At the Quiet Edge(69)

Lily blinked several times. She’d expected this meeting would cause the floor to fall from beneath her feet, but now it was rising fast, launching her through the air, everything moving in the wrong direction. “We live here,” she said weakly, her hand barely rising to indicate the door to the apartment behind her. “My son and I.”

“I understand that could be an issue,” Gretchen agreed. “In fact, we actually discussed it. You’ll need time to find a new place. And there’s always the chance that your replacement might not be open to on-site housing. If that happened, you could stay if you liked.”

Stay? Lily shook her head. Why would she want to stay?

“This is just an offer, of course. The regional manager position would mean local travel, and maybe that’s not appealing to you since you have a son. But I’ve personally found it’s easy to adjust the schedule so you’re never away overnight.”

Regional manager. She’d supervise eleven different locations in Kansas and Oklahoma. She could base her work from home, Gretchen had said. Which meant she’d have to find a home. Something with a yard, a deck, a tree to shade them on hot days.

Her head swam, dizzy with the whiplash between what she’d feared and what had been offered. “This is . . .” She shook her head again, but nothing cleared. “Wow. I really wasn’t expecting this. I’m in shock, I think.”

Gretchen looked like a proud mama, though Lily barely knew her. “I love surprising people,” she gushed. “I could tell you had no idea, but you’ve been our top performer for a couple of years now. So meticulous! And now that this position has opened up . . . Well, we’re really excited about this opportunity.”

It finally began to sink in. There were no suspicions. There was no investigation. Instead she’d been offered a raise. A rather big raise, though she’d have to pay rent or a mortgage.

But she and Everett could move, just as she’d dreamed. Live in a real neighborhood with real neighbors. Move to whatever nearby place would make her son happy.

“This is amazing,” she finally said, and the smile that had begun to slip a little from Gretchen’s face blazed back to life. “I do need to think it over, though. Talk to my son. It would be a big change.”

“Of course!” She slid a piece of paper closer to Lily. “Here are the details. You talk to your son and give me a call in a couple of days, if that works for you. And call with any questions at all, of course. We’ll be working together a lot if you say yes!”

Lily nodded, biting back the urge to immediately shout that she’d take the promotion. It was a good offer, more than she’d make with an entry-level accounting position, and the job would still involve a lot of the accounting work she loved. But she’d also have to deal with human resources issues, managing personnel, and then there was the travel.

After she shook Gretchen’s hand, Lily walked her outside into a day filled with sunbeams filtering through angry gray clouds. Once Gretchen was in her car and safely away, Lily balled up her hands, closed her eyes, and let out a scream. She bounced as high as she could, then jumped again. “Yes, yes, yes!”

She’d done it. She’d put her head down, worked her ass off, and she’d pulled her future out of the deep muck that could have sucked her under for the rest of her life. This was good. It was really good. And Everett wasn’t in danger. Maybe if she got him away from here, away from the isolation and boredom and the temptation of unattended goods . . .

“What’s going on?” a voice called, making Lily yelp. She opened her eyes to find Sharon already across the street and walking up to the gate, a big smile on her face.

“Hi, Sharon. I got some good news, that’s all. Sorry about the screaming.”

“Oh yeah? What kind of good news?”

“A raise,” she fudged, since the decision wasn’t made yet.

“That is good news! I know how hard you work. You deserve it.”

“Thank you.”

“I have a little wine in the fridge! Why don’t you come over? We should celebrate. It’s been way too long.”

“Oh, I . . . I can’t today. I’m sorry. Everett will be home soon.”

Sharon’s face fell for a moment but quickly brightened again. “Nour saw Everett with that cute friend of his again.”

“Josephine?”

“Yeah, they were tearing out across the meadow on their bikes. Doing some exploring. Nice to see kids their age playing outside instead of permanently hooked up to video games.”

It was nice, but Lily couldn’t help but think of Everett’s lies, and that footage of them disappearing into Alex’s unit. But biking was good. Biking was positive.

Everything was positive today. The dizziness returned, and she had to blink back a threat of exhausted tears.

Sharon moved a little closer. “Anything more from that detective?”

“No. Nothing. Why?”

“Well, I’ve been keeping my eyes peeled, and there have definitely been a lot of lurkers around.”

Sharon could spot a threat anywhere, so Lily wanted to be clear. “Just the cops? Or other people?”

“I told Mendelson he could use our lot anytime, of course. But I’ve definitely noticed more cars in general. Haven’t you? You keep an eye on that boy of yours.”