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“Don’t give away too much,” Landon said, taking Ana’s hand and leading us down the aisle toward the packages of bottle water. “We don’t know if Akio’s parents are listening in on our phone conversations either. After those trackers that they put in our cars, who the fuck knows?”
Nodding, I dialed Mom’s number. I wasn’t going to give anything away, but I wanted her to be prepared for tomorrow. I would bring her some supplies later tonight when I went home, but still … I didn’t know if it would be enough.
A war could break out in Redwood as soon as the video was released.
A war that could last a long freaking time.
Mom answered on the third ring. “Imani?”
“Hey, Mom,” I said, nerves bubbling in the pit of my stomach. “What’s up?”
“Nothing much, sweetie. I just got home from the hospital. We’ve been swamped lately, so I think I’m going to take a bubble bath tonight. I brought you some roses to put in the vase in your room.”
“Cool. Uh, do we have bottled water at home?” I asked innocently enough.
“I don’t think so,” Mom said. “Do you need some?”
“Yeah, and maybe some toilet paper and essentials too.” I grabbed a couple packages of water and put them into our cart, then followed Landon down the aisle. “I’m picking some up, too, but I thought we should have a bit more.”
Mom paused for a long moment. “Yeah, I’ll go get some now. Is everything okay?”
“Yes,” I lied, hoping that she’d see right through it. “Everything is fine.”
“Okay.”
“All right, well, I’ll talk to you later.”
She paused again. “Okay, sweetie.”
“Hey, Mom,” I said, heart racing. “I love you.”
“I love you too,” she said, and I could hear the happiness in her voice. If I were at home talking to her, she’d probably be grinning from ear to ear. We might not have always gotten along, but these past few weeks had been progress.
I hadn’t told Mom that I loved her and actually meant it for a long time now.
“Okay, I gotta go,” I said. “See you soon.”
When she hung up, I held the phone to my ear for a few empty moments. I didn’t know why I did it, but it felt wrong not to. We were so close to this entire town blowing up, and I didn’t want my parents to be in the middle of it.
But they already were.
We all already were.
