Free Three Days of Rain by Christine Hughes Page A

didn’t respond verbally. Instead, mascara-tinged tears streamed down her face. Billy picked her up and brought her back to his office. He laid her down on the couch he kept there for those busy nights he wasn’t able to make it home. After covering her with a blanket, he called her father. No use bothering Jake with this. He was already beat down from the last time she did this.
    “John, It’s Billy.”
    “Hey, Billy. What’s up?”
    “You need to come down here.”
    “What? Why? What’s happened?”
    “Maddie’s on something.”
    “On something ? You mean, on drugs, don’t you?”
    “Yeah. Yeah. She’s in my office right now, sleeping it off.”
    “Did you call Jake?”
    “No. I didn’t call Jake.”
    “Okay. I’ll be there as soon as I can. Don’t tell anyone.”
    “I understand. See you soon.”
    Billy clicked off and looked at the girl with confusion and pity. Grabbing the chair from his desk, he and rolled it over to the couch and sat next to her, stroking her hair and trying to think of ways he could help.
    Through the open window of his office, he heard John pull in and park behind the bar near the kitchen entrance. When he walked into the office, the look on the man’s face said everything.
    John picked up his daughter, gave the Billy his keys, and was grateful he knew to follow and open the car door. John placed Maddie in the back seat, leaving the blanket wrapped around her. The two men didn’t say anything to each other. They didn’t need to. This was becoming too much of a usual occurrence.
    Billy never told anyone about the incident, least of all, Jake. When Jake called that night looking for her, Billy just told him she wasn’t feeling well and had gone home with her parents. It wasn’t exactly a lie but it wasn’t exactly the truth either. And Billy hated that.
    ***
    Billy shoved away the bad memories, got up from his desk, and walked back to the kitchen to pick up Lily’s order. If anyone could snap Jake out of this, it was her. He just hoped it wasn’t too late—that Jake wasn’t too far gone.
     

CHAPTER 10
    Jake was in the backyard, working on replacing the flooring of his back deck. He’d ripped it up almost a year ago and all that was left were the concrete footings. For some reason, today he felt like he needed to accomplish something. So he went to the lumberyard and bought the materials he’d need to finish it. What used to be a standard ten by ten space off his kitchen was now going to become something more. He had great ideas for his new deck. Nothing too fancy, just different. Besides, he thought, it was high time he did something that mattered now, instead of reliving what mattered then.
    He’d measured everything out, drawn up a rough plan, and now was busy starting on the frame. Since he’d left Lily this morning, he felt antsy, restless. He picked up a pizza and a six-pack on his way home from the store and went to work. For six hours now, he hadn’t thought about Maddie. He’d been too busy replaying the conversation he’d had with Lily. He was still no closer to figuring her out than he was before. At least when he thought about her , he didn’t close himself off and fall into memories. At least with Lily, he really had no memories, good or bad, to trip on.
    The sun was still a few hours from going down, so Jake figured he’d keep working until either darkness or exhaustion set in.
    He was in the garage he’d turned into a workspace cutting planks for the floor when Lily walked in, six-pack and sandwiches in hand.
    She watched him for a few minutes. He was unaware of her presence and she didn’t want to scare him. He was working the circular saw like a pro. After a minute or two of watching him, she turned on her heel and walked out.
    She went over to the deck he was building. It looked really nice. It wasn’t close to being finished, but she could see where he was going and what his plan for it was. She appreciated someone who could create