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Margaret Talbot put her hand on her daughter’s shoulder, but A
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What was she going to do?
Chapter 5
“I don’t think you understand the situation, Amy,” A
“Take it easy, I have an idea,” Amy said, glancing into the hall to make sure Delores, the Horton’s maid, was nowhere in earshot. Her parents were out at a party.
“I’ll listen to anything,” A
“I’ll go to the i
A
“Not if Heath knows he’ll be able to see you here,” Amy replied slyly.
“Amy, what are you talking about?” A
“He’s not having my house watched, is he?” Amy asked rhetorically.
“I don’t know, maybe,” A
“Will you calm down and listen to me?”
“Your parents will tell my father if I meet Heath here,” A
“They won’t tell your father if they’re not here to see it,” Amy said triumphantly.
A
“They’re going to Michigan to stay with my Aunt Rita next week. They’ll be gone for ten days.”
A
Amy shrugged. “When my parents aren’t home, she’s off all the time with her boyfriend. Remember when they went to St. Kitts? She showed up for a couple of hours in the morning to clean the house and then was gone the rest of the day. We have sort of a mutual pact of silence—she doesn’t ask me what I’m up to and I do the same thing for her.”
Delores was only a few years older than A
“When are they leaving?” A
“Monday.”
“That’s a week away!” A
“You’ll have to. This plan is the best I can do.”
A
“No problem. I’m supposed to go over to Murchison’s, anyway. I’ll just stop at the i
“And you’ll tell him to meet me here when your parents go away?”
“Right.”
“How are you going to get him into your house without my father’s spies seeing him?”
“I’ll talk to him and we’ll work something out, don’t worry about it. Maybe he can arrive early, hide his bike a few blocks away, then come in through the Cantrell yard. That place looks like a plant nursery—it will give him great cover. As far as you know nobody is following him, right?”
“As far as I know. There must be a limit to what even my father can do.”
Amy sat next to A
“He’s crazy. I always knew it. My mother knows it, too, but she’s trapped. She’s been married to him almost twenty years and she thinks it’s too late for her to start over with a new life.”
“How did he find out about Heath in the first place?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t even ask. Probably one of his cronies saw us someplace and ratted. I guess he was bound to find out sooner or later, I was living in a dreamworld to think otherwise.”
“You’ve been living in a dreamworld since you met Heath, A
A
“What time were you supposed to meet Heath tonight?” Amy asked.
“Seven.”
“All right. I’ll be there.”
“And you’ll tell him he can meet me here next week?”
“I’ll tell him. Let’s hope one of my parents doesn’t break a leg in the meantime and cancel the trip.”
A
“Only kidding. My mother won’t miss the chance to get together with her sister and dissect the rest of the family. When the plane for Michigan departs, Mom and Pop Horton will be on it.”
“I’ll pray that they are.”
“Now, come with me and wash your face. Things are looking up, kiddo.”
A
She hoped that her friend was right.
* * * *
The week of waiting passed with glacial speed; A
When the day finally arrived for her meeting with Heath, A
“Are you girls going out?” Margaret said brightly, pleased that A
“I don’t think so. We’ll probably just stay in and watch TV, get a pizza. Amy has some new tapes, too.”
“That sounds like fun,” Margaret chirped, and A
A
If she left too early, her father might get suspicious, and the last thing she needed was to have him on the trail again.
A
“Have a good time, dear,” her mother said, looking up from making a list for round-robin te
Her father lowered his newspaper, glanced at her, then raised it again.
A
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“Is he here?” A
“In my bedroom,” Amy replied, opening the door and standing aside.
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