Innocent Mistakes

by Melissa F. Miller

  “Why don’t we enjoy our little kids and their little kid problems while we can?”

  Her smile widens and her face softens even more. “I guess we could do that.”

  He leans down and brushes a feather-soft kiss over her lips. Then he pulls back and whispers, “Good. On that note, you might want supervise the oral hygiene so we’re not fishing another toothbrush out of the toilet.”

  25

  Lainey drinks her tea and scrolls through her phone in her quiet house. Doug’s already gone. He had an early tee time. And Mallory’s upstairs, still sound asleep. This is Lainey’s time. An hour of peace and solitude. She should read a book, do some yoga, maybe dig out her knitting.

  Instead her hand creeps across the table for her phone. She resists the urge, but only for a few seconds. Then she grabs the device and starts cycling through her apps, looking for a hit of dopamine. The mom chat, usually a great distraction, is full of messages from Ruth-Ann and Leigh jibber-jabbering about Leigh’s campaign for a seat on the school board. Lainey doesn’t even care enough to skim the discussion to laugh at them. With Jordan out of the group, there’s nobody who shares her snarky sense of humor. Kristen is the closest, but she’s so earnest and good-hearted that she makes Lainey feel small and grubby by comparison.

  A wave of shame for the way they’ve frozen Jordan out crashes over her. Before she can second guess herself, she gets up and pours her tea into a travel mug, grabs her keys from the hook by the door, and slips her shoes on.

  She finds herself standing on Jordan’s front porch clutching a pink and white pastry box from the French bakery in the shopping center. She stares at the living room window. The McCandlesses have replaced it, and somehow its newness is an accusation.

  This is stupid. Ring the bell. It’s still really early. Maybe nobody’s awake.

  She’s nearly convinced herself to leave when the front door suddenly opens. She panics. Should she run? Instead she freezes on the spot and blinks rapidly at Jordan, who looks back at her with an amused smile.

  “Are you gonna come in or just stand there like a statue?”

  Lainey chokes on the words she wants to say. Instead, she thrusts the box into Jordan’s hands. “I was at the bakery. I know you love these croissants. I hope everyone’s okay.”

  Before Jordan can respond, she turns and flees, running down the driveway.

  “Lainey!” Jordan calls after her.

  Lainey doesn’t stop until she’s in her car. She turns the key in the ignition and peels out, berating herself as she drives away. Instead of going home, she parks on a side street and takes out her phone. She already has a text from Jordan:

  Thanks for the pastries.

  You could have come in,

  you know.

  I wouldn’t tell Leigh

  on you. ;-)

  The knowing joke twists her stomach into a knot because it’s true: she’s afraid to cross Leigh.

  On autopilot, she taps the monitoring app to check on Mallory’s accounts. She starts with her school email and spews tea all over her dashboard. Mallory missed Emmaline’s four o’clock deadline to comment on her questions but she sent a response late last night:

  I have no comment on your pitiful attempt to drum up clicks for your pathetic blog. But if you want some real hot gossip, let me know. I have an exclusive story that’ll rock Miss Whiskers’ world.

  What is she up to now? What exclusive story?

  She shakes her head and switches to the Science Grl account, hoping against hope that Mallory broke up with Hunter last night. No such luck. She’s back in robo-girlfriend mode:

  Science Grl: Srry I had 2 go last nite. It was fun watching you play your game. ;-)

  * * *

  HD: Oh, yeah, I saw you dropped off the call.

  * * *

  Science Grl: Yeah, I had a family thing. Boooring.

  * * *

  HD: U know how U can make it up to me …

  * * *

  Science Grl: I can’t.

  * * *

  HD: Yes, U can. And U will. Or else.

  * * *

  Science Grl: Or else what?

  * * *

  HD: You’ll wish you had.

  * * *

  [Science Grl has left the chat.]

