Saint Sloan (Saint Sloan #1)(46)

Sloan had no idea what she was talking about. “Yeah, TV crime drama. Seems to be my life,” she mumbled with a half-grin. No sense in Donna knowing how much that sort of hurt her heart to hear. She didn’t want to be in a crime drama. A nice comedy would be good. Or a romance would be ideal. But when did things in movies or TV ever go smoothly?

After a few more goodbyes, Sloan left Donna’s and made her way home. Sure enough, Aaron’s Mustang, Mackenzie’s Honda, and Ray’s old Charger sat behind hers in the driveway. Her mom’s car was pulled in the yard, she supposed so the others would have a place to park.

Nerves started to get the better of her. This could either go really bad or really good, depending on whether they believed she hadn’t sent those roses to herself.

And, by the way, how Ray answered the burning question. Boyd said Ray hadn’t come to see him. Had he been lying, or was Ray the liar? Would everyone in her house, everyone who were supposed to be her friends, be telling her the truth?

“God… let’s do this,” she prayed with a sigh and opened her front door.

“Sloan?” her mom yelled. She could hear her but not see her.

“Yeah. It’s me. Sorry. I was at Donna’s.” Sloan tossed her keys in the bowl next to the door and laid her backpack down.

“In the kitchen. Everyone’s here,” her mom called again.

Sloan took just a second to get her nerves together before she stepped down the single step into the off-white kitchen. The kitchen hadn’t changed much since her dad had left with the younger woman, or as Sloan called it, Tiffani-gate. It was still off-white and still had a huge island in the middle. The trashcan sat next to the refrigerator, which sat next to the cabinets. The sink with the faucet that had scarred her face was in front of the window. To the right of that was some more counter space, and then a stainless steel oven stood next to the outside door. They didn’t have a kitchen table. No room, plus the island sat eight. Why need a table when the island practically was one.

The assembled group looked at her when she walked in and got very quiet. It was beginning to make Sloan paranoid. Still, she had to be confident and keep her head up. She refused to fall apart. “You all made it.” She forced a smile and sat on the right side of the table. Mackenzie was next to her. Aaron was at the head, opposite her mother, and Ray sat alone on the other side.

Sloan thought maybe she should have sat with him, but then stopped feeling bad about it. They weren’t there to declare their intentions. They were there to talk about the letters and who was sending them. It was much more important than which brother to date.

Much more important.

“We said we’d be here,” Aaron said, his hands locked in front of him on the island. His eyes fluttered to hers then back down. Her heart sank. What did that mean? Why couldn’t he look at her?

Awkward silence. Yay.

Finally, Mackenzie broke it. “Okay, can someone fill me in because I feel like I’m totally lost here. I mean, I know some of what’s going on, but not everything. I don’t think anyway.”

Sloan’s mother spoke up. “Mackenzie has a good point. I think maybe some of us have little bits and pieces, but not the whole picture. Sloan, you tell us exactly what’s been going on so we can all get on the same page. Okay?”

She couldn’t take her eyes off Aaron, who hadn’t looked in her direction yet.

“You sure you’ll believe me?”

That got his attention. “I never said I didn’t believe you.”

“Sure seemed like it at school.”

“Stop it!” Ray yelled from across the table. It shocked Sloan because Ray never yelled. Like… ever. “Can we get through this without fighting? Please!”

Sloan had never seen him so frustrated, and that was odd since she’d seen him carted off to a foster home a few months ago when Aaron had been on the run for attacking her. “Sure. Okay. I’ll start at the beginning.” For the second time that day, she told her story.

“Sunday after church, I got in my car to go eat with Ray and Aaron. There were five roses in the front seat and a note that said five days until the Fall.”

“What fall?” Mackenzie asked.

“I don’t know. I wish I did. I think I’d feel better if I knew, ya know?”

“The prom was five days from Sunday. Think that’s when this fall is supposed to happen?”

“Seems logical,” Ray answered. “Sloan and I are going to the prom together.”

“We all know that, brother,” Aaron commented with a sneer.

“Just putting it out there.” Ray smiled.

Oh yeah, this was going to be fun.

“Anyway,” Sloan went on before they snarked each other to death. “I didn’t think a lot about it. I mean, it was weird, but… whatever. Ray and Aaron both said they didn’t put the flowers in my car.”

“Is that the truth?” Mackenzie asked. She wasn’t feeling timid today. Then again, Mackenzie wasn’t the timid type.

“Yes,” Aaron said emphatically. Ray nodded.

“What happened next?” her mother asked.

“Okay, so Monday I got up and thought I saw Boyd looking at me from across the road. It was so strange.”

“Describe him,” Mackenzie said, pulling out a pen and paper to take notes. Seriously? Actually, why hadn’t Sloan thought of that? It was a smart thing to do.