Free Lonely Souls by Karice Bolton Page A

Logan definitely needs to stay here while he’s in college,” Jenny announced.
    “Really, and do you plan on telling his mom and my aunt?”
    “You might be surprised by their reaction. You never know. They may like the idea,” Angela said, smiling widely.
    “Yeah, I’m sure they would love the idea,” I said, staring at them.
    “Who would love what idea?” my aunt asked as she came in from the family room.
    Glaring at Angela, I dismissively waved my arms at her.
    “Nothing important, Aunt Vieta,” I mumbled.
    “So you girls are sure you have to leave today?” my aunt asked them, too worn out to press me about our last conversation piece.
    “Yeah, unfortunately,” Jenny grimaced. “We should probably leave pretty soon to get a start on it.”
    The doorbell rang and Logan rushed past me to answer it, quickly sliding his hand along my waist to move me out of the way. A charge went through me, and I closed my eyes quickly to let it pass.
    “Hey, mom!” Logan’s voice echoed down the hallway. “Let me grab some of those.”
    “Thanks, dear. I was worried I was going to topple the chai or frapp if I tried to open the door,” she said. I could feel her smile all the way into the kitchen. My aunt went to help carry in whatever else Ellsy might have had, while I stood there like a zombie.
    Maybe they would be totally fine with Logan moving in still. I’m eighteen, basically, and would be encountering complete strangers in a dorm. This would actually be a lot better than that, even though I wasn’t planning on going right to college. Regardless, this might be a solid plan. My hope was that I could gain enough courage to bring it up without the wrong reasons coming out.
    “Triss,” Jenny whispered.
    I looked over at her and Angela.
    “Yeah?” I asked.
    “Logan told us about what happened to you at the florist shop.” My body stiffened. Why did he do that? I don’t need my friends thinking I’m going crazy right before they leave town. I felt the crimson begin making an appearance, starting at the base of my neck and working its way up.
    “There’s nothing to be embarrassed about,” she continued. “If your mom really is only missing versus the other,” she couldn’t bring herself to say it either, “then I think it could be plausible, especially with the notes in her planner.”
    “He didn’t leave anything out, did he?” My eyes finally meeting theirs.
    “No, why should he?” Angela asked. “We’ve never kept things from each other. Why start now, Triss? This is exactly what I was talking about last night. Quit building up those walls, because they’re a lot harder to deconstruct than construct.”
    Logan made it into the kitchen holding the first cardboard tray of Starbucks drinks for us all. I wanted to be angry with him for divulging what we spoke about, but the anger didn’t come. He plopped the drinks on the table, and Ellsy was right behind him with another carrier, followed by my aunt with a brown bag full of what I’m guessing was to be some delectable pastries.
    “Good thing I didn’t finish my cereal,” Jenny announced, pushing her bowl away.
    “Right, because cereal is so filling,” I laughed. “It would have been tough to push through it.”
    Logan started laughing, grabbing his drink out of the carrier, smiling at me. Ellsy was spreading out the cheese Danish, cranberry scones, and bagels on a plate when it occurred to me that maybe now wouldn’t be a horrible time to bring up the living situation. Having the support of Jenny and Angela might help the cause.
    Logan was staring at me intently and must have sensed what I was thinking about because he immediately started smiling. Handing me a chai tea from the tray, his fingers skimmed mine, and I started thinking it was a bad idea. This wasn’t healthy, but before I had a chance to back out of my idea, Logan started speaking.
    “Jenny and Angela told me that Triss wants to stay here in the house,” he began.
    Ellsy