Buried Secrets (New Adult Dark Suspense Romance) Read Online Free PDF

into the family room, where her father was mixing drinks, Dusty opened the lid. It was unidentifiable except for the distinct odor of tuna.
    Her uncle and his new wife showed up with a pie between them. It was store bought, but it was lemon meringue, so Julia might forgive them, since lemon was her personal favorite. One of the women who used to babysit them brought a quiche. Dusty thanked her and accepted her apologies, although she knew the quiche wouldn’t get eaten. Julia was a picky eater and her father… well, real men still didn’t eat quiche in rural America.
    After that, the people and the food seemed to run together, but she wrote it all down, as Julia had requested. Nellie Edwards, who ran the diner in town, brought her special—noodles and beef casserole. Probably leftover ‘special of the day.’ Will Cougar, who ran Cougar's General Store down on the corner of Frontier and Franklin, brought a chocolate cream pie he said his wife had made.
    Then he handed her a package of Twizzlers.
    “I remembered how much you both liked ’em, hon.”
    That brought a lump to her throat and she couldn’t look at him when she thanked him.
    He touched her shoulder and then was gone.
    By the time their driveway was lined with cars, Julia had been in twice to refill appetizer trays from the fridge, making sure Dusty was keeping a list of who brought what, and the list of food had expanded to include five pounds of raw hamburger from Mr. Maxwell, who ran Max's Meats, a pan of brownies, five more pies—two were coconut cream, one was strawberry, one was apple, and one was pumpkin—eight cannolies, two mysterious Jell-O salads, and a sack of California navel oranges. Dusty was running out of room on the table.
    When she opened the door for Suzanne, she noticed her brother’s on-again off-again girlfriend had changed from the simple black dress she’d worn to the funeral into a pair of dark blue sweats, a hoodie and Nikes. She came through the front door into the kitchen.
    “Hi.” Dusty swallowed, memories flooding back, and couldn’t manage to follow her greeting up with anything. Looking at Suzanne brought Nick back in a way she hadn’t experienced yet, less a memory and more of a feeling, something fuzzy and warm and painfully intoxicating. They had all known each other since grade school.
    “I didn't think to bring anything. I'm sorry.” Suzanne eyed the pies lined up on the table.
    “I was running out of room anyway.”
    Suzanne smiled, but even that felt hollow. “Who's here?”
    Voices floated in from the family room, subdued, but there was still some laughter. It sounded like a party that had just begun.
    “Nearly everybody I know and a few I don't.” Dusty sat on one of the kitchen chairs. “Have a seat.”
    “Is Shane here?” Suzanne sat down across from her.
    “No.”
    “He said he might drop by.” Suzanne twisted a strand of hair, no longer pulled back, around her finger.
    “Great, I'll look forward to it.” Dusty’s sarcasm made Suzanne smile again, but it didn’t reach her eyes.
    “I hate funerals.” Suzanne sighed, absently tucking the cling wrap back under one of the homemade pies. “But I hate these 'afterward' things more. Why do we bother?”
    “I don’t know.” Dusty knew what she meant. This wasn’t a comfort—it was just etiquette. Julia could write a book on the etiquette of funerals. Nick always said their father had married Miss Manners.
    “I miss him already.” Suzanne traced the blue flower design on the tablecloth with her finger. “There was this really brief period of shock, when I didn’t feel anything. I miss that too.”
    Dusty nodded. She remembered the early morning phone call, her father’s voice shaking when he called her to come downstairs where Julia was hovering, telling both of them to sit down… and then telling them why.
    Julia had gone into business mode almost immediately, calling the funeral home and then going with Dusty’s father down to the