Marker of Hope by Nely Cab Page B

up.”
    Claire opened her eyes. “What—what’s
wrong?”
    “David is here,” I said. “His house is empty.
He has nowhere to sleep.”
    “They got robbed?” Claire asked.
    “No. Their furniture got moved into a storage
facility.”
    “Oh.” Claire sat up and rubbed her sleepy
face. She looked over at David who stood by the door. “Hi,
David.”
    “Evening, Mrs. Martin.”
    “ Why is your furniture in storage?”
she asked.
    “The estate is up for sale,” he explained. “I
planned on leaving tomorrow—my plans changed—and I’d already
contracted the movers to take the furniture to storage. The last of
it was taken this afternoon.”
    “Really? Shame. That place is beautiful,” she
said. “But where are your parents sleeping? Do they have a place to
stay?”
    “They’re at that new hotel in town,” I
said.
    “They were given the last available room,”
David lied. “The hotel is sold out.”
    “Because of summer vacationers,” I added. We
waited for my mom to say something. She didn’t. “So is it okay if
he stays on the couch tonight?”
    “The couch?” Claire asked. “Why? Is there
something wrong with your room?
    “Oh, that’s a good idea.” I turned to David.
“You can sleep in my room, and I’ll sleep with my mom.”
    “That’s perfect,” David said. “Thank you,
Mrs. Martin.”
    “That’s not what I meant.” Claire stood from
the couch. She slipped on her house slippers. “David can sleep with
you in your room. It’s not like I can expect any more surprises,
right?” She walked to the stairs. “Lock the front door and turn off
all the lights before you come up. Good night, kids.”
    I watched Claire walk up the stairs, my mouth
half open. I heard the door to her room shut. I turned to David.
“What just happened?”
    “I’m not sure.”
    I told David to give me a minute. He waited
on the couch while I ran upstairs to tidy up my room and change
into my pajamas. It would be strange having a boy sleeping in my
room. Stranger still, Claire knew about it, and she was just across
the hall. If she’d been the one with a man in her room, I’d be
disgusted. I wondered what was going through her head. I was
tempted to knock on her door and see if see if she really was okay
or just playing it cool.
    “So where am I supposed to sleep?”
said a voice from behind me.
    I gasped and turned around. “ Galilea! You need to stop doing that.” I closed my eyes and touched my chest
with a shaky hand. “What are you doing here?”
    “Guarding you. Duh.” She sat on the bed. “By
the way, you made me proud today. When you punched Olympia…” She
laughed. “And she went down…hit the floor.” She snorted. “Man, oh
man! The look on her dumb face… And the best thing…” She snorted
again. “I took pictures!”
    “You’ve been following me? Since when?”
    Galilea held up her index finger and laughed
some more. She wiped the tears from her eyes as she caught her
breath.
    “Yeah, I never left,” she said at last. “I
snuck into the backseat of David’s car when he came to knock on the
door to pick you up.”
    “You’ve been watching me all this time?”
    “Not the whole time.” She grinned and rolled
her eyes. “I waited downstairs until it quieted down in David’s
room. Oh, and thanks for not bothering to close the door.” She
frowned at me. “That house is not soundproof. At all .”
    “Ugh.” I covered my reddened face. “I can’t
believe…”
    “You don’t have to apologize. I know what
it’s like to be in love. This one time, Galen and I rented a suite
in Cabo. Long story short, management kicked us out because the
guests complained we were too…uh…never mind. My point is, I’m glad
you and David are together, but this sleeping arrangement, it’s not
gonna work for me. I can’t be more than thirty feet away from you
tonight or the block goes down. I have just enough energy to cover
you and me and no more. So…looks like you’re going to