  Lainey’s hands shake as she starts the car. The little bastard’s moved on from wheedling and pressure to bald threats. She never wants Mallory to find out she spies on her, but she can’t let this go on any longer. When Mallory wakes up, she’ll talk to her, tell her she has to break up with Hunter. Then she’ll tell Doug what’s been going on. Maybe he can talk to Paul. Lord knows she can’t talk to Leigh about it. She’ll just accuse Lainey of sabotaging her school board campaign. Lainey can almost hear her ranting now.

  She spends the drive home mentally rehearsing her speech to Mallory, fortifying herself for what she knows will be an ugly, teary argument. I know I invaded your privacy, and I’m sorry. I’ve just been worried about you. Ever since you and Colin broke up, you’ve been so secretive. You stopped playing your favorite game. You’ve been withdrawn. I was afraid you might be depressed. I only spied on you because I love you and I care about you. And what Hunter’s doing is wrong.

  She nods to herself, satisfied that, eventually, Mallory will understand and, on some level, she’ll be relieved. She parks and strides into the kitchen with resolve and purpose.

  “Mall?” she calls.

  No answer.

  She must still be asleep. Lainey pours a fresh mug of tea and goes to the refrigerator to get the cream. The note stuck to the side of the fridge with a smiley face magnet stops her heart:

  Mom,

  Went to Hunter’s to hang out. See you later.

  Xoxo,

  M

  Lainey sinks into a kitchen chair and stares at the wall. She’s waited too long.

  26

  Siobhan wakes up too early for a Saturday. Especially for a Saturday when she’s grounded and has no phone. She wanders around the house snapping at her family. Colin asks if she wants to finish the jigsaw puzzle. She doesn’t, but she says yes anyway.

  As soon as they sit down, she fixes him with a glare. “Why did Mallory call you last night?”

  He shrugs. “Ask her.”

  “I did. I sent her an email, but she hasn’t read it yet.”

  “You can use the house phone, too, you know,” he points out, all reasonable and calm.

  “I shouldn’t have to. I’m asking you. Since when do we keep secrets from each other?” She almost snarls the question.

  She’s surprised by the fire in his eyes when he answers. “Good question, Vonnie. When did you start?”

  Before she can answer, he pushes back his chair and stomps out of the room.

  “What was that all about?” Mom asks mildly, passing by with a pastry box in her hands.

  “I honestly have no idea. Did you go to La Petite Patisserie?” Siobhan nods at the box.

  “No. Lainey Fuller dropped it off.”

  “Mrs. Fuller? Was Mallory with her?”

  Mom shakes her head no. “Do you want a croissant?”

  The doorbell rings, and Mom hands the box to her and goes to answer the door. It’s Aunt Sasha. Please let her have our phones. Mom steps out onto the porch, and she and Aunt Sasha have a short, whispered conversation. A moment later, Mom opens the door and calls Siobhan’s name.

  She hurries to the door.

  “Scratch the croissant. Get your shoes. Aunt Sasha wants to take you out for breakfast.”

  She beams. “Really? Colin, too?”

  “Nope, just us girls,” Aunt Sasha tells her. “But I’m going to take Colin to the batting cages when we get back if he wants to go.”

  “I thought we were grounded.” Siobhan gives her mother a pointed look.

  “I’m making an exception. But you’re free to stay home if you don’t want to go.”

  Siobhan doesn’t hear the end of Mom’s answer because she’s already running to
get her shoes on. Aunt Sasha used to take her out for breakfast—just her—once a month. But it’s been ages since they’ve done it. She wants to blame it on the little twins, but the truth is she got busy, too. It’ll be nice to hang out with her aunt, just the two of them, the way they used to.

  She races through the house and shouts a goodbye to Dad and Colin. Mom plants a kiss on her cheek as she leaves.

  “Have fun.”

  “We will.”

  Aunt Sasha’s kind of quiet for most of the short drive to the diner.

  Siobhan fiddles with the radio stations for a while, then she says, “What are Uncle Leo and the twins doing today?”

  “They went up to the lake house for the weekend.”

  “You didn’t want to go?”

  Aunt Sasha glances over at her. “I have some work to catch up on. Plus, I thought it would be a nice chance to spend some time with you and Colin.”

