“I’ve seen that face every night for almost a year; I’d know it anywhere.” She shook her head as if she were trying to force his picture out of her mind. “I wasn’t ready. I didn’t expect to see him. Why didn’t someone tell me he went to church here?” She turned and looked at me. “Riley, why didn’t you tell me?”
“Who was it, Attie?” Joshua asked.
She slowly turned and looked into Joshua’s face.
“I saw the man that killed my mother.”
chapter 17
Joshua joined us in the family room. “She’s all right. I think that she’ll be fine.”
“Can I go up now?” I asked. “Can I check on her?”
I hadn’t even seen Attie since church. Joshua and Nicole brought her home in their car and took her straight upstairs.
“Not right now, Riley. I want to talk to you two. I think I might want to try something tonight.”
My heart started racing. “Look, we’re not gonna make her sleep alone after today, are we? She’ll have a really bad one tonight, I know it.”
“No, Riley, I won’t do that to her,” Joshua answered. He turned to my dad. “Mr. Bennett, if it’s all right with you, I’d like to take Riley home with me tonight and then have Nicole sleep over here. I want to get her perspective on what’s going on.”
“No way, I’m not doing it.” I hadn’t spent a night away from Attie since she arrived, and I wasn’t planning on changing the routine.
“Riley,” Dad scolded. “This is about Attiline, not you. If this is what we need to do to help her find out what’s going on, then that’s what we’re gonna do.”
“It’s just for a night, Riley. You can come back first thing in the morning,” Joshua informed. “I thought we’d make it a little less frightening for Attie and let her have a friend or two over if that’s okay with you, Mr. Bennett?”
“Whatever you think; we can make it a sleepover or whatever it is they call them. A big shindig. We can celebrate her singing debut,” Dad suggested.
I started to speak, but Joshua cut me off. “We can stay until it’s time for them to go to bed, and then we’ll head to my house. What, you don’t want a boys’ night out?”
“Not really,” I mumbled.
“You’re getting too attached,” Dad said.
“I’m not too attached, Dad. I’m concerned.”
“Mr. Bennett—” Joshua began.
“Tom,” Dad corrected.
“Tom, I wouldn’t worry about Riley and Attie being too attached right now. I think he’s helping her.”
I appreciated Joshua’s input, and Dad looked relieved. “All right, if you say so.”
Nicole and Attie made their way down the stairs, and I ran to her and gave her a hug. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine, Riley, really.”
She looked exhausted. Not so much physically, but mentally. A year of sleepless nights was draining her, and the constant turmoil had taken a toll on her body.
“Hey, Attiline, we have a great idea,” Dad announced.
“You do?” Her voice sounded tired.
“Yeah, in order to celebrate your wonderful singing today, why don’t you have some friends spend the night? We can have a little party!”
“Oh?” Her brow creased. “I don’t know. It may not be the right night.”
“I think it’s the perfect night,” Joshua announced. “Nicole wants to come too, and if you have a bad dream, she’ll be there.” He tried to sound encouraging, but she didn’t seem to buy it.
“If this is some type of therapy thing, I’d prefer you just tell me that rather than try to sell it as a party.”
Attie was no idiot; she could smell a rat from a mile away.
“All right, Attie,” Joshua conceded. “It is. I want Nicole here with you to see what’s going on. But you might as well make it as much fun as possible, get a good girls’ night out of it.”
“Come on, Attie,” Nicole said softly as she grabbed her arm. “It’ll be fun! I haven’t been to a sleepover in years. Make an old woman ecstatic and let me sleep over.”
Attie smirked. “All right, I guess.”
“Riley’s going to come to my house,” Joshua explained.
Attie immediately looked concerned. “Riley won’t be here?”
“It’ll be okay, Charlie.”
“There’s a present involved,” Dad taunted.
“Present?” Attie perked up. I smiled at her sudden joy. “I do love presents,” she said softly.
“It’s a good one, Attiline. I’ve been saving it for the perfect time, and this is it.”
I was amazed at watching Dad with Attie. He doted on her. His love was visible and so powerful that it showed even in the way that he looked at her. In his own way, he wanted to help her.
“Well, all right,” she finally conceded.
“Yay!” Nicole clapped her hands.
“Do I get to invite the girls over?” Attie asked.
“Yeah, go give them a call,” Dad encouraged. “Nicole, why don’t you go collect your things and head back over?”
“Yes! I’ll be back in no time!” Nicole ran out the door and down the street.
I followed Attie as she went upstairs to call the girls.
“So they’re kicking you out? What’s all this about?”
“I’m not sure. I just told them I’d go along with it. I’m not happy about it at all.” I might as well be honest with her; she would know if I was lying.
“It’ll be okay,” she said. “You need a good night’s sleep. All this sleep deprivation can’t be good for you.”
“I’m getting used to it.”
Out of nowhere, she clutched onto my arm. “I’m scared, Riley.”
I pulled her to me and wrapped my arms snugly around her. “I know.”
