I Shouldn’t Love Him (Book 2) – Chapter 74
LAKE
Tuesday morning, three long days since they took Manning away, I couldn’t stand doing nothing any longer. This time next week, I would be back at school, even more helpless than I already was.
I went to the bathroom, knocked on Tiffany’s door and entered.
sked. Tiffany was lying on her stomach, reading Cosmopolitan, blowing on her nails.
ite comforter.
been naked.”
aked.”
want?”
er bed. Paint peeled off the wicker desk she had thrown her phone on. She had pasted photos of celebrities on her vanity mirror. One tulip head had been covered with a glittery sticker that read “Goddess” and another with a cartoonish MTV logo. Her shoe collection had overflowed from the closet, Doc Martens flowers peekin
d down the stereo volume.
y?”
“Hey.
e. That’s why he’s here.
make any sens
e?”
eah.”
ing couldn’t have committed a crime that night, but how? I had to admit that I was with him, and I had promised not to say anything. “What . . Who do they th
looked up a
How would I know?”
or? ” I asked.
zine. “He didn’t take anything.
n when he left and in the morning. At least, no one came forward.
t dry. There was no robbery. There was no house. Just a truck, LAKE and infinite stars. Manning was in
e did it?”
ously.
ed.
e of it.
at else did he say?” »
l go before a judge. I forget what it’s called, but Gary says it’s when he pleads “not guilty.” We’ll know more after that.
ning return?
my heart would start to swell. I couldn’t imagine him being held at the station for days, just waiting, thinking of all the things he would have done differently that
dy?” Tiffany carefully turned a page and checked h
n.
pink notepad with hearts scribbled in the margin a
ve you the name of the lawyer?
he forgot I was there. In reverse, I read the title of the article that she found so captivating:
.
t him?”
said that at camp.”
friend. Why do you want the name of his lawyer?
ight have seen something that night.
bottle just as it started to spill.
, tell me, and I’ll call her.”
wing the subject. Tiffany was weird and enigmatic and I didn’t have time for that. I walked over to her desk and grabbed the notepad. “Stop,” she
over it.
ndwriting.
t her.
“So?”
n. I was pretty sure Manning’s lawyer would need to know the truth, whether or not it would hurt Manning.
e bed.
as than Jonathan Taylor Thomas’s.
person home, but she couldn’t hear this call. She would have ever
Public Defender Dexter Grimes (attorney). Once Tiffany started her music again
were confined to my school binders and a library stuffed with paperbacks. Sweet Valley High and Goosebumps had to leave.
read for pleasure?
e clicked to voicemail
”
ealized I had no idea what I wanted to say.
Grimes,” I b
Tiffany knocked on my door
. I put my hand on the receiver.
red my voice.
I have information about the night he got into trouble.
could trust him.
it in a message, b
room, back and forth, as far as the cord would allow.
e the lake.
hen you call back, if I don’t answer, please don’t mention what it is. I live with my family and t
s intended to confuse. Overwhelming. My heart started racing just thinking about Manning in there all alone. Did he even know what to do during an arraignment? How could he, in just three days? If I had information that could help, shouldn’t I be there just in case he needed me?
to Big Bear,” I said.
the refrigerator. “What?”
here for the arraignment. Now.”
dding? Dad would kill us.
e won’t tel
ed eyebrow as she placed the OJ on the counter. “Wow. How long have you been lying to Dad?” she asked, unscrewing the cap.
ith him?
ice? You said he was a gentleman.
.”
or you?”
he said, looking at the empty glass. “Why does it matter if we go?” They’re just going to release him.
othing would happen to Manning; he had done nothing. I had to believe hi
l take your car.”
me upstairs. “You don’t even know how to
now enough,” I said as I en
,” she said through the door.
air and tried to put on some makeup, Tiffany was waiting downstairs by the front door.
u will come?” I
a comeback anyway.” Like I would ever let you drive my car,” s
was.