Jenna snorted. "We have 15 years of history. You've only known her, what, six months?"

Sasha paused before responding. Jenna was right in that she'd only met Cady a few months ago and had been hanging with Jenna since she was two.

"She's not very nice to you either," Jenna said.

"That's not true," she protested.

"Let's review shall we? She took you to a park where you got jumped. She set you up with a creep and she hit on the guy you like. Where's the love?"

When Jenna put it in those terms it did look bad. She'd met Cady at the community center when she'd taken Hannah there to swim in the outdoor pool last summer. Sasha remembered they'd had lounges beside each other and just began talking. Cady's family had just moved to Austin and she was looking for a private school. Cady's dad was some kind of tech executive and didn't want his daughter going to public school. Sasha thought Cady said she'd moved from Memphis.

"She didn't know I liked Evan, I never told her about him," then she remembered she had told Cady about the robbery, "in that way."

"You make too many excuses for her," Hanna lectured. "It was your birthday. Anyone who wasn't full of herself could tell you invited Evan as your special guest."

"Let's not talk about that anymore," Sasha pouted. "It doesn't change the fact that she's missing."

"Cady can take care of herself," Hannah said pulling into a parking spot at school.

Sasha spent the day trying not to think about Cady. She wasn't in cla.s.s again and didn't respond to a new slew of text messages. When she got home Sasha pulled on her running clothes even though it was a day off from track practice, she felt the need to run.

Growing up everyone called Evan's dad a hero. His father was a soldier who died in the Iraq War. If that wasn't the definition of hero he didn't know what was. He died when a roadside bomb blew him and his squad to pieces. His ashes arrived wrapped in a plastic bag stuffed in an impersonal brown cardboard box. Nan quickly transferred the ashes to a metal box with Asian decorations that she got at a home decorating store. No one knew that the box sitting on the fireplace mantle held his father's remains.

His father died for his country and that legacy was hard to match. Nan never made him feel inferior compared to his hero father. She'd raised him since he was 10 so she knew son and grandson as little kids and adults or near adult in Evan's case. She was respectful and always listened when he talked. That's why her reaction to meeting Sasha shook him so much.

He was mowing the lawn while Nan pulled weeds from her herb garden when Sasha ran by decked out in her running gear. He could tell she hadn't seen him and was distracted by her headset and maybe thoughts. When he waved at her, she barely caught the movement and when she recognized him her face broke out into a huge smile and look of surprise. She examined the houses in the area as if she had no idea where she was and gaped at his front door until he saw recognition in her eyes.

"I have no idea how I got here," she said pulling the ear buds away and turning off her music. He didn't recognize the song blasting from the ear buds.

"By foot?"

"Ha ha, aren't you the clever one," she said and then smiled graciously as his grandmother walked toward them.

Nan stretched out her hand. "I'm Nancy," Nan said.

"Wonderful to meet you I'm Sasha," she said.

"Are you school friends?"

Sasha shook her head. "I met Evan a few weeks ago at the cafe. It's my favorite place. Have you been?"

"It's a young person's place," Nan said. "I'd stick out too much."

Evan flicked the switches of the lawnmower nervously trying to find an inroad into the conversation so that he could interject some control over the topic.

"Hardly," scoffed Sasha. "It's a coffee shop. Hasn't Evan introduced you to Teebow? He's the owner. He's super cool and nice."

"He's talked about him but he keeps the details close to his vest like about you."

Evan felt his stomach drop as he glanced at Sasha for her reaction. Sasha appeared flushed and Evan wasn't sure if it was the running or if Nan embarra.s.sed her. He hadn't told Nan anything about Sasha because she would jump to conclusions and quiz him every chance she got.

"Nothing to tell," Sasha said hesitantly and peeked at Evan before quickly glancing away.

"Oh, I can't imagine that," Nan said. "If so, my grandson is more hopeless than I ever thought."

Sasha laughed. "No argument there," she grinned.

"Hey," he said defending himself. "Can you talk about something else?"

Sasha shrugged. "You are the topic we have in common, it's only natural we'd want to discuss you. Oh, which reminds me, you make one mean chocolate cake."

"You had some?"

"A while back but I've not been invited to return," she said joking.

It was Evan's turn to flush with embarra.s.sment. He knew he'd come to regret pushing her away. Having to face his Nan's ire over rejecting Sasha was not something he'd confront if he could avoid it.

Sasha lifted her watch to see the time. "I didn't know it was so late," she said backing away. "I have to get home. It was nice meeting you Nancy."

Nan patted Sasha's forearm. "Lovely meeting you. Come back sometime for more chocolate cake."

"Will do," she said before turning to Evan. "See you sometime." And she was gone.

