Page 48 of The Kidnapped

“I will,” Raleigh replied, nodding.

“I have some stuff put away in the drawers that you can sleep in,” Hollis said.

“I’ll be okay on the couch in this,” she replied.

“Yeah, right…” Hollis pulled back the comforter on her side, climbed in, and then pulled the other side back as well. “My mom wakes up and finds you on the sofa in your clothes – I’m a dead woman. Come on.”

CHAPTER 16

“Hey, I’m grabbing something for lunch. Interested?” Kenna asked.

“I was just finishing something up,” Hollis replied.

“Cool. Five minutes?”

“Yeah, okay.”

Hollis now considered Kenna to be more of a friend than a boss, which was strange to her because she’d never really had many friends. The people she’d worked with had always been just colleagues, and she’d done the occasional drinks-after-work thing, but nothing more than what was called optional but was really required. Hanging out with someone outside of work was new to Hollis, but she found that she liked Kenna as a person beyond her being a great boss. Maybe part of it was because Kenna had, essentially, been responsible for Hollis reuniting with her mother, but it was a small part. Kenna was funny and smart. She had a lot of stories and cared about people. So, when Kenna had asked her to lunch the previous week, Hollis had gone and had been surprised by how much fun she’d had.

“Aaliyah asked Ripley if she could go to this summer camp for three weeks. I thought it was a good idea. My wife asked about a million different questions and got a whole lot of I-don’t-knows back from her. The girl heard summer camp with her friends, and the rest of it wasn’t important. We asked one of the people in charge, and the camp turned out to be a science camp for kids who excel in science. Aaliyah hates science and is currently getting a C. When we told her that and the fact that she’d have to apply and write a short essay, she told us it would be better for her if we skipped it this year. I’m not sure Ripley and I have laughed so hard in a long time when we went to bed that night.”

“She sounds like a character,” Hollis said, biting into her club sandwich.

“She is. I love the crap out of that little girl. Speaking of little girls… How’s it going with Dylan on Eden’s case?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Hollis replied.

“You haven’t talked to Raleigh about it?”

“Not since the first meeting. I think she’s talked to Dylan a few times since then.”

“That surprises me a little,” Kenna said.

“Why?”

“You two seem to have gotten really close,” Kenna noted, taking a bite of her salad.

“Oh. I guess, yeah.”

“You guess?”

“Not you, too…” Hollis rolled her eyes and looked out the window of the restaurant.

“What does that mean?” Kenna laughed a little.

“My mom is on my case about Raleigh, too.”

“On your case?”

“She thinks I like her,” Hollis replied.

“And do you?”

“She’s a friend. I don’t have many of those. I never have.”

“You have me,” Kenna told her. “And Ripley, too, if you spend time with her. She used to be kind of like you, actually.”

“You’ll have to explain that one to me,” Hollis said.

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