AllFreeNovel
Share Us
JOÃO
Imani and Kai were downstairs, entertaining those assholes from Redwood—or maybe they had left already. I didn’t know. I just wanted them out of here. I hated doing any sort of business around Ana, especially after what happened to Mom.
I sat on the couch with Ana curled up into the crook of my arm. She shifted in my arms for the fifteenth time in the past twenty minutes and didn’t giggle at the cartoons like she usually did. She didn’t even want to watch any Disney princess movies tonight.
After she moved, I readjusted Mom’s suicide note in my pocket. I hadn’t opened it yet. Didn’t know if I would anytime soon, but I knew that I had to tell Ana sooner rather than later about Mom. If I kept it from her for much longer, she might think that I’d hidden other things from her too.
Ana crawled over my lap to grab the remote and turned off the TV, making the room dark. The only light was from the moon flooding in through the windows. Ana shifted in my lap and frowned up at me, tears wavering in her eyes.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“Where’s Mama?” she asked.
I tensed and said, “She’s at home,” because she was buried in our backyard.
“Something is wrong with her,” Ana said, chin quivering. “Something isn’t right. We always see her. At least every couple days. But Mama hasn’t even tried to find us. What happened to Mama?”
My throat tightened. I couldn’t keep this a secret from her for the rest of her life. If I continued to lie to her the way I was, then she would grow up to hate me, and she was the only family that I had left.
After placing Ana down on the couch, I walked over to turn the light on. Secrets might’ve been easier in the dark, but the truth needed to be told in the light, so Ana would know that I was serious about everything I was about to say to her.
I sat down on the couch beside her and pulled her onto my lap. “Do you remember when Mama used to bring us to the playground?” I asked softly, rocking Ana back and forth and reminiscing on all our memories.
Ana’s lips curled up slightly. “Yeah, she would go on the slides with me, and you’d push me super high in the air on the swings. I felt like I was flying! I miss those times, João. I want to go back.”
“I’ll take you there one day,” I said. “We can go with Imani.”
“Really?” Ana asked, eyes widening. “You will let Imani come?”
“Of course I will.”
I glanced into the other room, catching Imani grabbing some water from the kitchen sink as she let those kids from Redwood Academy out of Landon’s house. She looked over at me and smiled softly, her gaze falling to Ana.
While I didn’t want kids now—especially not in this town—I wouldn’t mind putting them in Imani one day. She was so fucking good with Ana and had helped me grow closer to her too.
I smiled back at her, and then Ana grabbed my face to force me to look at her.
“Are you and Imani dating, dating, like, for real now?”
“Dating João?” Imani said, peeking her head into the room and scrunching her nose playfully. “Ew, boys are gross.”
Ana giggled for the first time tonight, and then she turned back to me and pointed at Imani. “But I know that you like her. She’s so pretty and perfect for you, João. You have so much in common, like you both love me!”
After ruffling her hair, I glanced once more over at Imani, who opened the basement door. She threw me a wink before descending the stairs, and I couldn’t help the grin that broke out on my face. She might’ve been the most annoying girl I’d ever come across, but God, was she fucking amazing.
“What about Mama? Will she come, too?” Ana asked.
I stared down at her, sudden tears in my eyes. “No, Mama won’t be there.”
Ana shifted in my arms and pushed some tears off my cheeks. “Why are you crying?”
“Because, Ana, Mama is gone for good.” My voice faltered for a moment, but I had to stay strong. I couldn’t break down in tears in front of my sister. I was her only family left too. “Mama passed away.”
“Passed away? What does that mean?”
“It means that Mama is …”
Fuck. I couldn’t do this.
