Emma Moves In

Chapter Thirteen

At Natalia and Zoe’s home, Emma lays on her air mattress while the twins comfort her. Emma’s been sobbing, and she doesn’t know what to do. Natalia thinks maybe Emma misunderstood the text messages, but Emma responds they were pretty clear.

Zoe forces Emma to wipe off her tears, and suggests going down to the beach to do some drawing. Emma’s not an artist like Zoe, but she consents.

When they get down to the beach, they plop down on the sand and begin drawing a seashell. Natalia takes Riley, and they walk along the beach looking for other cool objects to draw.

When the shadows get longer, Natalia gets their attention by making a gull screech, and Emma and Zoe chuckle. Emma felt like she’d never laugh again, and now she realizes how much better she feels.

Emma knows what she has to do: she has to call her dad and figure out what’s really happening.