Chapter 35 Angeni Luna
Angeni Luna
Angeni stared at her computer screen. This was her first day trying to get back to working on the book after all the recent drama.
She needed to start making some progress.
Maybe working on the book would distract her from the friction with Aurora.
Since their conversation at the bay, Aurora had been keeping to herself in her tiny house out back, though they had maneuvered around each other in the kitchen this morning.
Angeni was waiting for Aurora to come clean, to confess that, yes, she was trying to make trouble because of her discomfort with Sitka.
Angeni was prepared to forgive her if she would just confess.
There was a small part of her that wondered if Aurora had been telling the truth—if Erik and Sitka had developed some kind of nighttime relationship that had escalated to a romantic kiss.
She had never noticed any chemistry between the two of them, and Angeni was usually quite intuitive about such things.
She and Erik had been going through a hard time, and she knew Erik was probably longing for physical affection, but she just couldn’t see him kissing Sitka.
She was just a girl, a standoffish, difficult-to-read girl.
Aurora had to be lying, which was an equally distressing infidelity.
Freya was taking her midmorning nap on the floor mattress in Sitka’s room.
She was used to sleeping there at night and seemed to prefer it during the day, though Angeni still let her nap on her chest whenever possible.
Angeni stood from her chair, convincing herself she needed a break.
She went to peek in at Freya. The baby was sleeping soundly, flat on her back with her arms and legs flailed out.
Sitka’s room looked unusually tidy, the bed made, no toiletries or items of clothing out.
In the corner of the room, Angeni saw the two bags Sitka had arrived with.
They appeared to be full. Was Sitka leaving?
Angeni closed the door to Sitka’s room and went looking for her. She hadn’t seen her go out back, so she must be on the front porch. As she came toward the front of the house, she heard shouting. It sounded like Aurora, but she’d never heard Aurora sound like this. She walked faster.
The front door was ajar.
She heard Aurora shout, “You need to tell her all this. You can’t just run away like a coward. Tell her. She won’t believe me.”
Angeni started to push the screen door open, saying, “Ror, what’s going on?”
She saw the back of her best friend. Then Aurora turned around. Their eyes quickly met before there was the split-second sound of a gunshot. And then, for the second time in Angeni’s week, everything went black.