Later that night, I’m at home alone. Gracie is at grandpa’s, and mom’s out somewhere, and I just wanted to be alone for a bit. I took a long hot shower, and carefully wash my hair. It’s an old routine that relaxes me, but even with clean hair, I still feel jittery.
I change into a tank top and some soft shorts. With my hair wet, I finally feel like I’m cool enough to breathe. I settle in on the couch with a glass of iced tea and open the book I checked out from the library. Alex had lingered there, talking to me after we reached the false dead end on our research. He was really sweet, but he seemed to be holding back while we were together. Or maybe I was just reading too much into it because I was so nervous. Every time I looked into his eyes, I felt giddy. I felt so dumb about it, but I
