Edgewater Read Online Free Page B

personality. Which I supposed made me the child of darkness.
    I cleared my throat, loudly.
    â€œLorrie!” Susannah said, pivoting to face me, blocking thebox with her body. “What are you doing here? I thought you’d be gone all summer.”
    â€œThat
was
the plan,” I said.
    â€œWhat happened?”
    â€œThey kicked me out,” I said.
    â€œYou’re kidding.”
    â€œI’m not,” I told her. “Apparently there’s a policy against staying at Woodscape for free. Where’s Gigi?”
    Susannah lowered her eyes. “BP,” she said quietly.
    That was code we’d come up with when we were kids, for Gigi’s Blue Periods.
    Some days, Gigi would wake early, push the curtains in our bedrooms aside, and shout out a greeting to the morning sun. She’d coax the deer on the lawn close to the porch with table scraps and get them to eat off the palm of her hand. She held dance parties in the middle of the night when we couldn’t sleep.
    But then came the BP, seemingly without warning. It generally lasted a day or two, maybe three. The longest one went on for nine days. I was in sixth grade, Susannah was in fourth, and we’d had to stay home from school the whole time while Gigi lay in her room, blackout curtains drawn, sometimes sleeping, sometimes weeping. If Susannah or I went in to ask her for anything—food for us, milk for the cats—she’d groan and cover her ears, as if the sound of our voices pained her. By the time she’d snapped out of it, we were down to the crumbs in a box of Wheat Thins and a quarter of a block of cheese.
    There’d be no confrontation until Gigi was out of BP, no matter how riled up and ready I was.
    â€œHow convenient for her,” I said. “How long so far?”
    â€œI think this is the third day,” Susannah said. “Third or fourth. She’ll come out of it soon, like she always does. Don’t worry.”
    â€œI wasn’t,” I said. “So, what’s your excuse?”
    â€œMy excuse?”
    â€œYeah, I only sent you about two dozen text messages in the last few hours to clue you in to the Woodscape stuff, and I’ve sent you even more going back the last couple weeks.”
    â€œSorry,” Susannah said lightly. “My cell phone’s been acting wonky. I stuck it in a bowl of rice, because Brian says that cures phones, but it’s still not working. He’ll fix it soon, I’m sure.”
    â€œHe really is a jack-of-no-trades, isn’t he? Has that guy ever done one thing he promised?”
    â€œBe nice,” Susannah said. “That’s my boyfriend you’re talking about. He’ll probably be your brother-in-law someday. The father of your nieces and nephews.”
    I couldn’t think of anything more revolting. “Where is this prince right now?” Not that I wanted to see him. More so I could avoid him.
    â€œAt a poker game or something.”
    â€œIs that why the Money Drawer is empty?” I asked.
    â€œNo!” she said a little too quickly. “Brian would never do that.”
    â€œNever steal?” I’d seen him come home with random little gifts for Susannah—nothing she’d asked for or even wanted, but things that were easy enough to swipe off a store shelf and shove into a backpack: lipsticks in various unattractive shades, a tiny stuffed dog, fuzzy socks, a pack of highlighters. “Yeah, right.”
    Susannah shook her head. “He wouldn’t,” she insisted. “Besides, he doesn’t know about the drawer.”
    â€œReally?”
    â€œReally. I swear. I told you I wouldn’t tell, and I didn’t, but you . . . you don’t know as much about him as you think you do, Lorrie. He’s not a bad person, and he’s important to me.”
    â€œI know he is.” That was what made it even worse. “You deserve so much more, Susie. Someone who is smart and