Page 23 of Always Be an Us

All I know is that they were close once and may or may not have been high school sweethearts and had a falling out at some point. It’s intriguing and I have a bunch of possible stories crafted in my mind but my questions on that topic always go unanswered.

"Alright, I think I’m good to go," My grandpa says, throwing his fishing sack over his shoulder. "I’m feeling lucky enough to catch me a nice big bass today."

"I hope so. I’ve had just about enough pike as I can take."

"Alright. You going to the Tiki Bar today?"

"Yeah. For the afternoon shift." Carly showed up today and as a favor for covering her shift, she’s letting me come in late. She knows how to pour simple drinks and, apart from our little visitor, most of our patrons aren't picky.

But Carly didn't need to pay me back. I would have covered her shift anyway. It’s not like we can afford to let her go and hire someone else at this point.

Although, we might have to let her go anyway.

"Alright. Well then man the fort till then and don’t get into too much trouble."

"I won’t," I respond but before the words can even fully leave my mouth a loud knock sounds at the door. Grandpa and I glance at it in unison and then back at each other.

"You expecting anyone?" Grandpa asks and I shake my head, slipping out of my seat. I head to the doorway and look through the peephole, spotting familiar brown curls.

Oh no. Not this again.

Frowning, I pull open the door to find Amelia standing in the doorway, with the journal in hand and an apologetic look on her face.

"Hi." She lifts her hands and waves.

I don’t let it sway me. "What are you doing here Amelia?"

"I had a few questions for your Grandpa," she says. "See I was reading the journal and I noticed a couple of pages were missing. I wanted to ask if he knew what happened to them."

"Oh." Grandpa comes around behind me and his eyes gleam as he stares down at her with a smile. "It’s your little friend. Anna."

"Amelia." We both correct.

"There are some missing pages in the diary," Amelia continues. "Looks like they were ripped out. Do you know where they are?"

"Oh, I’m afraid that’s a mystery to grandfather as well," he says. "It was like that when I found it."

"Oh." Amelia's shoulders sag her disappointment.

"But I have a few theories about what could have happened to it." Grandpa rubs his chin musingly. Then he drops his sack by the door. "Oh well, I suppose I can delay my fishing trip for a few more hours. The sun won’t come down anytime son. Come on in and I’ll make you some tea and tell you all about it."

Grandpa heads to the kitchen beckoning us to follow.

Amelia grins and nods, but I block her as she makes a move to enter.

I raise an eyebrow at her. "Does your dad know where you are?"

"Yeah," she says and almost sounds convincing except for a slight tilt at the end of her tone. I raise an eyebrow at her and she sighs.

"Okay maybe not exactly," she says. "But I left a note this time, in case he was looking for me."

"You left a– Amelia, you can’t keep doing this."

"Doing what?"

"Running off on your dad. He was really worried about you when you did it a few days ago and one day you might give the man a heart attack."

"He’s not that old," she giggles but I don’t smile. She sighs.

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