Evan watched her run away and wondered if he should have said more. Every time he saw her he wished she wouldn't leave. He wondered if those feelings would ever go way. He barely knew her and yet he felt like he needed to get to know her better. It was an attraction that was a mystery to him. He'd dated lots of girls yet none who sparked a fire inside him that burned so hot.

He was trying to put her out of his head when he flipped the switch on the mower and it roared to life. It didn't take him long to finish the yard and rake up the gra.s.s clippings. He went in search of his grandmother when he couldn't find her weeding and found her in the kitchen drinking lemonade.

"I don't like lying Evan," Nan said in a sharp tone. He knew he was in trouble although he wasn't exactly sure why. He sat down across from her and used a napkin to blot sweat from his face.

"You've never mentioned Sasha," she swallowed some of her drink. "Why is that?"

Evan shrugged and avoided eye contact with his grandmother. "I don't tell you everything," he mumbled.

"And how," she snapped rising from her chair and taking her gla.s.s to the sink. She rinsed it and put it in the drainer. "I had no idea who she was. It was awkward."

Evan cleared his throat. "I thought you two got along just fine. She had no clue you lied."

Nan leaned against the counter and pierced him with a stare that made him shift in his seat.

"How come I haven't met this girl before now?" Nan said. "I can tell you like her."

Evan pulled open the fridge and stared at its contents. He was hungry and didn't know what he wanted to eat. He also wanted to avoid this conversation with his grandmother. They were close but he didn't confide in her about his girl issues. They talked about school, his dad, his future, her future. They had never talked about girls before and he wasn't comfortable discussing it now.

"She seems like a lovely girl, how long have you known her?"

"Not long," he mumbled opening a Tupperware container of leftovers. He got a fork from a drawer and ate from the plastic storage container. Normally his grandmother would tell him to get a plate but she was distracted.

"Listen Evan," she said gathering a plate and cup and taking them to the sink. She ran the water and added soap in preparation to wash dishes. "I feel like you're wasting your youth."

Evan looked up from eating and watched his grandmother work. He was a bit discomforted with the direction of the conversation. He shifted in his seat and wondered if he could leave the room unnoticed.

"Your father had his first girlfriend when he was 15," she said as if changing the subject.

Curious Evan had never heard this story before so he got comfortable and gave his grandmother his full attention.

"He thought he was in love," she said with a distracted look on her face as if she'd sent herself twenty years in the past. "I shouldn't have said thought. He was in love."

She laughed at the memory and then turned serious. "And then he met your mother," she said. "She got pregnant, he joined the military and the rest of the story you know."

Evan frowned. He didn't understand the point she was trying to make.

"My point is ten years after meeting your mom he was gone," she said. "If he hadn't explored his feelings for that first girl, he never would have had two loves before he died. He never would have had those experiences. He didn't know he was going to die so young. No one knows when it's their time."

"Why are you telling me this?" he said perplexed.

His grandmother pushed away from the counter and sat in a chair close to him. She didn't touch him although she looked like she wanted to. Evan felt a surge of panic course through his gut. He didn't want his grandmother to touch him because he feared he'd fall apart. He was used to suppressing his emotions, not talking about them.

"You don't know when it's going to be your time," she said. "I'm not saying go out and get a girl pregnant. I'm old fashioned enough to want for you to wait until you get married or at least are in a serious relationship."

She leaned back in her seat and took a sip of water from a gla.s.s she'd placed on the table. "I want you to be happy," she said. "And everything is telling me you aren't happy. I'm worried about you kid."

Evan sighed relieved that she hadn't asked any probing questions about Sasha because he didn't know what he'd tell her. He feared that he was a coward, too afraid to explore a relationship with a girl who he couldn't stop thinking about even though he'd told her he wasn't interested. He was strongly attracted to Sasha, a girl with a mystery even she didn't comprehend.

"I always promised myself that I'd give you your s.p.a.ce and I'd just pray you didn't make the same mistakes as your father," she said softly. "And here we are in the opposite situation. You work, you study and you have hardly any social life. That's just not right. I don't understand what you're waiting for. A girl like Sasha isn't going to wait forever."

Evan laughed because his grandmother sounded so much like Teebow. For a minute he wondered if Teebow had spoken to Nan. Naw. He wouldn't do that.

"You can't save up your happys," she said soberly. "You have to live for today, not for tomorrow because who knows what will happen tomorrow. You don't want to be alone forever Evan. It's no fun."

His grandmother sighed heavily as if she had a lot of regrets. She looked sad as she stare at the kitchen table, lost in her own thoughts. Abruptly she stood up, her chair sc.r.a.ping against the floor, went down the hall and Evan heard the bathroom door close. Evan a.s.sumed she was referring to herself when she talked about being alone. She hadn't dated since he had moved in with her. He had never sensed that she was lonely but maybe her lecture was as much about herself as it was about Evan.

