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“Dyslexia?” His brows dipped. “Isn’t that where you see letters backward? I don’t have that.”
“It’s not just that.” She peered at the rest of his writing as though the words would offer up more clues. “It’s a reading problem.” Her brain switched into teacher mode. “How many of these symptoms did you have as a child: learned to read late, slow reader, poor speller, hard time reading maps, difficulty discerning between left and right, and difficulty reading out loud?”
Carson shrugged. “Most of them. I’m fine reading maps.”
Lucas snorted. “All of them. If your GPS ever dies, we’ll never see you again.”
“I’m fine reading maps,” Carson insisted.
“In school,” Olivia went on, “did you avoid reading the instructions for assignments and just guess what you were supposed to do?”
Carson shrugged again. “Didn’t everybody do that?”
Her heart broke a little for him, for the boy who’d had to struggle through school not even knowing why it was so hard for him. “No. You should’ve been diagnosed as a child and given extra help with your assignments. Otherwise, learning can be a downward spiral for kids. Even though dyslexic kids are as smart as other children, they fall behind, start hating school, and give up.”
“Really?” Carson folded his arms, thinking over her words. “Because that’s pretty much what happened.”
He and Lucas both turned to look at their father.
His father’s mouth opened and clacked shut. “We never knew you had any reading problems. We would’ve gotten you help if we’d known.”
Lucas jerked a thumb in Olivia’s direction. “She knew after watching him write for two minutes, and you and Mom never thought about getting him tested?”
His father swallowed. “I’m sorry. We just thought you were being lazy. You never even seemed to try. You were proud of the fact that you didn’t read any of the assigned books in English.”
“They were bad books,” Carson said. “C’mon. What teenager wants to readThe Grapes of Wrath?”
“Sometimes,” Olivia said, “it’s easier for kids to not try than to try and fail anyway. It’s a coping mechanism. Plus he’s right aboutThe Grapes of Wrath. Horrible ending.”
Carson looked upward. “I wonder how my life would’ve been different If I’d gotten the right help in school? Maybe I would’ve been a straight-A student.” He shot a look at his father. “Not that I’m trying to make you feel guilty for being a negligent parent, Dad.”
Lucas snorted. “He’s totally trying to make you feel guilty for being a negligent parent, Dad.”
Mr. Clark grimaced and shifted in his seat uncomfortably. “Yeah. Thanks for that. A parent never has enough guilt for their mistakes.” He glared at Olivia like all of this was her fault.
Well, she certainly wasn’t earning any welcome-to-the-family points.
Mr. Clark stood up and stalked off to get to work on one of the tasks. A few moments later, Carson and Lucas followed.
Olivia stayed sitting there, wondering if anything would make Carson’s parents like her. Probably not.
She didn’t see Carson for the rest of the day. He was either working on something with his family or doing his physical therapy exercises.
After she ate dinner, she climbed the stairs to the attic. It would be another night spent drawing and wishing she could be with Carson.
Annie was right. This was a bizarre relationship.
When she entered the room, she spotted a dusty box sitting by the crate she used as a nightstand. Beside it was a note with Carson’s handwriting.Livey,I found a box of novels the last owners left in the crawlspace above the garage. You can consider them as part of that sweeping Belle-like library you wanted in the house.Underneath that and clearly penned later were the words:Nice drawings. Great subject matter.
She glanced over to the sketchbook lying on her bed. Yep. It was open to a picture of Carson. She’d been right to assume that if she drew him, he would see it.
She laughed and opened the box of books. It contained a bunch of Agatha Christie novels, Harlequin romances, and the complete collection of Jane Austen. Score.
Her relationship with Carson might be bizarre, but right now it was making her ridiculously happy. And she wanted it to last.
That said, she knew Carson cared a lot about what his parents thought. Mr. Clark might be a hopeless cause, but she still had a chance with Carson’s mother. And Mrs. Clark was probably the one that Olivia needed to impress the most. Mothers always had strong opinions about who their children dated.
Olivia had never talked to her but Riley had. Oliva put down the books and video-called her roommate.
