Lovely Girls(82)

“I feel a lot like I was stabbed in the chest with a chef’s knife.”

Joe grimaced. “Don’t remind me.”

“Where’s Alex?”

“She went to the cafeteria to grab something to eat. I said I’d sit with you while she’s there.”

“Where is she staying while I’m here? Is she still at home?” I asked.

Joe nodded. “She insisted on it. That detective . . . the suspicious-looking guy with the squinty eyes?”

“Gavin Reddick,” I said.

“He wanted to arrange for a family member to come stay with her. Your mom, I think. But Alex absolutely refused.”

“Smart girl,” I said. “My mom is a handful.”

“He’s posting a police detail at the house to make sure she’s safe. And I’ll keep my eye on her. Make sure she has food, all that good stuff. They said you’ll be discharged in a few days.”

“Good,” I said. I was feeling sleepy again. “Knowing you, you’ll bring her an entire luau feast, including a roast suckling pig.”

Joe’s eyes softened as he looked down at me. He stroked my brow with his fingers, which was surprisingly relaxing. “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of everything. You just rest and get better.”





CHAPTER FIFTY




* * *





KATE

“That looks absolutely terrifying,” I said, staring up at the giant roller coaster. Joe hadn’t been kidding. The track went straight up in the air at a ninety-degree angle from the ground and then plunged back down again, the passengers on board screaming the whole time. Just looking at it made me queasy. “Are you sure you want to ride that?”

“Absolutely,” Alex said.

“It’s fun!” Sean said with the enthusiasm of a roller coaster fanatic. “You should try it.”

I shook my head. “I think I’ll pass.”

I thought it would probably hurt like hell to be strapped into a roller coaster. A month had passed since Emma stabbed me, and I had mostly recovered. But there was lingering pain.

“You don’t know what you’re missing,” Sean said.

Joe’s son looked just like him. They had the same kind brown eyes and full mouths. They even stood the same way, their backs straight and weight shifted to their heels, arms folded in front of their chests. Sean was an easygoing kid, and he and Alex had gotten on surprisingly well.

In fact, our Thanksgiving trip to Universal Studios had gone better than I would have imagined. Alex and Joe had bonded over jokes and a shared love of junk food. In the weeks since Daphne and Shae had been arrested, Alex had been slowly unwinding. She wasn’t quite back to the untroubled girl she’d been before her father died, but she had lost her brittle, fragile veneer.

“Dad, you’re coming, right?” Sean asked Joe.

“No, you kids go ahead. I’ll stay and keep Kate company on the ground,” Joe said.

“Come on,” Sean said to Alex. “I’m going to see if we can ride in the front row.”

The two teens headed off toward the roller coaster. Joe and I watched them, both smiling.

“They’re getting along well,” I said.

“I think Sean is like the annoying little brother Alex never wanted,” Joe said.

“Are you sure you don’t want to ride with them? I’m okay hanging out on my own.”

“Can I tell you a secret? The last time I rode that roller coaster, I almost threw up afterward. It’s a little too intense, even for me.”

I laughed. “I hope the kids won’t get sick.”

“They’re kids. They’re built for roller coasters.” Joe gestured toward an empty bench. “Do you want to sit down? You must be getting tired.”

“I’m fine,” I said reflexively. If I kept telling everyone I was fine, maybe I would convince myself. But he was right; I was tired. I still fatigued quickly.

We sat, and Joe slipped his arm around my shoulders. It was a beautiful day, warm and sunny. The park had been decorated for the holidays, and so there were Christmas trees and wreaths and festive red bows wherever we looked. It smelled like popcorn and coconut-scented sunscreen.

“This has been a nice break,” I said. “I think Alex and I both needed it.”

“She seems like she’s doing well.”

“I think so too. I thought that with all the media frenzy surrounding the murder case, she’d get overwhelmed. But it’s been just the opposite. It seems like the more the truth gets out about what happened, the more grounded she is.” I shook my head. “Especially considering how crazy it’s all getting.”

Almost as soon as Daphne and Shae were taken into custody, their arrests had become a national news story. I shouldn’t have been surprised. Daphne and Shae were photogenic, privileged, and, on the surface, unlikely murderers. Their victim was an honors student with a bright future ahead of her. When you added in the inappropriate sexual relationship between Coach Townsend and Daphne, which had been the first domino that was tipped over in the events leading up to Callie’s murder, and Shae’s mother stabbing me, it was a pretty salacious story. All the major news channels had covered it, and Lita had told me—when she’d cornered me at Target in the paper towel aisle—that there was a production team in town working on a documentary about Callie’s murder and the upcoming trials.