“Mom had a few boyfriends. She probably dumped him for someone else.” I skim a few more lines and then read aloud again. “He told me the nickname has spread through the football team. Everyone is calling him Buzz. Wow. I can’t believe my influence has spread through Ashworth Academy. Someone pinch me.” I lower the diary as my mouth hangs open. “What?”
“Your mom was dating someone who went to Ashworth Academy?” Kai questions. “Did you know she knew anyone from our school?”
I shake my head, bewildered. “No way. I know she did everything she could to get us to Victoria Falls. Aunt Maddy said they didn’t know anyone until Grams took us in.”
“Maybe your aunt didn’t know about this guy,” Kai suggests. “Maybe your mom kept him a secret.”
My stomach wobbles with worry. “Oh boy. What if this guy is some kind of sick low life?”
“Read on,” Kai urges. “We don’t know anything yet.”
I sit the book on my lap, close my eyes and breathe out. “This is why I haven’t read this yet.” I open my eyes and my vision of Kai is blurry. “I’m so scared of finding out what my mom hid from us.”
Kai gets up from the bed and moves across the room. He takes the diary and sets it on the desk. He plucks me at the elbows, encouraging me to stand.
As I stand in front of him, he rubs my back and says, “You don’t need to do this right now. Like you said, you’ve got a million things going on. You don’t need to pile this on too.”
My breath comes out shaky as I lean my head against Kai’s chest. “I just wish it wasn’t some massive secret. Couldn’t she have told Maddy? Then I’d know if I should be scared or not.”
“Maddy was a kid back then.”
I rub my temples and sigh. “My head really freaking hurts.”
Kai takes a step back, propping me up by the shoulders. “Do you need another nap?”
I smile. “Maybe reading my American history textbook will put me right to sleep.”
A soft laugh hums out of Kai and he edges back to the doorway. “I’ll leave you to it. Hit me up before you go reading the diary again. Yeah?”
I nod. “Yeah.”
“Catch ya,” he says with a wave. He disappears out the door and soon his rapid footsteps thunder down the stairs.
I slump onto the desk chair and move Mom’s diary to the side. I shudder at the thought of my dad hurting my mom. I just wish I already knew what went down. Maybe if she were here, she would’ve already told me. Oh geez, Mom, I wish you were here.
“Meow.”
I jolt in my seat, turning to the door where Alfred wanders in, waving his thick fluffy tail in the air.
“What are you doing here?” My legs tense as he moves my way, meowing again. “Oh no you don’t. Stay back.”
Alfred meows and rubs himself against my legs. I wince as he purrs, vibrating against my legs.
“Eww.” I squirm. “Get away from me.”
Alfred brushes his ginger fur against me one more time and then waddles over to the bed. In one fluid motion, he leaps onto the bed. He pads around the center of the bed cover and plonks himself down in a half moon shape.
“Thanks a lot,” I muttered to the cat. “Those sheets were just washed.”
I turn back around on the chair and pull my laptop toward me on the desk. I keep telling everyone I need to knuckle down and get this done, but saying it is a heck of a lot easier than doing it.
An hour into my essay draft, there’s a knock on the doorframe. I turn to see Milo poking his head in.
“Hey, is Alfie in here?” he asks.
I huff, throwing a thumb back at the bed. “Yeah. He made himself at home over there.”
Milo walks in, planting the baby carrier onto the carpet. “Gandalf’s stressing me out, so I need some kitty time.”
