Little Black Box by Cindy R Wilson

Author:Cindy R Wilson [Wilson, Cindy R]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781087263526
Published: 2020-01-06T16:00:00+00:00

19.

CHARLIE

I turned off the record, synced my phone to the speakers to turn on a playlist when Dad went upstairs to rest, and returned to the stool in the kitchen with Luke and Richard.

“His cold must have come back,” I told Luke.

Richard lifted his eyebrows at me but didn’t say anything. He thought I should have told Luke about Dad already. Richard thought I should be saying a lot of things to Luke, but he still got it. That I couldn’t say everything I was feeling.

Or maybe he was just used to Dad doing the exact same thing.

“Hopefully he’ll feel better soon,” Luke said.

I nodded. He would. The power of positive thinking. I believed Dad would get better, I believed Becca would pay for her betrayal, and Luke… I wasn’t sure what to believe.

He loved me. But even love wasn’t permanent—and no amount of positive thinking could make it stay if it wanted to leave.

Luke shifted on his stool so his leg brushed mine. I tried to focus on him instead.

“Are you sure you want to help me with this?” I asked him. “You can still back out.”

“It depends on what this is.”

I set a blank symptom sheet in front of me and brandished my magic pen. “See, I told you I had another one.”

He smiled. The corners were strained and his eyes tinged with something I couldn’t read. But I wouldn’t push him. I didn’t want him to do the same to me.

Queen came on the speakers. Luke reached for my phone. “What playlist is this?”

“It’s a—no!”

I grabbed for the phone, sliding off the stool and bumping his arm. He released the phone in surprise.

“It’s just—It’s a playlist I made for this mission—”

Richard stared at me, hands buried in a dishtowel.

Tucking my phone in my pocket so he couldn’t try to look at it again, I smiled at Luke and said, “A revenge playlist.”

“That I’m not allowed to see,” he said, eyes locked on mine.

Richard discreetly turned away.

I laughed at Luke’s words, trying to set him at ease. It wasn’t the revenge list I didn’t want him to see, it was the other one. “It’s not finished yet.” I sat down again and set my hand on his thigh, trying to get my heart rate back to normal. “You can see it when it’s done. That’s step one.”

Luke held my gaze for a long moment before saying, “What’s step two?”

Richard turned again, the dishtowel folded and set aside. “Is this a new black box job?”

“Kind of.” I put my pen to the blank symptom sheet. “This is step two.”

After Symptoms, I wrote Anger, disappointment, anger…I put the magic pen to my lips. I felt Luke’s eyes on me. I flicked a glance at him.

“You forgot anger,” Luke murmured, but it didn’t look like he was joking.

What was going on with him tonight?

“Why are you writing your own sheet?” Richard asked.

After Cause, I wrote Betrayal and showed it to Richard.

“Who?” he asked.

“Becca.”

Richard’s eyes widened. His breath hissed out through his teeth.

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