Page 7 of Finding a Melody

“How am I looking at you?” she asked, leaning back and smiling softly at me.

I scooted into the booth. “I don’t know. But it’s creepy.”

“Well, when you have an answer, let me know,” she said.

This wasn’t the first time we were having this conversation. Amy did have a look on her, one I couldn’t really understand and it made me feel itchy and too self-aware.

“So, I finally get to have a small dinner with the forever busy Cadence. How have you been?” she asked as she put ketchup and barbecue sauce on her burger.

“I’m doing—”

“Not fine,” she said, cutting me off. “I know this song and dance, and you should know better than to try to pull it on me. You have bags under your eyes, you look a little pale, and you give off an overall impression of pure sadness. Plus, my fifteen-year-old daughter is going through her ‘the world is going to end, what’s the point’ depressing stage. You are not fine.”

I grimaced and busied myself by taking a bite out of my grilled cheese. They used like five different types of cheeses or something, and it really paid off as the flavors danced on my taste buds.

“Yeah, you keep chewing and thinking about a real answer.”

Her response had me nearly choking. I coughed, drank some water, and coughed some more. Even so, Amy looked like she had no end to her patience. She was going to wait me out.

I grasped on to something that would make her happy. “Did you hear about what happened over the weekend?”

Her unsurprised expression said it all.

“Someone broke into my house. Was waiting for me when I was already there.” I stared down at my hands. I had been doing so well to not really think too much about it and what it meant. Even the police were still scratching their heads over it. I went through the whole experience with Amy, just blurting it all out.

Amy took it in stride, listening closely, asking me pointed questions that I still couldn’t answer. There wasn’t much I knew about whoever it was that broke into my house. Just that they did and they weren’t there to steal anything, but because they were waiting for me.

By the time I finished talking, Amy seemed just as confused as I was.

“Someone trying to take advantage of a high school student?” she mumbled to herself. “We don’t have human trafficking around here.”

“Think my mom hired a hitman?” I asked, trying to crack a joke.

Amy wasn’t impressed as she glowered. “Something like that does happen, so don’t joke about it. And your mom doesn’t have any access to money. If you died, she’d be put under the care of the state, essentially. Your mother gains nothing from hiring someone. There were no clues at all? No video footage?”

I shook my head. “Neighbor cameras picked nothing up, and I didn’t have a system up.”

“You don’t have any security?” Her voice rose slightly.

I held my hands up before she went on another one of her tirades. “A friend of mine hooked me up. It’s actually all set now, he just needs to show me how it works.”

“He? Friend? Micah?”

“Micah?” I shook my head. “He doesn’t know any of this is happening. He has his own problems to deal with.”

“Isn’t he your best friend? How haven’t you told him about any of what has happened to you? Does he even know what you went through over the summer?”

“All I’ve told him was that I succeeded in getting emancipated and now live away from Lindie. He was really happy for me.” I snorted. “And he had no problem using a lot of pretty language to convey that.”

As soon as he had gotten the news, he had blown up my phone for an hour, voicing all his excitements and thoughts.

“So you have other friends.” Amy leaned back, a smile slowly stretching across her face. “This is good. I hope I get to meet them.”

“I’m sure you will.” I almost pitied the guys. There was an evil little glint in her eyes as she smiled.

Dinner after that was a bit more peaceful as we caught up. She told me about how her daughter was doing, the craziness of her forgetful husband, and some travel plans they had in the works for vacation.

I talked a little bit about the guys, school, and work. By the time we said goodbye, she seemed satisfied.