She Lied She Died by Carissa Lynch (book recommendations for young adults txt) 📕

come over to the house last night? Was I drinking again? Is that why I can’t remember?

Suddenly, it was starting to make sense: I rarely drank alcohol, not until recently, and not since my early twenties. If I’d had a few beers last night, or even a little wine, then maybe … maybe I had blacked out completely.

But a quick scan of the room revealed no empty cans or bottles. No evidence that I’d been drinking at all.

How could I be so irresponsible? What the hell was I thinking, inviting a man over with my teenage daughter across the hall?

“Go back to bed. I’ll wake him up and ask him to leave.”

When Delaney didn’t budge, I raised my voice a few octaves: “You have school in the morning. Now, go!”

The hurt expression on her face came and went so quickly, I almost wondered if I’d imagined it. A flutter of guilt rose up. Delaney wasn’t a child anymore; I often had to remind myself of that. I shouldn’t scold her so harshly; rather, I should try to talk to her like an equal, I thought, regretfully.

“Screw you,” she huffed, then turned and marched out of the room. The door to my bedroom slammed bitterly behind her.

My eyes drifted back to the lumpy man. I’d been expecting him to wake up after Laney’s outburst, but he was still sleeping peacefully.

In the silence of my bedroom, I crept over to the window and sat down on my favorite reading bench that overlooked our suburban street. My head felt groggy and strange, and I waited for the details of last night to come into focus…

I pressed my head against the windowpane and sighed. It was almost morning, the dark mountain ridges in the distance tipped with dusty browns and burgundy reds.

How long has it been since I watched the sun rise?

When Delaney was young, she’d loved the outdoors. But I had still been with her father then, Michael. Most of my memories of her early years were corrupted by memories of fights with Michael and sleepless nights as I grieved over Dillan.

Here’s the thing: when you bring a baby home from the hospital, you’re supposed to be happy. “It’s a miracle that even one of the twins survived,” the doctor had told me. “At least you have Delaney,” my friends had told me.

But having a beautiful baby girl didn’t make me any less sad about the son I’d lost, the room with blue borders I’d never use, the drawers of blankets and the onesies I’d picked out specifically for him… They were all still waiting for me when I came back home from the hospital. Some things couldn’t be forgotten, even if I did love Delaney with all my heart.

Michael left us when Delaney was five. Unfortunately, he didn’t go far.

Less than two miles from here, he lived with his new wife, Samantha, and baby sons, Braxton and Brock, in a Victorian mansion they had restored. Delaney had a room there – she loved that room – and she visited them every weekend.

Apparently, Michael’s not verbally abusive with his new family, and he gave up drinking years ago… How convenient for them.

The drinking and the dating – I’d only started that recently, with the nudging insistence of my two best friends. It seemed good for me – healthy, even – but incidents like this couldn’t happen.

Meeting up with strange men, bringing them to my home … not a good example for Delaney. And probably not safe either.

I had no recollection of what had happened last night, or who this strange man was. This went way beyond normal socializing – I’d obviously blacked out completely.

I moved to another window, this one front-facing, and peered out through the blinds at the street in front of our house.

My Dodge minivan was parked at the curb, crooked as usual. But tonight, there was a navy-blue Camaro parked behind it, and I knew it didn’t belong to my neighbor. It has to be his, I thought, glancing back at the hairy set of toes.

Well, at least this mystery man drives a nice car. I’ve dated worse…

If only I could remember who he was or what we did last night…

“Excuse me.” I tiptoed over to the bed.

I poked his shoulder area, and when he didn’t budge, I pushed the blankets away from his face. His face was smooth, eyes closed. He looked downright peaceful.

Damn, I wish I slept that soundly.

“I need you to go. I don’t mean to be rude, but I think I had too much to drink last night. I don’t usually let guys stay overnight. And my daughter … well, she has school in the morning. So, can you please head home?”

But the strange man didn’t respond. No breathy snores, not even a slight twitch. No movement, whatsoever…

“Excuse me!” I knew I was being a bitch, but I didn’t care. My daughter had just discovered a strange man in my bed. My daughter who was already having enough troubles lately…

Since joining the dating site, I’d invited a couple men over, but only when Delaney was at her dad’s. Inviting a stranger from the internet to my house on a school night while Delaney was home…well, that was totally out of character for me.

But lately, I hadn’t been acting like myself at all.

I need this man out of my bed… Right now.

I placed both hands on his chest and gave him a sturdy shake. “Wake up, please.”

When he still didn’t react, I grew frustrated. Gripping the plain white sheet in my left fist, I tugged it the rest of the way off.

“Jesus!”

I leapt back from the bed, shaky hands covering my mouth and nose.

The mystery man was completely naked, but that wasn’t the shocking part. It was the dark purple stain in the center of his abdomen.

And beneath him…

“Oh. Oh…” The floor beneath my feet became watery and strange, the walls spinning like a tilt-o-whirl. My backside made sharp contact with the dresser behind me and a