My pulse quickened.Maybe they'd decided to stay at a hotel or something?
I considered this possibility for nearly an hour until curiosity overcame my better instincts.
Silently, I padded down the bedroom hall and listened at each bedroom door for the sounds of activity.
I heard nothing.
Feeling like a total idiot, I called out, "Hello? Is anyone home?"
Silence.
Cautiously, I opened the nearest bedroom door and peered inside. On the floor near the bed was a single black duffle bag.Brody's?
Probably.
I padded to the second bedroom and rapped lightly on the door before calling out again. When I received no response, I pushed open the door and frowned at what I saw inside. There it was – all of Waverly's luggage lined up against the far wall.
Apparently, I still had roommates – and my bedroom.
By now, I had no idea what to think.
Had Brody stuck up for me?
It seemed incredibly unlikely. But no other theory made sense.
Already, I'd figured out that he wasn't the same person I recalled from high school. But what he'd become since then, I couldn’t be sure.
And all of the mixed signals weren't helping.
Sometime around midnight, I was hiding out in my bedroom when Brody and Waverly returned from who-knows-where.Maybe dinner? Or something else?
As far as my own dinner, I'd eaten alone, consuming the rest of the pizza from the previous night.
After the return of my roommates, I remained firmly in my bedroom, preferring solitude over their dubious company.
Waverly, I could handle. But Brody?He made me nervous, because my feelings for him swung so wildly – from pure hatred to something a lot more unsettling.
Right then and there, I decided that I'd be smart to avoid him as much as possible.
And I would've, too, if only I weren't forced to spend some serious time with him the very next day.
Chapter 28
Arden
I gave Roy a puzzled look. "But what are we supposed to talk about?"
"That's up to you," Roy said, hoisting his video camera higher onto his shoulder. "It's visual only. No audio."
I was standing on my grandparent's front porch with Roy and Brody. It was just past seven-thirty in the morning, and Roy had greeted me at the front door with an unsettling announcement. Apparently, Brody and I would begin the day by walking along the beach while Roy filmed us.
I gave Brody a sideways glance. From the look on his face, he wasn't any happier about this than I was.
I asked Roy, "But what does that have to do with the house?"
"You're the consultant," Roy said, as if this explained everything.
It didn't."But—
