20. Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty
Cal Truitt
T eam confused please gather the fuck here.
With each passing day that Remi doesn’t call or text back, that my calls aren’t answered, the ache in my chest grows. Grady and Charlie don’t have any idea why. Her explanations when they ask make it sound like a coincidence. But it’s not.
She has a reason, but she’s not saying what it is.
I’m afraid to ask Wilder about it, because I still don’t know if he accepts me. Years ago, after Sara died, I said a lot about him not being in prison. That he had gotten away with killing her.
Midway through my shift at James’ Flick n’ Fun, Kami saunters my way. “Did you and Remi break up?” Is there a kind way for me to ignore her? Who’s manning her bridge while she’s over here annoying the fuck out of me?
“Hi? If my memory serves me, didn’t I tell you that we could talk if work required it, otherwise it would be best not to?”
She frowns at me. “The Cal I know was never such an asshole. Maybe this whole Remi situation and her dating half the town has made you angrier than normal, or maybe I never really knew you, but even when we weren’t together you never talked to me like that.” She puts her hands on her hips, while she stays standing right in my path.
Blaming Remi for me not talking to her is wild. But she is right that I would bend over backwards to avoid conflict in the past. It was easier to turn the other cheek, bite back the words I wanted to say. But one of the many positive results of my love for Remi is owning what I feel and think. She did that for me.
I just wish I didn’t feel like she’s suddenly flipped the script on me.
“Did you need something?” I ask because she’s looking for a response, and I don’t want the drama.
She looks around for anyone that may be listening to us, then turns back speaking quietly, “Did you hear about all the drowning investigations being opened again?” How could I miss it? The Sheriff’s office posted signs all over town, my parents were told, I’m meeting later with Detective Hemminger, and Charlie won’t let me forget.
“Kami…” She’s looking for a reason to speak to me. I know this, but short of picking her up and placing her out of my way I’m stuck. “Did you have a point to make?”
Nat walks out of the ticket office, pausing when she sees me talking to Kami, before I can acknowledge her, she turns, hurrying off to the mini putt course. Great. Natalie James is the main conduit of all the gossip, and Remi is already becoming distant. I didn’t need Nat seeing Kami and I talking.
“Do you remember Jeremy?” I don’t want to go down memory lane with her, especially not about the past drownings.
Crossing my arms, I respond in agitation, “Barely. Why?”
“My mom called me when she saw all the yard signs because she remembered something weird.” Fuuuck. There is no break from it. She goes on, “Carlotta had run into her last summer, and she’d asked her if Jeremy had been in for his school physical before he had drowned. Super weird question first of all. Like so random.” I just want to sink into the concrete path. Kami’s mom works as a medical records clerk and receptionist at the small family practice clinic in town.
“Yeah, weird. So what?” Not gonna lie, the fact that she’d ask anything about Eiler doesn’t look right.
“Mmm… mom thought it was. Like what did she care about his medical history or whatever? Then she asked if he had hyperkalemia… I think I said that right. Mom told her she didn’t remember, because even though he’s dead she couldn’t tell anyone that. But he was completely healthy. She was asking questions about the condition, too. Like if someone could develop it at a young age.”
My head hurts. I won’t miss the loony toon fringe and all the theories about the past. “Neat story. Anything else?”
She glares at me. “You’re being a dick. I was only saying that mom thought Carlotta was being sketchy. Do you think she had something to do with the drownings? Everyone is always looking for some way they were connected. Who knew everyone in town better than Lala?”
My mouth drops open, my stomach bottoms out.
Lala? Carlotta Marlow?
Her high school boyfriend drowned in the lake right where the other drownings happened, she knew the locals, she may have had contact with Ross or Hersch, but…
“I don’t think so. I really wish people would stop trying to pin it on this person and then that person. It’s like a fucking witch hunt. Why is everyone hellbent on finding a connection?” After all this time, if the Sheriff’s office had anything, there would’ve been an arrest. They are grasping at straws because the Ross family put pressure on them. It’s pointless.
Kami narrows her eyes further at me, pursing her lips. “Like I said, you’re an ass. I just think that maybe Carlotta was responsible, someone found out and then…” She draws a finger across her throat. Has she always been this fucking dramatic?
“If you’re done, can I pass, please? Some of us have work to do.” Grumbling under her breath, she moves.
Pulling my phone out, it takes a few tries to find anything about the medical term she threw out there. I find out that it means a potassium deficiency, a blood level that is below normal in potassium, an important body chemical. The problem can result in fatigue, muscle cramps, and abnormal heart rhythms. Was she thinking he cramped up and drowned?
Whether she was trying to find reasons for the drownings or she had heard something, causing her to ask we’ll never know. I’m tired of the suspicious conjecture. Just fed the fuck up.
Leaving work for the night, I decide to look for Remi downtown. She’s been hard at work on the mural, but I just need to see her, talk to her about whatever has caused her to back off. If I said or did something, I need to know. If I’m this tied in knots over missing her after a few days, how am I going to handle weeks at a time?
I park by the town square, jogging across the street to the side of main street where Hidden Treasures is located. Early evening on this side of town is quiet. There are only a handful of people walking on the sidewalk on both sides of the street. I know even before I reach the alley beside Ceily’s building that Remi isn’t there. I’m starting back to my truck when I see Keenan leaving Talley’s with a milkshake.
He spots me, stopping abruptly and putting a hand up in the air. “Have mercy. What brings this southside dweller to this part of town? Trying to hunt down a certain bombshell?” In spite of myself I laugh at him.
“I was hoping she’d be around.” I shove my hands into the pockets of my jeans. “It’s been hard to get together.”
Keenan stops near me. “Sooo… heard you were talking to your ex today. Sounded like it was an intense conversation.”
That fucking fast? Christ, Natalie should look into broadcast journalism. “Seriously? She cornered me.” Running my hand through my hair, I feel like unleashing a big roar of frustration. It’s all building up. Remi leaving, the chatter in town, the past peeking over my shoulder, and now rumors about me talking to Kami.
“Her meds definitely are not at the appropriate therapeutic levels,” Keenan jokes leaning against the side of a decorative flowerpot filled with azalea and coppertips. “If it makes you feel any better, Remi didn’t seem to care.”
No. That doesn’t feel better.
I would never play the jealousy game, but she’s not communicating and now she didn’t react to that? I need to see her.
“She left about five minutes ago, her usual route back to The Bends.”
I catch sight of her when I’m walking back to my truck, she’s only a couple blocks away. “Rem?!” I call her name as I run in her direction. She bends down to pick up litter, as I come up behind her. “Remi, hey.” The look of terror on her face when she turns to see me doesn’t fade away as I step closer.
“Honey?”
She ducks her head before looking back up, uncertainty etched across her face. “Remi, what’s wrong?”