Shifting Selves by Mia Marshall Read Free Book Online

I heard the car door slam and figured that was our cue.
    “Thank you for your time. Please let Pamela know we’d like to speak to her, and call us if you hear anything about James.” I looked to Sera, who held up two empty hands. I quickly scrawled my name and number on the back of a grocery receipt. Dana looked unimpressed. You know you’re not doing well when a teenager questions your professionalism.
    We walked toward the car with stiff spines, trying to appear at least a little competent. Inside, Simon was just pulling on his jeans, a thoughtful look on his face.
    Sera wasn’t in the car a full second before she began her torment. “Dude. You were chased by a corgi. You will never live this down.”
    “I did not plan to go downstairs, but these people keep a spotless house. There were no dirty clothes to be found other than in the laundry hamper.” He handed the stack up to me. “I wasn’t sure which were Pamela’s, so I grabbed everything it looked like a teenager might wear.” I nodded and quickly felt my way through several shirts.
    There was little residue to be found. This family didn’t seem to sweat much. “Hand me that water bottle, Viv?” I poured a small amount on a couple of shirts, trying to revive whatever essence still lingered.
    “A corgi. A dog with only half the legs of an actual dog, and it was right on your tail. Quite literally, in fact.”
    Simon attempted to look dignified. “They are much faster than they look, those dogs.”
    I blocked them out and concentrated on the shirt, looking for any sign of that second person who’d been at the lake. I had little hope of finding anything and was stunned to encounter a perfect match on the second article of clothing.
    “It’s her. The woman at the lake.”
    Sera abruptly stopped teasing Simon. “Who?”
    “Don’t know.” I looked closer at the shirt on my lap. It was cap-sleeved and bright pink, and I thought Dana would wear a size larger. “Pamela, I’d guess. Or her mother.” We both looked quickly toward the house, just in time to see a curtain fall back into place from an upstairs window. “Well, that’s not suspicious at all.”
    Sera grunted her agreement, then started the car. As we made our way slowly down the street, loud music blaring from the open windows, we passed a green Ford Explorer heading the opposite direction. I smiled and waved cheerily at the two large, grumpy men in the front seat.

CHAPTER 4
    After speaking to Dana, I wanted to return to the cabin, situate myself on one of the living room cushions, and patiently await Mac while practicing my best smug expressions. I made it through the first step of that plan. The second two were derailed when Sera and I found our father waiting for us.
    Josiah Blais stood in the living room with a bemused expression. Seen through his eyes, it was a rather unconventional room. When a fire destroyed the furniture, drapes, and wallpaper, we’d replaced it all with oversized floor pillows, orange curtains that had likely been on sale since 1977, and swathes of teddy bear wallpaper, of which several panels had accidentally been hung upside down. Considering Josiah was the reason we’d needed to redecorate in the first place, I found his scrutiny of the teddy bear fortress inappropriate, to say the least.
    If his presence hadn’t been disconcerting enough, seeing my mother waiting next to him was enough to convince me I’d skipped right to the hallucination stage of mental instability.
    “Hello, Aidan.” She nodded at me and roundly ignored my three friends.
    “I’ll be upstairs,” murmured Vivian, heading toward the spiral staircase in the middle of the room. She tugged lightly on Simon’s sleeve when he showed no inclination to follow her, and he reluctantly left the room.
    Finally, the four of us stood alone, my twisted little family.
    There were so many things I wanted to say, so many reasons to scream at them. They’d hidden the truth of my existence my entire