Vanished by E. E. Cooper Page B

with all the glass broken and the air bag slowly deflating. And I start thinking about that person being hurt or even dead. I know it’s stupid because the person is only a few minutes late and now I’m all worked up. So I started doing stuff to feel better.”
    â€œWhat kind of stuff?”
    I flushed, and I hoped Beth couldn’t see how embarrassed I was. “Weird stuff. Like tapping a set number of times, or needing things in my room to be arranged a certain way or else it feels like I’m putting people at risk. I have to do it right or something bad will happen.”
    â€œWow.”
    â€œYeah. I don’t do it anymore.” I realized I was holding a stickso tightly that it was going to break. I forced myself to loosen my grip and be honest. “I still do it sometimes if I’m really stressed, but at least now I know I’m doing it. Knowing you’re crazy is half the battle, right?”
    â€œYou’re not crazy. Well, no crazier than the rest of us.” Beth took the bottle from me and took a drink. “We’ve already established I’m screwed up. And Brit’s whole family is seriously fucked.”
    â€œI guess we’re all messed up a bit,” I said .
    â€œAll the best people are.”
    I took the bottle back and took another drink so I’d have something to distract me from wanting to touch her .
    Beth leaned toward me. “You’ve got sand on you.” She ran the pad of her thumb along my lip. I felt grains of sand slide off under her touch. It felt like a match being lit. My breath was coming faster. Beth leaned in closer, pausing just a few inches from my face. “Okay?” she asked, her voice soft .
    I nodded, not entirely sure what she was asking. Not knowing what I wanted to happen, or maybe knowing, but unwilling to admit it .
    Beth’s mouth touched mine. Her lips soft and then pressing. She cupped her hand behind my head, her fingers weaving into my hair. The sound of waves hitting the beach thumped like a heartbeat, filling me, connecting us .
    She pulled back and let out a long breath. “I shouldn’t have done that.”
    My heart was in overdrive. “I’m glad you did.”
    She took the bottle back from me and took a sip. “Well, this is going to complicate things.”
    â€œI like complicated things,” I said, sounding braver and surer than I felt. I had no idea what was happening, I just knew I wanted her to kiss me like that again .
    She tapped the bottle to her forehead in a salute. “Then we’ll just have to be careful. Brit. Zach. Et cetera. How many times do I have to do this to keep us safe?” she teased .
    â€œSix times.”
    Beth beamed. “Six is my favorite number! Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast,” she crowed .
    The bourbon was making my lips tingle. If I started laughing I wouldn’t be able to stop. “What?”
    Beth rolled her eyes. “How do you not know that? It’s from Alice in Wonderland. ”
    â€œI never read it.”
    â€œSerious?” Beth leaned back in shock and fell off the log, her legs in the air. I pulled her back up, giggling. I glanced down at our hands, our fingers laced together. “It’s my favorite book of all time.”
    Beth tapped her head with the bottle six times. “There, now we’re good!”
    I nodded. Technically, since she’d done it once before, that was seven times. Not that it mattered. As she leaned in to kiss me I tasted the sand and bourbon on her lips, and realized I’d never felt safer .

CHAPTER TWELVE
    As soon as I came downstairs the next morning, I sensed something was wrong. The tension in the air was like a fog filling up the house. I paused in the doorway of the kitchen. My parents stopped their whispering. I stepped forward and reached for the paper on the counter between them.
    There was a giant photo of