Page 139 of Promising You
“Well, I feel the same way about you sometimes. I think we need to work on that.”
“Okay, so tell me about yourself.” I gaze into his eyes, smiling. “Do you like long walks on the beach? Sunsets? Rainy days?”
“I’m serious, Jade. You never talk about your past.”
“Neither do you.”
“So I think we should start talking about it.”
“What do you want to know?”
“Whatever you’re willing to tell me.”
“Um, okay, but I still need you to be more specific.”
He hesitates and holds my hand a little tighter. “Do you want to tell me about the day your mom died?”
I shrug. “There’s not much to tell. It was a Tuesday. I came home from school, went to use the bathroom and there she was. Lying on the bathroom floor. I yelled at her to get up but she didn’t move. I don’t know why I yelled at her like that. I knew she was dead. Her eyes were rolled back in her head and she had some weird liquid coming out of her mouth.”
Garret watches me as I tell the story, probably thinking I’ll burst out crying. But I never cry over that day. When I think about it, I don’t feel anything really. Maybe I’m a bad person for reacting that way, but it is what it is.
“And then what happened? Did Frank come over? Or who helped you after you found her?”
“Nobody. I just called the police. I wasn’t sure who you’re supposed to call when something like that happens. Frank was at a doctor’s appointment with Ryan. Anyway, the police came over and asked me some questions and the coroner came and took the body away. Then they left and I waited for Frank to get home.”
“You just waited there all alone? And the police allowed that? But you were a minor.”
“I lied and told them my aunt was coming over. I don’t even have an aunt, but I must be a good liar because they believed me.”
“So you went to Frank’s house when he got home?”
“Yeah, and I stayed there that night.”
“And what happened the next day?”
“I just got up and went to school.”
“But your mom had just died.”
“I didn’t want to sit at home all day and think about it. Frank took care of the funeral and whatever else needed to be done. And that’s the story. Now you know.”
“When did it happen?”
“In the fall. Okay, now you have to tell me something aboutyourpast.”
“When in the fall?”
Dammit. He’s going to make me say it and then he’s going to overreact. This is why I never tell this story.
CHAPTERTHIRTY-FOUR
“It happened in October. October 6th.”
And there’s the look. Shock and sadness cross Garret’s face, mixed with a good helping of pity.
“October 6th? That’s just a couple days before your birthday.”
“Yeah, I know when my birthday is.” I pick a rock off the ground and run it along the grooves in the wooden picnic table. “Sometimes I think she planned it that way. The morning it happened she came in my room and told me she was going to order pizza on Thursday for my birthday, which was weird because she never did anything for my birthday. But whatever. She broke her promise, just like she always did.”
