Page 68 of Sycamore Circle

“A really long time.” Chloe pulled out a bag of pretzels and nodded. “Not since I started dancing so much.”

“I guess you’re pretty curious about Bo, huh?”

To Joy’s surprise, Chloe didn’t look worried about Bo. Instead, she seemed kind of amused. “Kind of. Is he your boyfriend, Mom?”

“No. We’re just friends.”

Chloe raised her eyebrows. “He acted like he was your boyfriend.”

“I guess he could be. I mean, maybe he will be. One day.” She took a deep breath. “He and I get along well.”

“It seemed like it.”

She pressed her hands over her eyes. “I can’t believe I fell asleep on the couch.”

“I bet.”

Well, now she was officially embarrassed. “I didn’t plan for you and Bo to meet that way. Or for your dad to be in the mix. What a mess.”

“He wasn’t too happy about you having a guy there.”

“I hope he didn’t say anything to you.”

Chloe popped another pretzel in her mouth as she shrugged. “Dad mainly just grumbled and looked like he wanted to complain, but he didn’t.”

“Well, he doesn’t get to have a say in who my friends are.”

“Does Bo sleep over whenever I’m not there?”

“What? Goodness, no. That was the first time and we both fell asleep on the couch while we were watching a movie.” She took a deep breath. “I called Bo because I was scared last night. I received a strange letter in the mail, and I wasn’t sure what to do. Bo came over to look at it and to help me decide what to do.”

All the humor in Chloe’s expression faded and her eyes widened. “What kind of letter was it?”

“I’m not sure. I think someone is trying to make me be afraid.” She took a deep breath and plunged ahead. “I started getting weird hang ups and text messages a couple of weeks ago. Like a fool, I ignored them.”

“You don’t know who they were from?”

“Nope. I told Bo about them and he encouraged me to go to the police and file a report. But I didn’t.”

“Mom...”

“I know.” She mentally kicked herself. Hearing herself describe how naive she’d been was embarrassing. “I should’ve known better. Anyway, a detective is coming over to the house later. That’s another reason I wanted to talk to you right after school. I wanted you to know what has been going on before he shows up.”

“Why do you think someone is doing all this?”

“I don’t know.”

Chloe frowned. “Dad says that some of the people you tutor aren’t that great.”

“Every single one of my students is very appreciative of me. They’re usually embarrassed about not being able to read and desperate for help. I can’t see any of them wanting to start sending me creepy notes.”

Chloe folded her arms over her chest. “The note was creepy?” When Joy nodded, she added, “Can I see it?”

“I’d rather you didn’t, but we’ll see what the detective says. Do you have any questions?”

“Are you going to tell Dad about the notes too?”

“Eventually. I’m going to see what the police detective wants me to do. If he thinks Dad needs to know then I’ll tell him.”

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