  “Like when we were little.”

  “Like when you were little,” she agrees.

  At the diner, Siobhan orders her favorite—Belgian waffles with extra whipped cream and strawberries—but Aunt Sasha only has black coffee.

  “Aren’t you going to eat anything?” she finally asks when she only has a few bites left.

  She leans across the table and steals a strawberry covered with a dollop of whipped cream from Siobhan’s plate and pops it into her mouth.

  She waits until Siobhan’s taken her last bite, then she says, “I actually already had breakfast earlier, but I thought it would be easier to have this conversation in public, away from your family.”

  Siobhan drops her fork and gives her aunt a wary look. “Why?”

  Aunt Sasha reaches into her bag. She places Siobhan’s phone on the table, and Siobhan lets out a breath. For a second she thought Aunt Sasha knew, but that’s impossible. She just wants to give her back her phone.

  “I can have it back now?”

  Aunt Sasha nods. When Siobhan reaches for it, she covers Siobhan’s hand with hers. “I saw the pictures, Vonnie.”

  Siobhan’s entire body goes numb. Her hands, her feet, her mouth. It’s like she’s been hit with the world’s biggest Novocain injection. She can’t make her voice work, but she shakes her head from side to side so hard she gives herself a headache.

  “Siobhan, stop. Listen to me. It’s okay. Do you hear me? I know they aren’t real. They’re computer generated.”

  Siobhan blinks slowly. Tears fill her eyes. “You can tell?”

  “Yes.”

  The fear that’s been wrapped around Siobhan’s heart for months, ever since she opened that direct message from Castle Rock and saw herself like that eases its grip, just a little. Then she frowns. “But I deleted them. I deleted the app. All of it.”

  “I know. My forensics expert recovered everything.”

  “Someone else saw? Oh my God … I want to die.” She can’t control her breath. It’s really fast and hard and she’s getting lightheaded. “Oh, no.”

  Aunt Sasha comes around the table to sit next to her in the booth. “You’re hyperventilating. Lower your head between your knees and take some deep breaths.”

  She angles Siobhan’s body so she can put her head down. Siobhan’s blood rushes in her ear, but she does what Aunt Sasha says. Breathe in. Breathe out. In. Out. The dizziness goes away, and she sits up.

  “You okay?” Aunt Sasha asks.

  She nods. “I can’t believe someone saw those.” Hot tears pour from her eyes.

  Aunt Sasha hands her a tissue. She wipes her eyes.

  “Look at me.”

  She stares down at the table.

  “Siobhan, I said look at me.”

  Finally, slowly, she drags her eyes up to meet Aunt Sasha’s, afraid of what she’ll see in them. But there’s no disgust, no judgment. Just the same old Aunt Sasha, warm and interested. For some reason that makes her cry even harder.

  “Okay, so maybe doing this in a public place was a mistake. Listen to me, you have nothing to be ashamed of. You have nothing to be embarrassed about. Do you understand that? You didn’t do anything wrong.”

  “You don’t get it. It doesn’t matter. If he sends those pictures to the whole school, my life is over.”

  “Who is he? Who’s Castle Rock?”

  “I don’t know,” she lies.

  “Siobhan.”

  “What difference does it make? It has nothing to do with the dumb post on the intranet.”

  “Doesn’t it?”

  Siobhan stares at her. “No. How could it?”

  “Is Hunter Dalton Castle Rock?”

  How does she know? Maybe her expert could tell? What should she say?

  Siobhan shrugs. “Maybe? I don’t know.”

  “It’s certainly understandable why you might have posted that comment if it is Hunter.”

  Unreal. She’s still on this.

  “I told you. I didn’t post that.”

  “Okay, well, the computer forensics confirm that someone posted it from your phone. Did you tell Colin about the pictures?”

  “Eww, Aunt Sasha, are you kidding? Would you tell my dad if someone made pictures like that of you?”

  She shakes her head. “No, but he’s my brother. Colin’s your twin. You have a different bond.”

  “It’s not that different. No, I didn’t tell Colin. Or anyone.”

