Chapter 10: The Overlook

Abigail's POV

On Saturday at sunset I broke my own rule.

I texted him from the dorm steps.

"August is cancelled. Show me the list."

He answered right away. "Pulling up out front."

His uncle's truck took us up a gravel road to a pull-off above the lake.

Below us, Lake Superior went from gray to copper to black.

The windows were rolled down, and the air smelled like pine and cold water.

He handed me his phone and looked out through the windshield.

"I'll sit here," he said. "Read it as long as you want."

It was a note called "P." It had thirty-one entries.

Each one had a date, a time, what Hailey had needed, and what he had been doing when she called.

I read the first three, and then I stopped reading and started remembering.

October 11th. The movie.

I had waited on the porch in my good jacket for forty minutes.

Then he texted that Hailey's car was on the highway.

February 9th. The snow. I had walked the last block home alone, because he turned around at the corner and ran back.

March 3rd. The school roof, the sunflower seeds, his hand around mine.

I had thought about that moment for three months.

"I was there," I said quietly. "For six of these. I was standing right next to you."

"I know."

"I remember the call on the roof. You said 'I'm sorry' and you couldn't look at me."

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