over.â
âWhy didnât you tell him?â
She glanced around again, checking to make sure that James wasnât coming back. Then she turned the phone on.
âWhat are you doing?â I said.
âI want to take a look, thatâs all.â
âThatâs Jamesâs property. How would you like it if he went creeping around in your phone?â
She just shrugged. âI have nothing to hide. Besides, all I want to do is see what heâs always looking at. And check to see if there are any other girlsâ numbers in here. Come on, Robyn, tell me you arenât curious.â
âIâm not,â I said. âGive me that.â I grabbed for the phone, but she ducked back out of my way and continued to browse.
âOh,â she said, a surprised look on her face.
âWhat?â
âI thought you werenât curious.â
âIâm not.â
âWell, you would be if you saw this.â
âMorgan!â
âJust take a look, Robyn.â
She handed me the phone. There was a photo on the screenâa medium-range shot of a bearded, heavyset man in scruffy work clothes coming out of a rundown house that was surrounded by trees.
âKeep looking,â Morgan said.
I scrolled to the next picture, then the next. All the photos were of the same man. There were five or six shots of him coming out of the house, crossing the yard to a battered pickup truck, and getting inside. There was a second series of the same man getting out of the truck in front of what looked like a hardware store, going into the store, coming out again, loading stuff into the bed of the truck, and then getting back inside.
âSee the store in the corner of that picture?â Morgan said. She pointed to the screen. âI know where it is. Itâs in Harris.â Harris was a town on the way to Morganâs familyâs summer home up north.
âIs it just me, or do those look like creepy stalker pictures?â Morgan said.
James had certainly picked an unusual subject for his pictures, but ... âMaybe heâs into photography,â I said. âMaybe heâs working on some kind of project.â
âPlease! If he were into photography, heâd be taking pictures with a proper camera, not his phone. Besides, those pictures arenât exactly art.â
âYouâre impossible, Morgan. First you try to convince me that James is the perfect guy for me. Now youâre trying to tell me heâs a stalker.â I began browsing through the phone again.
âI thought you said that was his personal property,â Morgan said.
âIâm just looking to see if he has his home number in here so that I can call him and tell him he dropped his phone.â But he didnât. He hadnât stored any phone numbers at all. In the end, I decided to leave the phone on in case he tried to track it down by calling his own number. Failing that, I would return the phone at school the next day.
Morgan and I went back to my dadâs place and made ourselves something to eat. Then we did our homework. Well, I did my homework. Morgan talked on the phone to Billy for an hour. I tried to remember the last time I had talked to Nick for more than ten minutes. I couldnât wait until the next night. Weâd be together at the party. Weâd have fun for the first time in ages.
My mom called to see how I was and to deliver a message: âIâm expecting you for dinner tomorrow night.â
âI already have plans, Mom.â
âThis is important, Robyn. I havenât seen you all week. And I have to go out of town on Saturday.â
âSo, Iâll see you when you get back.â
âYouâll see me tomorrow night for dinner.â
âMom, Iâm going to a party. I already accepted the invitation.â
âYou can go to the party after dinner.â
âButââ
âItâs called compromise, Robyn.