Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 96178 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 481(@200wpm)___ 385(@250wpm)___ 321(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96178 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 481(@200wpm)___ 385(@250wpm)___ 321(@300wpm)
Ren,
I realize class hasn’t reconvened yet, and I hope you’re having a pleasant and well-deserved break. I wouldn’t normally email about something like this, but I don’t have a phone number on record for you or your parents, and I consider it quite urgent. I received a call from your mother, who conveyed to me that you’d witnessed Edward Fitzsimmons cheating on his exam. First, I want to assure you that anything you say to me will be held in the strictest confidence. The university takes these things very seriously. We will ensure that you in no way suffer any sort of retaliation should you corroborate her story. But because of the gravity of this situation, there are certain procedures we have to follow, and I do need to verify the information with you. Can you contact me via telephone as soon as possible? My information is below, and again, I’m sorry for disturbing your break.
Best,
Michel Audran
Ren took a breath, trying to slow her racing heart.
Gloria called Dr. Audran? Ren’s stomach plummeted as she remembered that, in a moment of devastation in Atlanta, she’d told Gloria about the cheating, about the Polaroid. But why on earth would Gloria bother to call the school to report it? Ren had about a hundred questions and zero time to answer any of them. All she knew was that she couldn’t involve Edward in any of this mess with her mother. This was between her and her parents.
With her fingers on autopilot, she hit reply, and typed out the fastest email of her life.
Dr. Audran,
Thank you so much for emailing me. Let me assure you, this story is completely false. I never witnessed Fitz cheating. I never told anyone that I did. I don’t know the intent of the person who called you, but it certainly wasn’t my mother, because that conversation never happened. I’m sorry you were taken away from your own well-deserved break. I hope it is okay that I have answered you here via email, as I do not have access to a telephone.
Happy Spring Break!
Ren Gylden
Her hands shook as she pressed send, and with a leaden weight landing in her belly, she remembered Gloria taking Ren’s bag yesterday. Did Gloria take the Polaroid? And if she had, when would she have called the school? They didn’t have a landline; even if Gloria had a secret cell phone, they were so far out of range she wouldn’t have been able to do it from the homestead. At least Ren didn’t think she could…. Ren never had a cell phone to try. Maybe Gloria called from a phone at the airport when she went to the restroom. But why? Ren pressed her hands to her eyes, bewildered. Why on earth would Gloria go to all that trouble when Ren was already home safe? Why would she go after Edward at all?
Queasy with dread, Ren moved the mouse to start a new email to him but froze when the bell over the shop door rang again.
“Hey, you!” Tammy called out.
“Hey, Tam,” Gloria answered. “Jules said Ren stopped in. She here?”
Ren’s heart dropped through the floor. Standing on shaky legs, she quickly turned off the computer monitor.
“She sure is.” Tammy’s voice carried down the aisles as Ren tiptoed across the floor. “She’s just in the back using the ladies’ room.”
Ducking out of the office, Ren raced to the bathroom and opened the door, backing into the doorway as if she were just coming out, right as Gloria turned a corner and came into view.
“Hi,” Ren said, closing the door behind her. “You guys all done?”
Her mother eyed Ren for a long beat before glancing to the open office only ten feet away. “We are.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
REN
Ren cleared dinner as quickly as she could manage without looking like she was trying to hurry through it. The last thing she wanted was for her internal frenetic energy to bleed to the outside, raising her parents’ antennae. Though it might be too late for that, Ren reasoned. It wasn’t that Gloria was paying her more attention than usual, it was that Ren sensed something when her mother did look at her, some question in her eyes that hadn’t been there before. It would explain why Ren had barely had a moment to herself since they got back from town. She’d already helped unload the truck, then been sent to the cellar to start packing up preserves and to the barn for inventory. But with the sky dark and the final dinner dish put away, she saw her chance. Steve and Gloria were busy with whatever information the Realtor gave them, so Ren excused herself to get ready for bed and padded quietly to her bedroom. A quick rifle through her backpack revealed that the Polaroid photo was gone. With her breath held tight in her throat, Ren slipped down the narrow hall, and into her parents’ room.