ChaPter 2 - Carnival of Souls by Melissa Marr

16
“Now,” she repeated. “Like tonight, now?”
“No.” He gave her a smile that did little to soften the
tension in his expression before saying gently, “I called the
company movers. They’ll be here on the fifteenth.”
Childish hurt warred with years of practicality. Adam
wouldn’t decide that they needed to go again, especially on
such short notice, if he didn’t think it was essential, but she
felt betrayed. They’d spent hours together, and he hadn’t
mentioned it until now.
“That’s my birthday,” she said with as little inflection as
she could manage. She didn’t—couldn’t—mention Kaleb, but
the thought of never seeing him again tore at her. Her gaze was
carefully fixed on the gun she wiped clean.
“I know.” Adam walked into the room and hugged her.
“I’m sorry.”
She closed her eyes like the child she couldn’t be. It was
silly to make a big deal over a date on the calendar, but she still
clung to the foolish dream that her mother would show up on
her birthday. There was no reason to believe she would, but
Mallory had held on to the hope that her mother would walk
back through the door and into their lives some birthday with
as little notice as her departure on Mallory’s twelfth birthday.
Adam swore that Selah had ways to locate them. His
employer always knew where they were, and Selah was the
only person in the world who had been granted full clearance
to be told how to find Adam and Mallory at any time. Mallory
hated to doubt her father’s judgment, but her mother had never