Twice the Charm

Abby stared at her laptop screen absent-mindedly. There was a lot of work to be done but she simply couldn't bring herself to focus. Tomorrow she would be leaving for Malibu and she was nothing close to done with work. “Miss, would you like anything else?” She glanced up and found a waitress staring politely at her. Abby shook her head. “I'm okay, thanks.” She gathered all things back into her purse, went to pay at the front desk and left. It was a warm sunny day in New York, Manhattan but Abby wasn't feeling the warmth. She was sick and cold to her stomach. Everything around her was crumbling. The divorce papers weren't finalized yet and everytime her lawyer called, her stomach would do a little back flip. Just as she'd gotten into her car, her phone rang. She reached for it. “Hey sis, guess who's finally home,” Sarah's chirpy voice broke through. A small smile formed across Abby's lips. “That's amazing. You're finally home after a decade,” I teased and her sister scoffed

Chapter Three As much as Abby didn't like to admit it, she hated how expectant she was. As the days went by she found herself unconsciously waiting on Anthony to call her or at least drop a text message but even after three days, nothing. “He still hasn't called you?” Sarah asked, sipping her mango smoothie. “You just have to get your mind off of him. He's a jerk.” “Can we not talk about Anthony right now?” Abby asked, her expression serious. “We could go to his house and demand answers,” Sarah suggested, ignoring her sister's gaze. Abby's piercing look softened at the thought of Sarah confronting him. Today, they'd decided to head down to the beach. Seated at Sandy's Booth, one of the local bars on the beach, they talked over glasses of mango tropical smoothies. “How's Mike doing?” Sarah asked and Abby frowned. “Don't you have anything better to do than interrogating me?” Abby asked, taking her shades off. “What?” She grinned. “You're the one with the interesting love life.

Abby wasn't sure what hurt the most— the way Anthony had pushed her off him like they both didn't want it, the fact that he had ignored all her questions or that Sarah was right about him. “She still hasn't said anything all day, it's almost like she's gone mute.” Her mother had said one day. Five days, that was how long it'd been since the embarrassing incident back at Anthony's place. He still hadn't attempted to reach out or at least render an apology. “Are you okay?” Abby's mother, Mindy, asked, as she hurried into the kitchen. “I need someone to help me get a couple of things from the grocery store.” Abby rolled her eyes. She clearly wasn't in the mood to run errands but she also wasn't going to turn down the offer for some fresh air. “I promised the church I'd bring some of my home baked cookies tomorrow for the picnic we're having,” Mindy said, securing an apron around her waist. Abby frowned. “Since when did you start to go to church?” “Wver since that new pastor show

Chapter Seven Anthony didn't get what the fuss was all about. He watched as Abby hurried moved around, throwing all her clothes on.She shot him a glare and yelled. “I'll be outside in a minute Sarah.”Throwing on the easiest thing she could find— a button up shirt— she hurried to the door, smoothened her hair down and cracked the door open just a little bit.Sarah glanced down at her outfit and frowned when her eyes rose to see Abby's messy hair. “Are you okay? You look like you got into a nasty fight,” she said, pointing out the red markings on her sister's neck.Abby slapped Sarah's hands off her and tugged her collar up. “It's nothing, I was busy cleaning up my room.”The look on Sarah's face showed she wasn't buying the lies. Soon Mindy was at the door too, wondering why Abby was hiding behind the door. “Girl, would you open the door already?” Mindy asked and pushed the door open. Abby's weight shifted and the door swung open revealing Anthony who had only managed to throw on s

Chapter Nine“Can you at least relax and tell me what happened?” Chris asked. He had known Anthony for a while and Anthony had always been a calm and collected man even under the face of pressure but right now that man was long gone.Anthony chugged down the glass of water to wet his parched throat. “I was at the bar and I heard these two men, they walked up to the bar to get a drink, and one of them was talking about how he had a buddy who was working with detectives on the Riversons case…” Anthony exhaled loudly, “Riverson had cameras installed in his house.”Everything slowed down. Chris’s mind began to reel quickly. Had the cops already gotten their hands on the footage? Were the cameras even working? There was no way they wouldn't find him now. Shit, he'd even walked in without a mask. “We've gotta get rid of the evidence,” Chris finally said, running his fingers through his wind blown hair. “We can't let them get to it before we do.”“So what do we do?” Both men thought long