Page 20 of Lonely Hearts Day

“Did she say something?” he returned.

That didn’t answer my question at all. In fact, it worried me more. “No.”

He placed his hand on my head then pulled me into a quick hug. He wasn’t exactly a hugger so that wasn’t a comforting gesture. “It’s fine. Everything is fine,” he said.

Someone shouted from the other side of the house. “Found him!”

Dad looked over. “Go be a hostess and try not to worry so much.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Too late, but yeah...” A group of people passed us, David corralled in the middle, laughing as they herded him back downstairs.

When we were all crowded into the basement again, David said, “I get to dare someone now, right? Since I got the last dare.”

Jack gave me a look like he was asking for permission. When I didn’t say anything, he said, “Yes. You do.”

“I dare Troy to go sit in the neighbor’s hot tub. I saw they had one when I was looking for a hiding place.”

“Oh, I don’t—” I started to say when the group yelled, “Yes! Do it!”

Troy was already stripping off his shirt and jeans.

He burst through the back door and went running toward the neighbor’s patio. We lived on an acre, and so did our neighbors. Our backyards weren’t fenced in, so each property flowed to the next seamlessly. Snow blanketed the ground, and Troy’s footprints made a zigzagging dark trail through the white, the off-kilter path representing him well.

Our neighbors, the Stillers, a sweet older couple, often let us borrow their hot tub. They would either think this was funny or call the police. It could honestly go either way.

“He’s such a goof,” Sage said from where a bunch of us stood on the dry cement, watching him. Some people had followed him over. I wasn’t even sure the hot tub was heated. We always gave them a head’s up when we were coming.

I could hear the splash and yelp from where we stood, echoing in the otherwise quiet night. “I’ll go get him a towel,” I said.

I climbed the stairs on my way to the linen closet.

“I told her nothing,” Evelyn said, her voice tight.

“Good, because we talked about this,” Dad said.

“Youtalked about this. I listened.”

I tried to stay put this time, not caring that I was eavesdropping. I needed to know what was going on.

“Evelyn,” Dad said.

“I know, I know. Tomorrow. I told you I’d wait. I will.”

And then they were quiet. By the time I climbed the remaining stairs and reached the closet they were gone, like I’d just imagined the whole thing. I knew I hadn’t and yet my body shook like I’d just had an otherworldly experience. A haunting.

I grabbed a towel—then a stack of them, certain more people had joined Troy in the venture—then I took them downstairs.

“That was refreshing,” Troy said when he came back, taking a towel off the stack I held. A drop of water hit my cheek with his action. “My turn! I dare the hosts of the party to sit in the closet for seven minutes!” He pointed to me, then Jack, who was inside the house.

The group cheered again.

“We did that last time,” I said on a sigh.

“And it was very entertaining,” he said.

Once again, I found I had very little control as I was pushed toward the closet. And once again, the door was shut behind us, my vision gone.

Chapter 8