Chapter 15: The Box on the Lawn

Miles's POV

Kendra's text came at ten to six on Thursday morning, while I was standing in the dark kitchen looking at the coffee maker.

Come get me or I tell everyone everything. I'm at Ellis's. Hurry.

I read it twice.

Then I put my coat on, because it was easier than thinking.

My mother was sitting at the bottom of the stairs, dressed, with her purse in her lap.

"I heard the phone," she said.

"Go back to bed, Mom."

"I'm coming with you."

"You don't even know where I'm going."

"I know the sound you make when she texts," my mother said.

"You make it with your whole face."

I did not argue.

I had stopped winning arguments with her around the time Leigh left.

Ellis's street was wide and tidy, with maples and brick houses and sprinklers ticking on.

Kendra's borrowed white car was in his driveway with the trunk open.

His grey sedan was parked behind it, blocking it in.

People had come out of three of the houses already.

A man in a bathrobe stood on his porch with a mug.

A woman in running clothes had stopped on the sidewalk and was not even pretending to stretch.

Ellis stood on his own front lawn in jeans and a work shirt.

Leigh stood beside him, a little back, with her arms crossed against the cold.

She saw me and her face did not change, and I was glad of it.

Kendra was between the car and the front steps, holding a cardboard box against her chest.

She wore yesterday's cream blazer, and her hair had come down on one side.

"Miles," she said, loudly.

"Tell him. Tell him these are mine."

I stood at the end of the driveway and did not move.

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