Page 36 - My FlipBook

L IS A J. L A W R E N C E

“I’m Greta,” she said, “and this is Ash.” She glanced
at Ash, wondering if he was going to confess that his
name was Ashwin but he went by Ash. Nope. “Can we talk
outside for a minute?” She gave him her best we’re-not-
psychopaths smile.
“Uh, sure.” Nate pulled a coat off a hook and slipped on a
pair of massive Sorels from a muddy mat. Probably his dad’s.
Ash backed all the way down the steps, but Nate stopped

right outside the door and waited. Greta stood next to him,
suddenly feeling like the village idiot. Who does this?
“Our dad is married to this woman—” she began.
“Woman is being generous,” Ash said. “Picture a wraith—
bony, hideous.”
Greta shot him a look. “Um…so we’ve had some prob-
lems with her and my dad”—she inhaled—“and something ADVANCE READING COPY

happened.”
Nate leaned forward, waiting for the next word to fall.
Ash was right. Worst idea ever.
Ash stepped up beside Greta and gave her a look this time.
“Basically, our dad took off with our stepmother, leaving us
behind. We found out they’re in Whitecourt, and we need a
ride up there to try to talk him into coming back home. We
can pay you fifty bucks. Interested?”
Nate’s face relaxed. It was starting to look painful, the

way his nearly-not-there eyebrows pinched together. “Oh,
right.” He let out a puff of air.
“You’d have to miss school,” Greta said. “The sooner we
leave, the better.”

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