“I haven’t spent a night without you since I got here. What if I have a really bad one tonight? I’ll need you here, not Nicole.”
“I wanna be here too, but they think this will end up helping you in the long run.”
“You know what to do. You know how to make them stop. What if Nicole doesn’t? What if she doesn’t wake me up in time?”
“She will. I’ll tell her what to do. Please don’t worry; it’ll only make things worse.”
“And what about the girls? They’ll hear me. They’ll know.”
“They’ll understand.”
“I guess I’ll need to fill them in on my issues. That should make for quite the party.”
“It won’t be that bad. They’re your friends, Charlie; they won’t care, and they’ll wanna help you—just like me.”
“Nothing like sympathy friendships.” She winced at her own comment. “Forget that I even said that; I’m not in a very good mood.”
“Attie, we aren’t your friends out of sympathy—at least I’m not. During the day, you’re a very normal girl,” I teased.
She giggled. “Unless I’m having a nervous breakdown or a crying fit.”
“Well, yeah, other than those things.”
Within the hour all the girls arrived, and I got stuck carrying pillows, sleeping bags, and other items up the stairs. Attie’s room filled with all things girl, and the sounds coming from downstairs resembled cackling hens.
“Riley, get down here,” I heard her scream for me. “I want to open my gift!” There was excitement in her voice, and I didn’t wanna make her wait any longer.
I ran down the stairs. “All right, all right. Let’s get the party started.”
Mom ran around in the kitchen making food for the girls with her iPod on full blast. She was in heaven; she lived for this kind of stuff.
“I can’t belie
ve you’re leaving me here alone with all these girls,” Dad complained.
“You should come with Riley to my house. Surely we can think of something manly to do,” Joshua suggested. “You can sleep in the guest bedroom.”
Dad raised an eyebrow. “Hey, that’s not a bad idea.”
“We can rent a shoot ‘em up movie on pay-per-view or something,” I added.
“I’ve got some cigars we can enjoy,” Joshua said, sweetening the offer.
“Deal.” Dad accepted immediately.
“In the meantime, give the poor girl her gift; she’s about to lose it,” I begged.
Dad walked into his bedroom and then came out holding two gifts that looked exactly the same. He handed one to Attie and the other to me.
“Riley gets a gift? He didn’t humiliate himself in front of the entire church today. Why does he get a gift?” Attie pouted.
“Hey, I deserve a gift!” I defended. “Look at the holes in my arm.” I showed everyone the claw marks. “You did that this morning before you sang.”
“Well, good grief, you were making me nervous.”
“I was making you nervous? Gimme a break.”
“You both deserve a gift,” Mom declared.
“Yeah, Charlie, we both deserve a gift.”
“Shut up, Riley.”
“Just open it, Attie. Let’s see what it is,” Anne cheered.
Attie and I looked at each other. “Ready?” I asked.
She nodded.
“Go,” I ordered.
We tore into the paper.
“Cell phones!”
Everyone clapped as we tore into the boxes.
“We got you the same ones, except Attiline’s is crimson and Riley, yours is silver.” Dad acted as excited as we did. “I got one for all of us. We’re on a family plan, so we can talk to each other as much as we want, and I also got something called unlimited texting. All our numbers are exactly the same except for the last digit.”
“This is so cool, Dad!”
“Thank you! I love it!” Attie jumped into Dad’s lap and gave him a kiss on the cheek before jumping onto the couch next to me. “Look, Riley, it has a camera and everything!”
Attie got busy playing with her phone and taking pictures of the girls. I grabbed it and took a picture of all the girls together so that she could put it on her home screen.
“Here, Riley,” Tammy said, snatching my phone out of my hand. “Let me take a picture of you and Attie.”
Attie climbed onto my lap and wrapped her arms around my neck before Tammy snapped picture after picture.
“Here you go, Riley, you’ve got several to choose from,” she said, winking at me.
As the girls shrilled and played with the phone, I looked through the photos that Tammy had taken. They were all good, but my heart stuttered when I saw the last one. I’d imagined the moment when I drew the picture last winter. Attie smiled at me the same way she smiled at her dad. Her nose was scrunched up, and she looked blissful.
A small shiver ran up my spine as I saved it as my home screen picture.
The evening continued as we ate dinner and played a mean game of Chicken Run Dominos. Of all people, Joshua won the game and gloated about it for the rest of the evening.
“Look what I brought,” Tess announced as she ran to her purse and pulled out a video. She held it up, and squealing erupted out of every person in the room without a Y chromosome. It was Pride and Prejudice.
“That’s our sign to leave,” Joshua announced as he stood up.
I couldn’t have agreed more.
Dad and I loaded up our stuff and headed for the front door. When I turned around to say good-bye to Attie, she and my mom were busy reading the video cover. I left without getting a chance to talk to her.
As we walked down the street to Joshua’s house, my pocket started vibrating. I quickly threw all my stuff to the ground and snatched the phone out of my pocket.
