Facade of Love (Yvette Scott and Idris Young) novel Chapter 443

Mom was still mad at me. That much was clear...

"Boom..." March was prime time for spring showers, and a few rumbles of thunder later, the dark sky opened up with a light drizzle.

The chill was bad enough, but the rain made it bone-deep cold, and I could not stop shivering.

Gregory had left his phone with me when he left, but who could I call at this ungodly hour without rudely waking up? It dawned on me that I could not remember when this happened, but I seemed to have run out of people to reach out to.

Huddled up by the Scotts' front door, I found a spot where the rain could not quite reach, wrapping my arms around myself to stay as warm as possible. Just a few more hours, and it would be light.

Maybe it was the deep chill of the night that made those hours stretch on, feeling like an eternity.

Time blurred until the drizzle turned into a torrential downpour. I curled up tighter, but my clothes still got soaked, and I was shivering from the cold.

At least it was not long before the sky started to lighten, and the early risers began to stir, some cars and footsteps breaking the silence.

Looking like a drowned rat, I could not help but catch the odd looks of people passing by. I tried to look less miserable, but who was I kidding?

Thinking of the time Mom usually got up, I pressed the doorbell. It echoed a few times before a voice finally answered faintly from the yard. "Coming, coming."

That voice... was not Mom's.

Hesitating, the gate swung open, and there stood Alice with her pretty face.

I froze, and so did she, but then she managed a smile and said, "Ms. Scott, you're here."

She said, 'you're here,' not 'you're back.'

Something about that did not sit right with me. Why was she at the Scotts'? As she nodded slightly, my thoughts flew to Idris, and I blurted out, "How's Idris?"

She just nodded again, blocking the doorway, clearly not about to invite me in.

"Alice, who is it? Little Sanchez?" Mom's voice floated from the yard.