AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I didn’t even want to tell him the truth in the first place.
But my parents are right, too. It’s only a matter of time before the rest of the Cranes find out about Noah’s existence. Tia has been picking him up and dropping him off at school every day so nobody realizes he’s my son and word gets back to the Cranes. It’s hard keeping things hidden from them, and I feel like an idiot for not considering all this in the first place.
“Mom!” Noah yells, bouncing into my room. He launches himself onto the bed and into my arms.
“Hey,” I say with a chuckle. “How was school today?”
Tia appears in the doorway of the room and watches us with a smile on her face.
“It was okay. Mrs. Morris gave us a ton of homework to do, though. Could you talk to her and tell her not to?”
“Somebody’s being lazy,” I sing, ruffling his dark brown hair.
He shifts my hand away.
“But it’s a lot of work,” he insists.
“I know, but you’re the smartest kid I know. You’ll get through it.”
“This sucks,” he says before pulling a book from his bag.
Tia mouths to me that she’s going to get started on dinner and I nod.
“Anything else you want to tell me?” I question, but he doesn’t answer.
His attention is fixed on the storybook. I gently pry it from his hand and check the title.
“Who got this for you?”
“Aunt Tia.”
He collects the book from me, opens to the page he was on, and continues reading. I sit still and watch. It takes him a good ten minutes for him to finish reading a page and I know it’s probably because he got distracted or the words weren’t making sense at first. His face is screwed in concentration.
“We had a test in class today,” Noah suddenly says, looking up.
I nod. “And how was it?”
He starts talking really fast.
“I didn’t understand anything on the paper. My teacher says I’m going to have to retake it. She scolded me a bit. She asked why I didn’t know anything when she taught the whole class a few days ago. But it’s not my fault, Mommy. I forgot everything.”
I already spoke to his teacher about how Noah will have a harder time than most of his peers, but it seems we’ll have to have that conversation again. ADHD is common, but not everyone is familiar with how to work with kids with the condition.
“I’m sorry that happened, baby.”
“This book is nice,” he says with a shrug.
“Wanna read it together?” I ask.
“No, I’m tired,” he replies before lying on my lap and closing his eyes.
I place the book on the bedside table and run my hand through his hair soothingly.
“I love you, Mommy,” he says just before he drifts off to sleep.
“I love you too, pumpkin,” I whisper.
When I’m sure he’s fast asleep, I gently lift his head from my lap and walk over to the kitchen where Tia’s preparing pasta.
