Chapter 17

* * * *

“Mind if I sit with you?”

Ned’s voice startled me from my memories. “Of course.” I smiled. “Tonight she’ll come back.” I couldn’t imagine where she’d been and didn’t want to think about it. As long as she came back whole, I could erase the dark thoughts troubling my brain.

Ned squeezed my leg. “It’ll be okay.”

Sappy, I know, but there was something in the way Ned gripped and hugged that made things amazing.

“Thanks,” I whispered.

He lifted his beer bottle to the sky. “Here’s to us and Lily. She sure picked a beautiful night.”

I nodded.

“What were you thinking about,” he asked as he lowered himself next to me.

“I don’t know—you and me, Linda and Lily…the necklace.”

“Ahh, the necklace, that’s definitely worth thinking about. The rest is pretty much out of your hands, my good man. You can’t control any of those people.”

“Not even myself?” I asked, half joking.

“Maybe,” he said, his eyes following mine into the dark woods. “What if she doesn’t come tonight, Pryor?”