Page 110 of Over & Out
He nods, looking not surprised so much as mystified by my life.
I thrust out my hand. “Hopper, by the way.”
“Miles.”
I back up, heading for the back of the store again before turning around at the door to the stockroom. “Hey, Miles?”
He grunts.
“You’re only an asshole so long as you believe it. Maybe we can grab a beer when I’m back in town? If you’re interested. I could use a no-bullshit friend.”
He makes a noncommittal sound. But I interpret that as a maybe. It’s a start.
I sprint the rest of the way out of the building, and when I see I’m in the clear. I run the whole way to the pier.
Chapter 37
Chris
Two weeks after I last saw Hopper’s face in person, I see him in an article Adrian sends me.
The article’s headline isHave You Seen the Muffin Man?And the image is of him—and Miles—mouths open, with a muffin in midair in the foreground.
I immediately forward it to Dolly, who calls me, losing it. She can’t stop laughing, and neither can I.
“I’m framing it!” she declares. “It’s going on the wall.” It’s good to laugh, since I haven’t been feeling it lately. I miss Hopper so much I can barely breathe. Even though I know why he hid everything from me, I still can’t quite bridge the gap to being where we were. And now he’s in LA, getting ready for the Iggies, which are happening tomorrow.
My friends are constantly reaching out to me to hang out, and sometimes I do. I had a semi-enjoyable time on Shelby’s boat. But seeing the beach made me have to hide tears. It’s like that most days. So most of the time I’mkeeping myself distracted by doing online research. And working at the Dinghy.
The most shocking development besides the Muffin Man article is that Shay moved from her house. I hadn’t seen her at the track lately and she wasn’t answering her phone. I got so worried, I did something really stupid. I went to her house with a plan to make up some story about being a teacher and recruiting for a high school club. But when I knocked, the door swung open.
Panic gripped my chest as I saw through the crack that the place was empty. The only thing in there amid the reek of cigarette smoke and old beer was some scattered garbage and abandoned clothes.
“They moved,” a voice on the street called up at me.
I whirled around. A tired-looking woman pushing a stroller had seen me and stopped. “Neighbor said they got some kind of inheritance and took off.”
I opened and closed my mouth like a fish before finding my voice. “They all went?”
“Just Shay and that asshole stepdad of hers. Mom’s been having a rough time; hasn’t been here in a while. Shay went to live with family, though. Looked happy. Lord knows where he went.”
I swallowed, my pulse racing with worry. “Thank you,” I whispered.
Then I called Tru. “Whoever you guys hire to do background checks, I need you to talk to them. Please. I need to find out what happened to someone missing.”
Once she calmed me down, she promised she’d get her guy to look into it. I got the confirmation backthree days later. Not from Tru, though. From Shay, who finally returned my call.
“OMG, I’m so, so sorry!” she told me. “But guess what?”
She told me she moved in with a second cousin of her mom’s, in Alberta, who didn’t even know she existed. That her mom, who she hadn’t seen in a few years, is moving a few hours away and taking steps to get clean.
“We went camping and all left our phones. They have a camper and do these unplugged trips… Aunt Susan and Uncle Bill. I mean, technically, Susan’s my cousin, but I call her Aunt Susan. Anyway, she’ssonice. She said it was okay for me to talk to you. I’ve got cousins my own age here, and my own room…they even let me bring Betty!”
I swallowed down the thickness in my throat at all her gushing out-of-order news that only sort of made sense to me. Her being happy and wanted was a gift. Even if I knew it meant I was likely never to see her again.
“You tell me if you ever come back here, okay?” I ask.
“I promise.”
