Page 58 of Another Girl Lost

As easy as it was to imagine Tanner charming my mother, blinding her with that smile, I refused to focus on the image. Tanner controlled my body, but not my mind. I tipped my head back against the brick wall. “You’re lying.”

“I’m not.” She dropped her voice a notch. “No one is looking for you. Or me.”

Tears swelled in my eyes and spilled down my face.

“Maybe it’s better you’re here. At least you’re safe.”

“Safe?” I flexed my fingers and winced as pain shot up my arm. I’d balked the last time he came at me. I’d not meant to, but my body had refused to play along. As a lesson, he’d nearly broken my wrist.

“How’s your hand?” Della said.

“It’s fine.”

“Liar.”

“You don’t know me that well.”

“I do.” She scrunched up her face. “You look like this when you lie.”

The expression was ridiculous. And I felt so lost and alone that it was oddly amusing. “I don’t.”

Della touched the grim line of her own lips mirroring mine. “You do. But it’s okay. I notice these little things about you, but he doesn’t.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re trying to be nice to him, and you were doing well until you snapped the other day. I know you hate it, but you must try harder if you’re going to get him to trust you.”

“He’s never going to trust me. He knows I hate him.”

“Maybe. Maybe not. Men are easy to fool. We ladies are the tricky ones. We’re the best liars.”

She was right. I could be even nicer. Be smarter. But the knife-edge of my hate cut deep into my bones. If I could kill him, I would.

“How did you meet him?” I asked.

“Tanner?”

“Who else?”

She smiled. “I was at Waterside. It was a pretty day, and I was walking along the boardwalk eating an ice-cream cone.”

My stomach rumbled. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had ice cream. “I bet his smile was charming.”

“It was. He saw me and asked me my name. I know I’m not supposed to talk to strangers, but it was kind of nice to be noticed. Let’s face it, he’s cute when he tries.”

Della was right. Tanner was a good-looking man. And when he’d first smiled at me, I’d felt so special.

“Admit it, you had a little crush on him at first?” she said.

Confessing proved I’d been stupid. “I did.”

Della relaxed back against the wall. “I thought he was super sexy. The first time for us was in this house. And it was nice. Not earth shattering, but nice.”

“He didn’t kidnap you?”

“No.”

I understood what attraction to Tanner felt like. “Did you do it with him the first time down here?”

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