He went to his bedroom and flipped on his computer. He aimlessly surfed the web not seeing the screen or the web pages. His mind was cluttered with lectures he'd been given about living life.

CHAPTER TWELVE.

She still hadn't heard from Cady in days. She hadn't responded to any of her voice mail or text messages. She wasn't in school. Sasha called the police for an update on the investigation but there was none. Cady was really gone.

It was hard to accept. Whenever Sasha thought of Cady a lump formed in her throat. She worried that Nefar got to her. It seemed like a silly concern and yet Sasha had a scary feeling that Cady's disappearance was somehow connected to the threats on her.

When she saw the noon hour television news she was stricken by the dire television reports. The news anchor said witnesses and traffic cameras showed Cady pulled from her car by two men dressed in black around midnight Tuesday at a traffic light. The newscast showed a clip of the abduction. Cady was dressed in the same sundress she wore to meet Sasha Tuesday night. One man pulled open the driver's side door and yanked Cady out of the car by her long hair. Cady fought violently as another man grabbed her feet and the kidnappers carried her by hand and foot to a car not seen onscreen. She hadn't been seen since.

Overwhelmed, Sasha crawled into a corner of the library and cried. She didn't want to answer anyone's probing questions. She was wiping away tears in the bathroom and inspecting her red puffy eyes when her phone buzzed with a message. Her heart leaped in her chest with hope.

It was a message from Evan. Sasha's heart skipped a beat for an entirely different reason.

We need to talk.

He wasn't taking back his rejection of Sasha but she would take what she could get.

2nd cup @ 3?

C U there Sasha was distracted for the rest of the day. She had no idea what Evan wanted to talk about. He probably heard about Cady vanishing because it was on the news and reporters were at the school this morning trying to interview students.

Sasha avoided the mobs and locked her bike at a back entrance. Cady's other friends could speak for her. She wasn't interested in calling attention to herself. She had enough strange and dangerous people keeping track of her whereabouts.

Sasha left track practice early to meet with Evan. Coach grumbled about her lack of commitment to the team but was otherwise noncommittal. She wasn't sure if he knew she and Cady were friends but she appreciated that he didn't give her a ha.s.sle.

As Sasha biked to the coffee shop she worried about seeing Evan. She dreaded that he was just going to reiterate his feelings that he couldn't date her or maybe he'd changed his mind. Considering Cady's interest in him she wondered if he'd heard from her. A million thoughts rushed through her head distracting her from where she was going. She overshot the street and had to turn around and climb a big hill she'd just raced down. It wasn't until she locked her bike in front of the cafe that she noticed a Lincoln sedan with dark tinted windows idling on a side street.

She paused wondering if it had followed her, she'd been too distracted to notice. It looked like the same car she saw Cady get into after her birthday party. It was hard to tell. Lincoln sedans weren't exactly rare cars. Sasha memorized every detail of the car including its license plate, 23MKO. It was a personalized plate because it was shorter than the seven digit plates normally used. She got a pen out of her bag and wrote the plate number on her hand as she walked into the cafe.

Evan was waiting in Sasha's favorite spot when she pushed through the door. There was no fire in the grate considering it was nearing 75 degrees outside. Teebow waved to her from the counter and motioned that he had a drink for her. She went to see him first.

"How's it going girl?" Teebow said pushing an iced coffee toward her. She didn't like iced drinks but didn't want to be rude and refuse.

"Ok," she said somewhat subdued. She was excited to see Evan but the Lincoln was a reminder that the danger wasn't gone.

"Cheer up girl," Teebow said. "It's never as bad as you think."

Sasha nodded and walked over to the leather club chairs. She wasn't sure what Teebow was getting at.

Sasha sat across from Evan and pulled a piece of paper from her knapsack. She copied the license plate number and tucked it into her pocket. Evan's eyes followed her every move.

"What's that?" he asked his eyes clear and focused on her.

Sasha was unsure whether to tell him about her suspicions. She didn't want to sound crazy. She decided to be honest and stop a.n.a.lyzing whether she was putting him in danger. He could determine that himself. She told him about the Lincoln.

"Should we tell the police?" he said.

We? Sasha's blood pounded slightly faster at the implications of the noun. She chastised herself for being silly.

"It might be nothing," she said soberly.

"So what," Evan said reaching for the slip of paper and wiggled his fingers for her to give it to him. Obeying, she took it out of her pocket and placed it in his hand, a tingle pa.s.sed through her fingers when they touched. "Let them figure it out."

Evan pulled out his phone and called a number on a business card. She heard him talking to one of the police officers that came to her house last night. When done he put his phone on the table and stared at it before gazing at her intently.

"I'm sorry about what I said," he said sincerely. "I've been keeping my distance and then coming back when I think you need me. I know it must be confusing and I don't want to hurt you. I'd like to start over."