Like No Other by Una LaMarche

Author:Una LaMarche
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Group US
Published: 2014-06-24T16:00:00+00:00

Where are u? Never can find u these days. Need milk. XO Mom

As I’m reading that one, trying to ignore the guilt it stirs up, a text from Ryan appears on the screen:

Dude you described just came out of store. Be careful.

Jacob’s on his way. There’s no time to wait now. Still clutching my phone, I jump up and sprint as fast as I can across the street and into the alley between the houses, where I have to turn sideways to fit through. I shuffle along, wincing at every twig that crunches under my sneakers, until the red brick spills out into an overgrown square of grass littered with rusted toys and shaded by a big magnolia tree. The entrance to the backyard from the house seems to be a basement door that’s padlocked from the outside, so at least I know there’ll be no element of surprise. I see the playhouse Hanna described, which is bowed and rotted through in some places, but it gives some cover so I crouch behind it and stare up at the three windows on the second floor. I don’t know which one she’ll appear at, but I want to be ready when she does. I realize too late that I probably should have spent my energy making a sign, instead of dreaming up the metaphorical statement I’ve got in my backpack, tied to a very risky gift. But it’s too late now.

I see movement in the center window and duck my head. There’s the sound of the storm window being shoved open, and then Devorah’s voice drifts down through the warm evening air: “I can’t believe you’re hot, Hanna, it’s freezing in here!” I smile to myself and silently thank my girl Hanna for being so sly. Devorah definitely doesn’t know I’m here. But now it’s up to me to make my presence known.

I stand up and hear her gasp before I’ve even had time to lift my eyes up to her face. She’s framed perfectly in the window, her arms above her head pushing the storm window up, her face a pale circle glowing in the center of a dark square. Her eyes widen, and her mouth drops open.

“No, it’s nothing, I just saw a squirrel and it scared me,” she says, turning back into the room for a moment. “Go downstairs, I’ll just be a second.”

She looks back down at me, and I open my mouth to say what I came to say, but she raises a finger to her lips and shakes her head urgently. So I do the only thing I can, the only thing I feel, which is to raise one hand to my heart like I’m about to say the Pledge of Allegiance, only not to any flag but to Devorah. And I just stare up at her and think, I love you I love you I love you.

The light is getting hazy, that soft orangey glow that will soon give way to purple dusk, but

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.