I grabbed my keys and purse off the counter. “We’ll see you for dinner and maybe we can work on the DVD afterwards.”
“Sounds good. Do you have a minute, though? I need to talk to you about something.”
I glanced at the clock again. “Sure. I have a minute.” I sat back down and braced myself for an onslaught of wedding details.
“I got a call today,” Shane began. “You remember Pate?” “The prison guy?”
“Yeah. His lawyer contacted me. Seems our favorite prison historian is suffering from emotional distress since our visit and is demanding compensation.”
“Great. A lawsuit.” It had happened before, and usually didn’t go anywhere. People thought we were loaded and they were looking for easy money. “Can’t we threaten to sue him for menacing me?”
Shane nodded. “That’s my plan. I’m hoping to put an end to this before it gets off the ground.” He paused. “I haven’t mentioned any of this to your dad.”
“Good. He doesn’t need the stress.”
“There’s something else, Charlotte. Pate claims that there’s been damage done to the prison since we visited. He says he saw our van in the area last night.”
“He’s lying!”
“Yeah, I know. But he’s not letting go. Promise me you won’t go anywhere near the place.”
“No problem,” I said, getting up from the table. “I have no intention to ever return there.”
“Noah’s been talking about it, though. If he wants to swing by there, talk him out of it, okay?”
“Of course.” I thought Shane had misinterpreted something. There was no way Noah would want to drive an hour to gaze at the creepy old prison. “Do you think that burgundy car I saw had something to do with Pate?”
He nodded. “Yeah, I do. Maybe he hired a private investigator.”
“What a creep.”
Shane followed me to the front door. “Drive carefully.” He planted a quick kiss on my forehead.
As I got into my car, I thought about how Shane would make a great dad. Then I wondered if that was going to happen. Trisha already had three sons. Would she want another one? I shook my head and backed out of the driveway. It was too much change to digest.
I was able to get to Lincoln High before the final bell rang, which meant traffic wasn’t crazy yet. I parked across the street and stood next to my car. Ripples of heat danced on the street. The final bell rang from within the school building, and almost immediately, students flooded the parking lot. I watched them, the way they walked in groups and laughed. It made me a little envious. I had been one of them a few months earlier. This place had belonged to me. Now I was an alumnus, a word that made me sound older than I felt.
After a few minutes I spotted Noah. He was talking to a boy I recognized from last year’s AV class. Noah pointed to one of the back doors and the boy nodded. They were probably planning on taking footage the next day for the school news, and Noah was explaining where he wanted the camera.
As Noah was talking, another boy rushed past him, toward the bus line. His huge backpack knocked into Noah’s shoulder. Noah stumbled slightly, then reached out and grabbed the boy by his backpack.
“What’s your problem?” Noah yelled so loudly that I could hear him from across the street. People stopped and turned to look. The boy, who seemed like a typical nervous freshman, glanced around, confused.
“I’m late for my bus,” he stammered.
“So you thought it would be okay to knock into people?” Noah was now gripping the front of the boy’s shirt. “I’m sorry.”
A teacher rushed over. “What’s going on?” she demanded.
Noah released the boy. “Nothing. He’s late for his bus.”
The boy ran for the bus line. Noah said something to his AV partner, then began walking in my direction. He hadn’t seen me yet. I watched him, thinking that he looked different somehow. His face was lined with anger. And there was something else, something that wasn’t right, but I couldn’t identify it. He looked around.
“Noah!” I waved. “Over here!”
He saw me and smiled. Just like that, the anger disappeared. He looked perfectly normal as he strode toward me.
“Hey!” He kissed me softly. “I’m glad you’re here.”
“What happened back there?”
“Back where?” He looked over his shoulder. “Something happened?”
I was completely confused. “You almost got into a fight.”
He frowned. “That was nothing.”
“You were yelling.” The only other times I had heard Noah yell was when my family was being attacked and when Pate had gotten in my face. He was one of the most laid-back guys I’d ever met, someone who was comfortable with who he was. He didn’t take unintentional bumps personally, and he definitely didn’t become enraged over them.
Until now.
He opened the passenger door. “Let’s get out of here. It’s too hot.”
I got in and turned on the ignition. A lukewarm gust of air-conditioning blew at my face. I sat there, letting a long stream of cars drive past.
“You okay?” Noah asked.
“I don’t like seeing you so angry over something so stupid,” I said. “It’s not like you.”
“Charlotte, it was no big deal. I wasn’t even that mad.”
“You seemed mad. I thought you were going to punch that kid.”
Noah laughed. “I wasn’t going to do anything. I think you read too much into what you saw. Seriously, it was nothing.” He took my hand in his. “You know me. I’m not that way.”
Maybe he was right. Maybe I’d seen it wrong. There were so many people wandering around. But my instincts told me that wasn’t it. I glanced at the bruise on Noah’s neck, the constant reminder that he had been touched by evil. Had some of that evil seeped through him? It seemed ridiculous, but it was an idea I couldn’t get past.
I reined myself in before I could concoct any more wild concepts. This was Noah. Getting frustrated by a clumsy kid was not evil. It was human. Still, I hated to see him riled up, and I didn’t like the way he was dismissing the incident as if it was nothing.
“I heard you yell. I could hear you all the way across the street.”
He kissed my hand. “I did yell, you’re right. I was irritated is all. It’s been a long day and that kid’s backpack must’ve weighed a hundred pounds. It really hurt my shoulder.” He pulled the neck of his T-shirt down a little to reveal a red mark forming on his skin. “Great,” he muttered. “That’s gonna bruise.”
I automatically looked at his neck again.
“Does it hurt?” My concern over his outburst had morphed into concern over his shoulder.
“It’s sore.” He smiled. “But I know how you can make it better.”
I returned his smile. “We have two hours until dinner. Where do you want to go?” “You decide.”
I wanted to be alone with Noah. Someplace cool, with lots of shade, but quiet, as well. An oasis away from everyone else.
“I know a place,” I said as I put the car in Drive. “It’s crowded, but no one will say a word to us. It’s perfect.”
five
On the