The Summer the World Ended by Matthew S. Cox

Author:Matthew S. Cox [Cox, Matthew S.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781620079034
Publisher: Curiosity Quills Press
Published: 2015-06-27T23:00:00+00:00

The crunch of tires on gravel about fifteen minutes later made Riley hide against him. Her first thought was the guy with the white van had decided to come back for revenge. Dad pivoted to look, forcing her to adjust her grip on him to stay out of sight.

“You know anyone with a… blue Trans Am?”

Kieran. Oh, shit. “Y-yeah.”

She kept her head down to conceal her face between her hair and Dad. The car stopped, the engine cut out, and the sound of footsteps on dirt approached.

“Hi, Mr. McCullough,” said Kieran. “Sorry for just showing up here, but I couldn’t find a phone number.”

“Hello, Kieran.” Dad sounded like Mr. Business again. “We don’t have a phone. No lines. Working on the Internet thing. What can I do for you?”

“I wanted to ask if Riley could have dinner at the house tonight. My mother would like to welcome her to town.”

Don’t let him see me like this. The idea Mom might’ve been murdered settled like a giant weight on her tear reserves, pushing them out. She fought to collect herself. How could she leave her dad here alone after that? Maybe he was right. Maybe they weren’t interested in her at all. She’d spent three days in that horrible shelter. Someone who wanted to kidnap her had ample opportunity. That place was meant to keep angry, abusive drunks away―not foreign spies. She looked up at her father. Maybe he’s overdoing the worry a bit. Colonel Bering didn’t seem to think the Russians were involved with Mom’s death.

“Uh, it’s up to my dad.”

Tense silence lingered for a moment. Dad clasped her shoulders and held her out to arm’s length. Her face got warmer.

“Are you sure, Riley? If it’s what you really want…”

What’s the big deal? It’s just dinner with the parents, not like I’m marrying him tonight. “Uh, yeah.”

Disappointment drooped his face, but he nodded. “Alright.”

Riley looked down at her clothes, covered in dirt, and her hands reeking of gun. “I need to clean up.”

Kieran smiled. “Great.”

Riley ran to the house before he could get a good look at her red eyes. She did not want to send the wrong signal to Dad―or Kieran―and picked a Metallica tee shirt and black, skinny (full-length) jeans. She rushed through cleaning herself, showing up in the living room not quite twelve minutes after turning the water on. Dad and Kieran stood in the kitchen, both with a glass of iced tea. From the looks on their faces, their conversation had been civil, almost pleasant. Between her outfit and her sneakers, the only part of her not covered by black cloth were her head, neck, and arms below the bicep.

Dad smiled at her, holding up the puffy raspberry jacket Mom got her for her thirteenth birthday. “I assume you’ll be coming home after sundown. It gets cold.”

She took the jacket, surprising herself at not breaking down in tears at the memories of the party. Mom, me, and Amber… some party.

“I’ll make sure she’s back by ten, sir.

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