Page 71 of Sunday Morning

Mom eyed me. “No. Actually, she didn’t.”

I cleared my throat, trying not to look at Isaac, but it was hard. “Yeah. We went to dinner, and then he wasn’t feeling well.”

“You were home kind of late for dinner,” Dad said, casting a hard glance in my direction.

Again, I cleared my throat, clasping my hands at my back. “We left the movie early when his stomach was feeling funny.”

“What movie did you see?” Vi asked, but she wasn’t testing me. She had no reason to think I was lying.

I racked my brain to remember what movies were playing at the drive-in.

“Matty said you saw D.A.R.Y.L.,” Isaac said.

I nodded enthusiastically. “Yes. We did. Well, we saw part of it.”

Isaac rubbed his lips together to hide his smile when I looked at him.

“PG?” Dad asked.

I didn’t know. “Yeah,” I said. “It seemed PG. I mean, we’re eighteen, so I guess nobody asked. But there wasn’t any bad language or other things.”

Other things like sex, which I’d had with Matt, and sexual things I had done with his brother. And just the thought of that made my stomach feel uneasy. Or maybe I was coming down with a stomach bug or just a severe case of guilt.

“Anyway,” Vi said, “we don’t have to come over for lunch.”

“No. You should still come,” Mom insisted.

I had no clue that my mom had invited the Corys for lunch. But then I thought about the roast in the crock pot and the extra pies on the counter, and it all made sense.

“I’ll send leftovers home for Matt,” Mom added.

“Then we’d love to. We need to go home first to get my cucumber salad out of the fridge, and I’ll check on Matthew. We can be there in about forty-five minutes,” Vi replied while tucking her purse under her arm.

I shifted my attention to Mr. Cory, but he was glancing over my dad’s shoulder, so I turned to follow his gaze. Brenda Swensen peered in our direction, and that’s when it registered that Wesley was looking at her, and she was looking at him.

Brenda Swensen and her long, dark, curly hair.

I held my breath while surveying everyone around us. Was I the only one seeing them? When my gaze snagged on Isaac’s, he narrowed his eyes. I looked down, afraid to make eye contact with anyone.

Afraid someone would see what I was seeing.

Brenda Swensen was the mystery mistress.

Thatwas the voice I couldn’t quite place.

Brenda worked as a waitress at Cosmic Cafe. She was twenty-one. Her dad owned the local sanitation company, and her mom taught third grade. She had a brother who was a freshman at the high school.

Many people thought it was weird that she didn’t go straight to college. She was smart, and her family had enough money to pay for her schooling.

“Want to go swimming at Laura’s?” Heather asked, grabbing my shoulders from behind and startling me.

“Oh …” I whipped around.

“We’re having lunch with the Corys,” my mom answered for me.

Heather eyed me, and then she shot her gaze to Isaac for a second and smirked.

“I’ll call you after lunch,” I said, taking her hand and pulling her toward the parking lot. “Don’t look, but I know who was in bed with Mr. Cory.”