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As Sawyer set a slice of chocolate cake down in front of Dad, he looked cautiously around the table at our angry faces

"I’ed o?"

8

THE NEXT MORNING MY MOTHER cooked a big breakfast, and Dad congratulatedaway He must have talked my mother down She didn’t say another word about Sawyer or his jailbird father And I was in a betterSawyer again

Right after my parents left to take Barrett to the airport, I drove don The Crab Lab was ht into their two-for-one brunch special Sawyer grinned brilliantly at ed him down that I stood by the door for five minutes before he even made it over to me He said he couldn’t talk just then, and I understood why I would embark on my mission by myself

I’d strolled the brick sidewalks of our historic don countless tis with new eyes now that I was looking for so specific The Crab Lab owned a restored warehouse for events It stood to reason that, soe enough to throw a ho into every storefront and asking the people behind the counter whether they owned such a space or knew of one Most of them said no Tia’s sister Violet, orked in an antiques shop, said she did have a space like that on the second floor, but we couldn’t hold our dance there because it was full of dead bodies Skeptical, I walked up the rickety stairs ht into the store’s antique taxiderht be an option Their second story was an open dance floor practicallythe owner to say yes, I walked in anyway--drawing arch looks from the men bellied up to the bar--and quickly told the bartender what I wanted

"Well, I’m the owner," he said, "and of course you can use the second floor In fact, I’ll close down the whole place for the night so we don’t have the barflies drinking a you tender innocents"

"You would do that for us?" It didn’t seeraduate of your fine institution," he explained "It’s the least I can do for hohter than I had since Friday I rolled down the s and enjoyed the hot wind scented with flowers When I stopped at the intersection next to Aidan’s house, I didn’t even look to see whether he was home

I should have stayed away from my own house a few more hours

My parents had returned My dad was probably upstairs on his porch, but my mother actually came out of her office to confront ht, but I was so, so weary

She opened her arms

I stiffened, resistant Then, partly to preventin front of her, I walked into her e her hold, she rubbed my back She told me to sit down at the kitchen bar and served h they would probably spoil my dinner