I had one new text message: “U didn’t sA gdby 2 me ”
I replied: “U wr bZ”
I stood still and waited for her response.
“Are you coming, Riley?”
“Go ahead, Dad. I’ll be right there.”
I couldn’t wait to get another text from Attie.
“Look at that, Joshua, he hadn’t had that darned phone for an entire day, and he’s already addicted to it.”
My phone vibrated again: “Nvr 2 bZ 2 sA gdby ”
I responded: “zzz wel.”
She replied: “Vry funE. C U 2moz.”
Picking my stuff back up, I ran to catch up with Dad and Joshua.
“Who was that?” Dad asked.
“One of the guys,” I lied. He’d flip his lid if he knew Attie and I couldn’t go five minutes without talking to each other.
Dad, Joshua, and I watched the original Terminator and then sat on the back porch, and I watched as they smoked cigars. Time drug on until we all went our separate ways so we could get some sleep. I got the raw end of the deal and ended up on the couch.
Some time passed, so I picked up my phone to check the time. It was almost one thirty, and I hadn’t fallen asleep once. I looked at our picture on the phone and wondered if she’d fallen asleep yet. Had she had a nightmare? I wanted to text her, but I was afraid I would wake her up. If they watched the movie, she wouldn’t have gone to bed until at least eleven, and they more than likely talked a lot, so she was probly just now heading to bed.
I decided to go ahead and text her: “U zzz?”
In fewer than forty-five seconds my phone vibrated: “No wA”
I smiled. “U btr go 2 zzz. Dnt wnt 2 ruin xperiment.”
She quickly replied: “Y U tlkn? Yr awake 2. Am I lab rat now?”
Unfortunately, yes: “Sry”
Her response: “Tnx for chekin’ on me.”
I responded: “ Go 2 zzz now!”
My heart melted as I read her reply: “I’d feel btr noing u wr hre.”
I replied: “Me 2.”
(Attie)
“Charlie?”
“I must be dreaming because you’re not supposed to be here,” I grumbled.
“You dream about me?” I could hear a smile in Riley’s voice.
“Evidently.”
“I thought you only had nightmares.”
“My point exactly,” I teased.
I heard him laugh. “You aren’t asleep, silly.”
Opening my eyes, I realized that Riley was sitting next to me on the floor. “Good grief, what time is it? And what’s with your hair?”
“About eight o’clock.” He ran his fingers through his mane. “Why, what’s the matter with my hair?”
“It looks all neat.”
“I got bored waiting for you to wake up and tried to fix it.”
“Well, don’t do it again.” I signaled for him to come closer, and after he laid down on the floor and smiled over at me, I rooshed his hair with my fingers.
“Much better,” I announced. “Personally, I prefer the bed head look.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” He messed with it some more. “It’s easier like this anyway. I don’t know how you girls stand doing your hair every day.”
“Why do you think I wear mine in a ponytail all the time?”
“I like your hair in a ponytail.”
“Thanks, such a sweet boy. So where is everyone?”
“Downstairs eating breakfast.”
“How long have you been here?” I asked.
“Home or in your room?”
“Both.”
“Home since about five thirty and in your room since the girls went
downstairs about thirty minutes ago.”
I playfully slapped his face. “You do realize you’re hopeless?”
“I know.” Gently picking up my hand, he kissed the inside of my wrist and then placed my hand back onto my stomach.
“I stayed up as late as I could last night but eventually fell asleep. I don’t know if I had a nightmare or not. Have you heard?”
Lines formed between his eyebrows as his face grew full of concern, but he didn’t speak.
“I’ll take that as a yes. Was it bad?”
“Nicole said it was.”
“What’s going on, Riley? Why aren’t they going away? I’ve prayed, I’ve begged, I don’t know what else to do.”
He rolled onto his back and put his head on my pillow. “I don’t know. But don’t worry, we’ll figure it out. We’ll get rid of them eventually.”
“Did you get some sleep last night? Do you feel rejuvenated?” I asked.
“That would be a no and a no.”
“I can’t believe you aren’t running for the hills by now. I am a crazy person, you know. You should turn around and walk away. Walk away as quickly as humanly possible.”
“I’d much rather walk toward you than away. I’m not going anywhere. Me or my hair.”
“Well then, remember that you asked for it.”
“Asked for what?”
“Craziness.”
“Fine. I hereby acknowledge that you’ve made me fully aware that with you comes a dose of craziness. I accept the challenge—look forward to it actually.”
“Good grief, you are hopeless.”
“I’ve already admitted that.”
“Are you hopelessly devoted?” I teased.
Riley laughed. “That’s my girl. A little Grease reference, eh?”
“Are you kidding? My mom loved that movie. I’ve seen it one hundred times.”
“Yes,” he added, looking over at me. “As cheesy as it sounds, I’m hopelessly devoted.”
“Good.”
We lay there for several more minutes before hearing someone enter the room.
“Hi, Joshua,” I greeted. “Did you gather enough information to figure me out?”
He walked over and sat onto the bed. “Sadly, no.”