Page 8 of New Year

“No fair that you got her for the entire break,” Daria retorts, stomping her foot back and sticking out her tongue at Lily. “I haven’t seen her once, and I bet you saw her every day.”

Lily thinks about this and then looks back to me. “What if we find the bones?” she asks. “I might be scared, like Uncle Seamus.”

“Your uncle’s afraid of bones?” Chase asks, looking amused.

I’ve been so busy avoiding looking at him that I didn’t even see him edge closer to us.

“So scared he ran away at Christmas because the turkey had drumsticks,” Lily says.

I roll my eyes at her exaggeration, but Daria is giggling, a wicked gleam in her eye.

“That tracks,” Chase says. “Your sister’s afraid of bones too.”

“Or boners,” Daria says, ignoring a few people giving us dirty looks for laughing at such a sobering event.

“What’s a boner?” Lily asks so loudly that at least a dozen people look over.

“Go find Mom,” I say, giving her a nudge. “She’ll hug you if you get scared.”

Lily hesitates, but Mom comes hurrying over and takes her hand, leading her away. I watch to make sure she’s not pairing up with Tony Dolce before I relax and accept that Daria’s my partner. The last thing I need is for Mom to be chumming it up with an enemy of the Darlings.

“Since we’re an odd number, I’ll pair up with y’all,” Chase says.

“Um, no, we have catching up to do,” Daria says.

“Cool,” Chase says, looking unfazed. “I’m good at girl talk.”

“Nice try, but still no,” Daria says. “This doesn’t involve you. Go pair up with Brandon. He doesn’t like to talk to other girls because he thinks I’ll get jealous. Maybe you can learn something from him.”

Chase’s eyes meet mine, but I just shrug and look away. We said everything there is to say on New Year’s.

Still, he manages to snag my little finger and give it a squeeze. “You look pretty in blue,” he says, leaning in and lowering his voice so no one else can hear. Then he drops my hand and falls away to pair up with Brandon. I swallow down the lump in my throat, the howl of fury at the unfairness of it.We could have been together. He was going to break up with Lindsey.

“Come on,” Daria says, taking a whistle and a flashlight from a policewoman walking around handing out items we might need.

We start into the woods a few minutes later, walking along and scanning the dead leaves on the ground for any signs of disturbance. With the rain, it would probably be hard to tell where people had walked though, and we don’t see much.

Still, a sick shiver works its way up my spine. What if we find a body?

“My money’s on Preston Darling being responsible for the Dolce girl’s disappearance,” I say, shivering as I plod along. My jeans are already wet to the knees, and water is starting to seep into my shoes.

“Preston’s in the hospital, Sky,” Daria says, giving me a disapproving look. “And he would never hurt his cousin.”

“What does he have to do with this?” I ask.

“He’s the one who’s missing,” Daria says, like I should know this. “He was with that girl.”

My stomach lurches as I remember Colt’s smiling, smoky blue eyes and wandering hands, the way he kept calling me Montana even after I told him I was from Connecticut.

“Colt Darling’s missing?” I choke out.

“Not Colt,” Daria says. “Devlin. Oh my god, don’t you ever read my messages?”

“Um, no, I can’t because my mother is a prison warden who confiscates my phone for the most minor infraction,” I say bitterly. “And she failed to mention who we were looking for.”

“Oh damn,” Daria says. “No wonder you’re out of the loop. Don’t worry, I’ll get you caught up on everything.”

She takes my arm again, even though we’re supposed to be fanned out a little to cover more ground. Again, I’m filledwith gratitude for this girl. Sure, her motives are entirely selfish, as she loves being the one to deliver gossip, but I couldn’t care less. It’s a symbiotic relationship. She gets to fill me in and feel good about herself for being the first to tell me. I get to hear all the news and feel good about myself for being included. Guess I learned something in science after all.

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