Page 110 of Loud Unspoken Memories

I cock my head and give her the side-eye. “What aren’t you telling me?”

She smacks her lips. “Promise you won’t go all big brother on me?”

“No.”

Her eyes roll. “I may have hooked up with him last night.”

“Marti’s brother? Are you fucking crazy?”

She gives me a hard stare. “Says the pot to the kettle.”

I hold out my hands. “Fine. Fine. But they went to the party? And they stayed… here?”

It makes total sense now, why my old room smells like her.

My mind reels over what might have happened had I been here. Had the police not needed to talk to me and I’d come home to find her here. In my old house. In my oldroom.

Would it have changed anything?

Or was the police interview some sort of divine intervention that kept me from coming home earlier?

Allie shoves her phone in my face. “We got some great pictures. You missed a heck of a party.”

I push it away, not wanting to see any reminders ofher. Ofthem.

“You’re an idiot,” she declares.

“Never said I wasn’t.” I grab the coat. “I’m going to go lie down.”

~ ~ ~

A hand rubbing my arm wakes me. For a moment, my heart pounds.Is it her?

My mother looks down on me with a sad smile. “You okay, honey?”

“Yes. No.” I sit up. “To be honest, I have no idea.”

“You’ve been through a lot in the past few weeks. Asher and Marti told us everything. It’s understandable you’d be shaken up. Especially after what happened with Charlie.”

“So he’s okay?”

“He’s more than okay. He’s a very special little boy,” she says, getting that look in her eye.

“Mom, don’t start on me too. It’s been a long day.”

She sits on the edge of the bed just like she used to when I was a kid. “I’m here for you no matter what.”

My head slumps and I rub my eyes over and over. “It’s gone. It’s all gone.”

“Oh, honey, you haven’t lost—”

“I mean my cabin. It’s gone. Burned to the ground along with everything in it.”

Her eyes widen in horror. “Are you injured?”

“I wasn’t there. I couldn’t go back after… Well, I just couldn’t. I was staying at a hotel in town. When I showed up this morning to pack my stuff, it was all smoke and ash.” I nod to the vase on the desk. “That’s literally the only thing left.”

She scoots up onto the bed and wraps her arm around my shoulder. “Thank God you weren’t there. I’m so sorry about the cabin, Dallas, but maybe in some strange way it’s for the best. You needed to move on. You’re like the Phoenix rising from the ashes.” She touches my heart. “And the only memories you really need are safe in here.”

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