Total pages in book: 146
Estimated words: 143842 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 719(@200wpm)___ 575(@250wpm)___ 479(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 143842 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 719(@200wpm)___ 575(@250wpm)___ 479(@300wpm)
Grinning, Cody trudged down the hall toward the bedrooms and dumped his backpack on his bedroom floor.
He stepped back out into the hall to head for the kitchen, though he paused, unease skittering over his skin when he heard muffled sounds coming from his mom’s bedroom.
Soft sobs that were buried in what he was sure was a hand.
A ball of rocks lodged at the base of his throat, and he quietly edged that direction, pausing where his mom’s bedroom door was barely cracked open. He peeked in through the slit and saw his mom sitting on the side of the bed holding onto a piece of paper, tears streaking hot down her face.
Sadness blasted him, like a furnace he was standing next to right in the middle of the summer, and that spot in his chest pressed hard. The spot that kept getting bigger and bigger every time he heard his mom crying like this.
He pushed open the door, and the old hinges creaked.
His mom’s head popped up, and she swiped frantically at the moisture soaking her face like she could hide that she’d been crying.
But Cody knew.
He could hear her at night.
Could hear her during the day when she thought no one was listening.
Or maybe he just felt it. Sensed it down in that place where he’d tucked that promise that he’d made his father.
He crept up close to his mother. He already knew what she was looking at. The rest of them were spread out on her mattress.
Bills and bills.
Lots of them marked in red.
“I’m fine, Cody. Go on and give me a minute.”
His mom’s face was splotchy and red, the color of her eyes almost as drab as the brown of her hair. It made his stomach sick that she looked…old.
Like the years were going too fast.
“Stay right here, Mom. I’ll be right back.”
“Cody,” she called after him as he hurried out of her room and into his. He dropped to his knees on the ratty carpet and looked under the dresser where he kept the box. He grabbed it and jogged back into her room.
He lifted the lid. “There’s a hundred and fifty dollars in here.”
He’d been mowing lawns for the last year and saving up. It was supposed to be for a new bike, but he already had one, and he knew his mom needed this money way more than he did.
It was selfish to keep it for himself.
Grief curled across his momma’s face, and she cried harder. “Oh, Cody, my sweet, sweet boy. You don’t have to worry. I’m going to figure this out. It’s not your responsibility.”
His father’s voice echoed through his mind.
You’re a good boy. Take care of your momma and your sisters.
“I’m going to take care of you, Mom. Always.”
Sorrow blistered, and she set a shaking hand on his cheek. “Cody. I’m your mom and I’m the one who’s supposed to take care of you. I’m sorry you saw me like this. It’s not a big deal. I’ve got it covered. I just…got a little stressed.”
He glanced down at the sheet she’d been holding.
It was the sheet he’d brought home from football practice with the cost of the uniform. He was supposed to bring the money to tomorrow’s practice.
His stomach sank.
Hit the floor like a big boulder.
Because he knew what he had to do.
SIXTEEN
HAILEY
“Mommy, Mommy, Mommy!”
An avalanche of excitement collided with my slumber, a violent jostling of the bed that jarred me from sleep.
From where I was lying face down and wrapped around a pillow, I cracked open an eye to find Maddie waving her arms in the air and her little feet bouncing on the mattress a foot away from my head. “You have to wake it up right now because me and my Lolly is making you the best breakfast you are ever gonna eat in your whole life because Lolly said today is extra special.”
I tried not to wince at the stabbing of light spearing in through the window, and my voice was craggy when I asked, “What’s so special about today?”
“She said you are finally earning a reputation.” Maddie flapped her arms so hard I thought she might take flight, and I groaned and buried my face back in my pillow.
Crap.
Had Lolly known I was out there with Cody last night? I couldn’t even allow myself to contemplate it. My behavior risky. Verging on treacherous. I did my best to cram the surging of emotions back down. To keep them contained.
Deteriorating into a puddle of panic over my actions last night did not seem like the best way to begin the morning. But it was right there, bubbling beneath the surface.
Fear.
Guilt.
All mixed with the wash of warmth that skimmed across my skin as my mind flashed to the memory of the way those golden eyes had watched me last night. The way he’d touched me. The way it’d felt.