Page 18 of Look What You Made Me Do

“Yeah, well,” she said derisively, shaking off the memories, “she tended to have that effect on anyone with a Y chromosome.”

“No.” Jake shook his head. “She always had the time of day for my dad. A lot of people didn’t. It meant something.”

They paused at a traffic light and Ella was struck by the sincerity blazing in his eyes. It was startling to hear someone defending Rachel and she felt like a child again, desperately wanting Trently to know her mom the way she knew her.

The light changed and the moment passed. When they got to the other side, Ella turned right, away from the main road and into the quiet suburban back streets of Deluca. She hadn’t known where she’d end up all those years ago daydreaming about escape from Trently but the rich, cultural tapestry and sheer anonymity of Inverboro, sprawled along the shore of Lake Michigan, had been a balm to her soul.

She couldn’t imagine living anywhere else.

“So you and Rosie have been friends since twelfth grade?”

Ella nodded as Jake expertly steered the conversation back on track. “We hitched out of Trently together the night of the prom, ended up here, at her aunt’s place. Rosie always jokes she’s probably the only kid in the world who ran away from the circus to join home.”

He laughed. It filled the warm air around her and cocooned her in a comforting embrace. “So, you didn’t flee with the principal that night?”

“No. Contrary to popular opinion, Mr. Edmonstone and I were not having an illicit affair.”

“He liked you though.”

“Yes. He did. He was the most inspirational person I had ever met. He told me about all the places he’d been and the people he’d met. He encouraged me to aim high. To get out of Trently and make something of myself. Go to college. Travel. Expand my horizons. He was a good teacher. The kind of teacher every student should have. I owe him a lot.”

“He was a pretty decent guy,” Jake agreed. “I wasn’t much of a scholar but he never gave up on me.”

As Jake had spent more time outside Mr. Edmonstone’s office than he’d spent inside a classroom, Ella figured he spoke from experience.

“He sure as shit didn’t seem like some creeper who’d run off with a student.”

Anger simmered in Ella’s belly; she was still pissed at the rumor. “How were we to know he’d choose exactly the same night we were high tailing it out of Trently to pull a disappearing act too?”

And that Trently would put two and two together and come up with five. Because Rachel.

Ella slowed as they approached the old 1930’s brick bungalow sitting cheek by jowl to the ones either side, lights ablaze. It had been her and Rosie’s refuge when they’d first arrived from Trently and been their beloved home ever since.

It sat in a street of similar buildings, the vast majority having undergone renovation as this area of Deluca had become more and more gentrified. Theirs had not, but it had good bones even if it could do with a lick of paint. It did stand out, however, being the only one with a fence.

With so many strays to contain, it had been a necessity.

Clearly already picking up on the furry occupants of the house, Cerberus sniffed at the gatepost with great interest.

“That’s a lot of house for two,” Jake said.

Ella smiled. “Two of us, Rosie’s two eccentric great aunts – Daisy and Iris – several stray animals and a teenage boy.”

“Oh yes. How is Cameron?”

Ella’s hand tightened on the gate. “He’s fine,” she dismissed maybe a little too quickly.

“He’s what, fifteen?” Jake grimaced. “I remember what I was like at fifteen. Full of hormones and rage. That’s a tough age.”

“He’s… it’s… challenging at times.”

Now there was the world’s greatest understatement. Ella felt like she’d been beating her head against a wall for the last two years. She was somewhere between concussed and popping a blood vessel. Even the thought of having to confront him over his latest episode of truancy was bringing on a headache.

A warm hand slid over hers. “Hey,” Jake murmured. “Don’t forget he also grew up in Trently.”

Ella looked at his hand, surprised at how much strength it loaned her. She was trying hard, really hard, to remember. God knew she’d cut him enough poor-kid-grew-up-Rachel’s-kid-too slack to last a lifetime.

But she was nearly at the end of her rope.

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