  Aunt Sasha studies her. “Not even your mom?”

  “Especially not her.”

  “What about Mallory? She’s your best friend, isn’t she?”

  “I thought so. I mean, yes, she is. And I did tell her. Just … she’s dating Hunter now.” Saying the words stings.

  “So, Hunter is Castle Rock?”

  “Stop cross-examining me!”

  “Stop holding out on me. I can’t help you if I don’t know what’s going on, Siobhan.”

  “Fine. Fine! Yes, it’s Hunter.”

  “Are you sure?”

  She nods. “Yeah. Even though I did what he wanted—I quit Society and deleted my account—one day in the cafeteria he got in line behind me and whispered my gamer tag in my ear. Just to let me know he knew who I was. And if he knows that …”

  Aunt Sasha finishes the sentence that she can’t bring herself to say. “He has the images.”

  “Yeah. And he can drop them to the whole school any time he wants. So, do you understand how there’s no freaking way I’d go after him like that in front of everyone? I have too much to lose. So whoever took my phone and did that really screwed me over. When he finds out that the post came from my phone, he’s going to ruin my life.” She’s queasy and trembling and she really hopes the Belgian waffles stay down.

  Aunt Sasha takes Siobhan’s hands in hers and squeezes them. “I promise you, Vonnie, that won’t happen.”

  Siobhan believes her. She even manages a shaky smile. “Okay. But Aunt Sasha, you’re not going to tell Mom and Dad, right? Please don’t.”

  Aunt Sasha’s eyes are sad when she answers. “Not if you don’t want me to. But you should, for lots of reasons. One of them being that I want to take this to the district attorney. What Hunter did is a crime. And we can’t let him get away with it.”

  “No—”

  “You don’t have to decide anything today. Take your time, think about it, and talk to your mom and dad. But Siobhan, you have the power to stop him so he doesn’t do this to anybody else. I know you’re brave. I know you’ll stand up for yourself. And you won’t have to do it alone. I’ll be beside you every step of the way.”

  Siobhan can taste the waffles coming up. She bolts and runs for the bathroom.

  When Aunt Sasha and Siobhan come back from breakfast, Colin meets them at the door, eager to get his hands on his phone. But one look at Siobhan’s face, and he knows something’s gone wrong.

  “What’s the matter?” he asks, but she flies past him.

  She runs up the stairs and into her bedroom, slamming the door hard enough that the pictures on the wall rattle in their frame
s.

  Dad walks in from the kitchen and gives Aunt Sasha a look. “What happened?”

  “She’s a little upset.”

  “You think?”

  Aunt Sasha sighs. “She just needs a little time and maybe some extra kindness today.”

  “Why?”

  Aunt Sasha’s eyes flick over to Colin and then back to Dad. “Sean, it’s unsettling to know that someone else looked through her phone. I think she’s feeling a little vulnerable right now.”

  “So what did your computer expert say? Did they figure out who posted that dumb comment?” Colin asks, ignoring the claw of discomfort as the realization hits him that the same someone also looked through his phone.

  “He confirms that the post did come from Siobhan’s phone.”

  Dad frowns, but Colin shakes his head. “She didn’t post it, so we have to figure out who else had access to her phone.”

  Aunt Sasha gives him an appraising look. “That’s a good point. I’ll check and see exactly what time that post went up, and then we’ll make a timeline of where Siobhan was and who else was there.”

  Her praise warms his chest and dislodges the uneasiness about a stranger pawing through his private stuff. “Thanks. I can help.”

  “I might take you up on that. I’ve got your phone, too, and I was going to suggest that we go to the batting cages like we used to, but I wonder if we could just take a walk instead.”

  “Sure, that’s fine.” He’s relieved, actually. The batting cages are fun and all, but he’d rather work on his pitching with Dad than mess around in the cages.

  He grabs a jacket from the coat closet, and Dad peppers Aunt Sasha with questions. “So do we have to prove someone else used Siobhan’s phone? How do we do that? What if we can’t? Will they charge her?”