Page 52 of Hidden Memories

What the hell is going on? Callum says Kat believes her dad didn’t do it. I know he is not a good man, though, and I wouldn’t put it past him to lie.

But would he break into her house? Into Julia’s outbuilding? For what reason? Control over something. Paul had Kat trailed when we were together. It was embarrassing how much he knew about us when we thought our entire love affair was private.

But why would Paul want to hurt her?

An hour later, there’s a knock at my door.

It’s Julia and Kat. Trailing not far behind them are Ava and my dad.

“Kat!” my dad calls as he rushes up the stairs. “How did it go?”

Shit.

Now my dad is on a first-name, nosy-ass basis with Kat. That’s all I need. He’s going to be all up in my business, and worse than that, something unsettling stirs in me.

I told Kat so much about my dad back in the day… I wonder what she thinks of him now. And him of her.

“It’s all fine,” she answers, then glances at me, almost like she’s reading my mind. “We met at Heritage this morning.”

I lift a brow. “I gather.”

But my gaze lands on her wrist, wrapped in bandages, and my blood starts to simmer.

I should have been at the damn hospital. I should have seen what the hell was going on at Heritage. I hate being out of the loop, especially when it comes to her, even though I don’t belong in her orbit anymore.

Ava appears beside my dad like she’s been summoned by some town gossip bat signal. She and my old man are like Scooby-Doo and Shaggy with this shit. They probably spent the whole day texting about the new girl in town and whatever the hell was uncovered at Heritage.

I cut Ava a glance.Not you, too, Nancy Drew.

But the truth is, I shouldn’t be surprised. Ava collects people. Maybe because she spent most of her life without any. Her only friend before Enzo was Anton, and he’s a lot older than her. She’s got an old soul, but she carries it with sunshine.

Still. Even for Ava, she seems… invested in Kat.

She touches Kat’s arm gently. “Luis told me what happened. Are you okay?”

Kat looks a little overwhelmed by all the attention. She doesn’t realize this is Echo Valley yet—if you stay here long enough, you don’t just get a community. You get an entire town breathing down your neck.

I rake a hand through my hair, glancing at the assembled crowd on my porch. “Well, if this isn’t the definition of a surprise party, I don’t know what is.” I push open the door. “Might as well come inside.”

My eyes flick to my watch. The social worker will be here in twenty minutes.

No time for this.

I shift my attention to Kat. “I need to talk to you. Alone.”

Her gaze flickers to Theo, who’s playing cards with Owen on the couch.

Theo glances up, noticing his mom. “Is it all okay? Like you thought?” he asks.

Kat puts on a small smile. “No biggie. Just a sprain.”

Theo relaxes. “Cool.”

His focus drops back to his cards, and Kat follows me toward my study, but her gaze lingers on Theo like she’s seeing something new. Maybe she didn’t expect my babysitting to go this well.

I close the door behind us and toss my cap onto the desk. No point in wasting time. “What the hell is going on?”

Her eyes widen. I can see her debating whether to let me in.

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