Home for the Summer by Holly Chamberlin

Author:Holly Chamberlin [Chamberlin, Holly]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2017-05-02T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 50

The girls were in Clara’s small bedroom at the back of the cottage on Valley Road. Clara was half lying on the bed, her shoulders against the wall. She hadn’t suggested they smoke pot and for that Bella was grateful. The smoke hurt her throat too much and the last time—the day Clara had come into the shop and met Phil—she had felt a little bit nauseous after two hits. Not much was worth the risk of throwing up. Correction. Nothing was worth the risk of throwing up.

Bella waved a hand in front of her face. “Can I open a window?” she asked. “It’s so stuffy in here.”

“They’re jammed.”

“Don’t you even have a fan?”

“No,” Clara said. “One of my housemates has one. But she’s at work and her door is locked.”

Bella frowned. She wondered if the girl had locked her door because Clara was in the habit of “borrowing” her stuff, like she had borrowed her housemate Julie’s Diet Pepsi. “You should tell your landlord about the windows,” she said. “What if there was a fire in the hall? You’d need a way to get out.”

Although, Bella thought, the windows were so small only the skinniest person could squeeze her way through. Even Clara, who had clearly lost weight in the last weeks, wasn’t that thin. Bella wondered if this bedroom was legal; she remembered her father talking about rooms needing to meet certain safety requirements if they were to be used as bedrooms. But Clara’s landlord wasn’t her problem.

“Let’s at least go outside,” Bella said. “I’m suffocating.”

“What?” Clara looked at Bella directly for the first time since Bella had entered the room. Her eyes looked a little unfocused.

“What’s wrong?” Bella asked. “You seem kind of out of it.”

“I took a pill,” Clara said.

“Oh.” Bella nodded. “When my sinuses act up I have to take a Benadryl. I hate how loopy it makes me feel.”

Clara smiled. “It wasn’t a Benadryl.”

“Then what was it?” Bella asked. “Are you sick?”

“Not at the moment!” Clara laughed.

“What’s going on, Clara?” Bella demanded.

“What’s going on is that I feel pretty good right now. You know, if you want I could probably . . .”

Bella’s heart began to beat loudly and she felt her stomach knot. “You took something way stronger than a Benadryl, didn’t you?” she said. “I mean, something illegal.”

Clara shook her finger at Bella. “Now, now, prescription painkillers aren’t illegal, Bella.”

“Are you saying a doctor prescribed something for you?” Bella asked. “Why? Did you have an accident at work or something?” It was possible, she thought. You could pull a muscle carrying heavy trays of food and drinks. You could trip over someone’s foot and fall. You could cut yourself on a kitchen knife.

Clara laughed again. “I didn’t have an accident or go to a doctor. I got it from this guy who hangs out at The Flipper.”

“What guy? Who is he? Is he a local?”

“Jeez, you sound like my parents! Anyway, I don’t really know anything about him.”

“Wait, let me get this straight.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.