. She just hoped he didn’t have the day off.

She spied Finn the moment she walked inside. He was wiping down one of the booths near the front.

When he saw her, he tossed down a towel and strode over. “Hiya. What are you doing here so late?”

“My class was canceled because my teacher got some weird stomach thing. So guess what? I have two free hours. Is it okay if I come in and watch you work?”

“That’s what you want to do?”

“Yeah. I mean if it’s okay. I’ll buy a malt,” Chloe added, just in case Mary was worried that she would take a booth without buying anything.

He grinned like she’d said something funny. “You can do that, but hold on, okay?”

She stood near the front while he talked to Mary. Moments later, he said, “Come on, let’s go to the park.”

“Really? You’re allowed to leave?”

“Jah, for a little while I can. I haven’t taken a break yet.” Looking pleased, he added, “Mary told me I can take a half an hour.” He reached for her bag. “She also said she’d put your bag behind the counter.”

“That’s so nice of her.”

He grinned again. “That ain’t no trouble. Now, come on. Let’s go before a crowd comes in and Mary changes her mind. Want to go sit on our bench?”

“Of course.”

Finn had taken her to the park for the first time last week. When she’d come in after school, the diner had been practically empty. Mary and Lane had told Finn that he could start taking his breaks when Chloe came—and had even suggested that the park would be a good place to visit. The park was large and had a giant jungle gym, swings, and a basketball court. There was also a walking trail with benches scattered throughout.

Chloe knew enough about Finn by now to understand that Mary and her husband tried to do as much as they could for their nephew. Finn had even confided that his father wouldn’t allow him to eat supper when he got home from the diner at night, giving an absurd excuse about how Finn would mess up the kitchen.

She felt so sorry for him.

“Are you upset about missing your class tonight?” Finn asked.

“Not really. Practice has been really hard lately. It’s kind of nice to have a break, if you want to know the truth.”

“Are you worried about your dad finding out you didn’t really have class tonight?”

She shrugged. “I’ll just tell him that I didn’t want to bother him, so I hung out at the diner. He won’t care. I mean, not too much.”

“Wow. I can’t imagine that.”

“I’m sorry that your father is so tough on you.”

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