Banana Split by Josi S. Kilpack Read Free Book Online Page B

chest. She gripped the edges of the table, trying to come up with another solution, but there wasn’t one. She would have to explain everything to the police, and they’d probably be suspicious as to why Charlie had come to her. She’d done so well with Charlie here—she’d barely felt any fear or anxiety—but now she closed her eyes and swallowed, trying to get hold of herself. When she opened her eyes a few moments later, Charlie was looking at her, a little fear mixed in with the confused look on his face.
     
    “I’ll be right back,” Sadie said, forcing a smile as she quickly stood up from the table and headed for her bedroom. She closed the door and sat on her bed, bracing her elbows on her knees and holding her head in her hands as she fought for control over her emotions and fears that ran like wild animals these days. After almost a minute, she was able to draw a deep breath and accept that she hadn’t done anything wrong and therefore didn’t need to be afraid of getting in trouble. Maybe she should call Pete to talk her through this—but wouldn’t he be proud of her if she handled it on her own? Wouldn’t she be proud of herself? Finally she stood up and went to the bedroom door. It had been a few minutes, but she tried to take pride in the fact that she had faced her fear and made a rational decision. It was an accomplishment.
     
    She didn’t want to risk upsetting Charlie by telling him she was calling the police. Maybe she could try again to get him to talk about where he was staying. Maybe she could get his okay to talk to this CeeCee person, or get him to agree that calling the police was the best choice for both of them. Creating a safe environment was the first step in having an important conversation, so she forced a smile and lifted her chin, hoping she could approach this in a way that wouldn’t make Charlie feel threatened.
     
    She took another deep breath as she rounded the corner into the kitchen. “So, I’m wondering if . . .”
     
    Charlie’s chair was empty.
     
    Her wallet was lying open on the table.
     
    Charlie had left the sliding glass door open when he’d made a run for it.
     

Chapter 7
     

     
    What had seemed like a break in the cloud cover was instantly overcast again. Sadie locked the sliding glass door—one, two, three—and closed all the blinds. Then she spent an hour sitting in the living room, trying to decide what to do, battling wave after wave of self-recrimination.
     
    The clouds in her head made it hard to come up with a new plan. It wasn’t until the night was turning into early morning gray that Sadie called Pete on her freshly charged cell phone. North Carolina was five hours ahead, but Pete didn’t answer. She was leaving a message when he called back on the other line.
     
    “What’s wrong?” he asked in a panic when she clicked over to answer his call. Sadie couldn’t even think about trying to calm him down, instead she rushed to tell him what had happened.
     
    “What are you going do?” Pete asked when she finished. She knew the calm in his voice was forced.
     
    “I don’t know,” Sadie said, glad that Pete hadn’t automatically given her marching orders. “The police will think I’m a nutcase for having waited so long to call them.” She glanced at the clock. It had been more than two hours since she’d first invited Charlie inside. Not to mention his first visit had been a full fourteen hours ago.
     
    Pete didn’t argue, and she deflated a little bit. She’d hoped he’d reassure her that she’d done the reasonable thing, but she knew she hadn’t been thinking straight.
     
    “I don’t want to call the police,” she finally admitted rather than dancing around it with other excuses. “This poor kid has already faced so much, and I don’t want to get him in trouble. He took less than a hundred dollars.”
     
    “The amount doesn’t really matter, and to not make him accountable doesn’t help him in the long