Page 110 of Timid (Lark Cove 2)

“Do you have dinner with the girls tonight?” Dad asked, always knowing when to change the subject.

Though that topic wasn’t much better.

“No, not tonight. June and I are kind of fighting. And you know Hannah, she always takes June’s side.”

Dad nodded. “And Leighton always takes yours.”

“Yeah.”

I hadn’t called June or Hannah since the night at the diner two weeks ago. I would eventually—we’d been friends too long to just throw it all away—but I wasn’t quite ready yet. And I didn’t know how I’d face them if they ended up being right about Jackson.

“What happened with you girls?” Dad asked.

I gave him a sad smile. “I stood up for myself.”

And look where it had gotten me.

“So how did Ryder take it?” I asked Jackson later that night.

We were lying in his bed, him on his side, me on mine. It was another thing that had changed these last two weeks.

There was no more spooning.

“About as well as you’d think,” Jackson muttered. “He doesn’t want to get held back.”

“He’s smart. We’ll get him caught up.”

“We might not,” he said. “The fact is, Mom was too busy dragging him all over the country to worry about keeping him in school. He might have to repeat this year. So don’t promise him something that might not happen.”

“Okay,” I whispered, wounded by his sharp tone.

A chill settled into the bed as silence consumed the room. I’d never wanted to escape Jackson’s bed before, but right now, I just wanted to go home and cry.

“I think I’m going to go.” I sat up, ready to run away, but Jackson grabbed my shoulder, forcing it down and back into the mattress. It was the first time he’d touched me since I’d come over after dinner.

“Stay.” He sighed. “I’m sorry. It’s just . . . let’s get some sleep.”

It was only nine o’clock. Jackson was a night owl, so nine o’clock to him was like five o’clock to others. We’d never gone to bed this early, which showed me just how much he wanted to avoid any sort of conversation.

“Fine.” I settled back into my pillow.

I didn’t feel like staying, but I also didn’t want to go home. It felt like once I left here, that would be the beginning of our end.

I burrowed under the covers, bringing them all the way up to my ears. Then I turned my back on Jackson, curling into a little ball so I’d stay warm. Without his arms around me, I’d be cold tonight.

Then with tears prickling my eyes, I drifted off to sleep.

Hours later, in the dead of night, I woke up cold and alone.

“Jackson?” I sat up in bed, swinging the covers off my legs.

He wasn’t in bed or in the bathroom, so I got up and pulled on a sweatshirt to go searching. His hushed voice came from the living room and it sounded like he was on the phone, but I hadn’t heard it ring.

By the time I made it to the bedroom door, the front door opened and closed. I hurried down the hallway toward the living room but was too late. I walked to the front window just in time to see Jackson’s truck pulling out of his driveway. It had started snowing and his headlights illuminated the flakes as he backed onto the road and drove away.

Was something wrong? Was it Thea or Hazel? Rushing back to the bedroom, I swiped my phone from the nightstand. My finger hovered over his name, ready to call, but I stopped.

If he’d wanted to share, he would have told me. He would have woken me up before he disappeared in the middle of the night.