Chapter 36: The Path Less Traveled

When I got home, full of Chinese food and raspberry-orange fro-yo, Addison was sitting outside on the porch swing, reading that week’s celebrity magazine.

She looked up when she heard me come up the stairs. “Hey, where have you been? I thought you were only going shopping.”

I pushed her legs off of the swing to make room for myself. “Yeah, well I ran into a friend and we had lunch and hung out a little bit.”

She narrowed her eyes at how vague my explanation was. But she didn’t pry. She shrugged and got back to her magazine.

“Anything interesting in there?” I asked her. She seemed way too focused on whatever she was reading. It seemed more serious than merely flipping through the pages like she typically did.

“Oh my gosh, yes,” Addison said dramatically. She turned the page so I could see it, but all I could see was two people I didn’t recognize with a jagged line down the middle, separating them in the photo.