At the Edge by Norah McClintock Read Free Book Online

over.”
    â€œWhy didn’t you tell him?”
    She glanced around again, checking to make sure that James wasn’t coming back. Then she turned the phone on.
    â€œWhat are you doing?” I said.
    â€œI want to take a look, that’s all.”
    â€œThat’s James’s property. How would you like it if he went creeping around in your phone?”
    She just shrugged. “I have nothing to hide. Besides, all I want to do is see what he’s always looking at. And check to see if there are any other girls’ numbers in here. Come on, Robyn, tell me you aren’t curious.”
    â€œI’m not,” I said. “Give me that.” I grabbed for the phone, but she ducked back out of my way and continued to browse.
    â€œOh,” she said, a surprised look on her face.
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œI thought you weren’t curious.”
    â€œI’m not.”
    â€œWell, you would be if you saw this.”
    â€œMorgan!”
    â€œJust take a look, Robyn.”
    She handed me the phone. There was a photo on the screen—a medium-range shot of a bearded, heavyset man in scruffy work clothes coming out of a rundown house that was surrounded by trees.
    â€œKeep looking,” 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.
    â€œSee the store in the corner of that picture?” Morgan said. She pointed to the screen. “I know where it is. It’s in Harris.” Harris was a town on the way to Morgan’s family’s summer home up north.
    â€œIs it just me, or do those look like creepy stalker pictures?” Morgan said.
    James had certainly picked an unusual subject for his pictures, but ... “Maybe he’s into photography,” I said. “Maybe he’s working on some kind of project.”
    â€œPlease! If he were into photography, he’d be taking pictures with a proper camera, not his phone. Besides, those pictures aren’t exactly art.”
    â€œYou’re impossible, Morgan. First you try to convince me that James is the perfect guy for me. Now you’re trying to tell me he’s a stalker.” I began browsing through the phone again.
    â€œI thought you said that was his personal property,” Morgan said.
    â€œI’m 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.” But he didn’t. He hadn’t 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 dad’s 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 couldn’t wait until the next night. We’d be together at the party. We’d have fun for the first time in ages.
    My mom called to see how I was and to deliver a message: “I’m expecting you for dinner tomorrow night.”
    â€œI already have plans, Mom.”
    â€œThis is important, Robyn. I haven’t seen you all week. And I have to go out of town on Saturday.”
    â€œSo, I’ll see you when you get back.”
    â€œYou’ll see me tomorrow night for dinner.”
    â€œMom, I’m going to a party. I already accepted the invitation.”
    â€œYou can go to the party after dinner.”
    â€œBut—”
    â€œIt’s called compromise, Robyn.