Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 116362 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 582(@200wpm)___ 465(@250wpm)___ 388(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 116362 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 582(@200wpm)___ 465(@250wpm)___ 388(@300wpm)
“Ah, you’re here,” my dad says as he and Angelica open the door, stepping out behind us. “Thought I would have heard your car from a mile away.”
“I still don’t know what you were thinking letting him buy that thing from Uncle Mike,” Angelica says derisively, flicking her long dark ponytail over her shoulder. Angelica looks like a lesser version of Kate Beckinsale and she’s still out of his league. Come to think of it, so was my mom. There must be something to the Crawford charm.
I let her comment about the car slide. So does my dad. His face goes red briefly but he keeps his mouth shut. “We’ll see you in a few hours,” he says tersely and the two of them slip past us, heading for their Lexus. I wonder if my dad knows how silly it is to be driving a car like that while on the verge of bankruptcy. With how crabby he is lately, I’m assuming he does.
They’ve just driven out of sight, disappearing behind a row of budding maple trees, when Kevin quietly announces, “They’re getting divorced.”
It takes me a moment to process this. “What?”
He looks up at me and nods, mouth set in a firm line like he’s determined not to cry. “It’s true.”
“What? Kevin, what are you talking about? They aren’t getting divorced.” Though the moment I say it, I know I’m wrong.
“Yes they are,” Kevin says, stabbing the ground again for emphasis. “They fight all the time and when they aren’t fighting, they don’t talk to each other.”
“That’s just marriage, buddy.”
“No,” he says sharply. “It’s not. I keep hearing them talking about ‘when do we tell Kevin?’ and ‘wait until school is over’ and ‘you’re an asshole, Paul.’”
“But—”
“And then I found letters from lawyers. Two different ones. I googled them. They’re divorce lawyers!”
Bloody hell, this kid is resourceful.
I shake my head. “Oh, Kevin. I’m sure there’s some explanation.”
“There is no explanation!” he yells at me, getting to his feet. “You’re just like them! You don’t tell me the truth, all you do is bullshit.”
I get to my feet. “Watch your language, Kev.”
“Blake! Fuck! You!” he half-yells, half-sobs, and then starts running around the house, the cape flying behind him. I stand where I am, completely gobsmacked. I’d never heard him swear like that before but I guess this is as good of a reason as any.
My dad and Angelica, getting a divorce. No wonder my dad has been so grouchy, why I’ve been watching Kevin and working at the store more and more. They’ve got a divorce in the works and my stepbrother will be caught in the middle, again, since he already had to go through a divorce when he was younger.
I can only hope that whatever agreement they have that my dad doesn’t get completely screwed over. Angelica isn’t the warmest, or nicest, person but she has to know that she’s holding all the cards and my father has practically nothing.
I sigh, knowing I have to find Kevin even though he probably just wants to be alone. I walk around the house, hands in my pockets, feeling terrible that everything my dad wanted will once more be taken away.
I find Kevin sitting with his back against a blossoming cherry tree, playing a game on his iPad mini.
“Are you winning?” I ask him gently, trying to see over his shoulder.
He twists away, trying to not let me see. After a few beats he says, “It’s not about winning in this game. There are no winners.”
“Are there losers?”
“Yes. You can die.”
“That doesn’t sound like a very fair game.” I pause. “Actually it sounds a bit like life, doesn’t it?”
When he doesn’t answer I crouch down beside him. “Look, I know you don’t want to talk about it and that’s fine, but when you do want to talk about it, I’m here for you, okay?” I put my hand on his shoulder and squeeze. “Okay?”
Finally he nods.
“Tell you what, we’ll do whatever you want to do for the rest of the day.”
He glances at me shyly before shoving his glasses up his nose. “For real?”
I hesitate, not sure what I’m getting myself into. “For real. I could dress up and we could wage a battle. You know I was thinking of you the other week and I bought some fun props for us to use. Elf ears, witch makeup, a new sword.”
“Really?” Now he’s excited.
“Just for you buddy,” I tell him. “I was saving it for when my school quiets down but we can use them now.”
He nods, chewing that over. Then he says, “No, we can save that. You know what I want to do today? Visit Fluffy.”
I groan. “Kevin,” I whine.
“Please,” he says and then adds sternly. “You promised. Anything.”
“Okay, fine,” I say getting to my feet and hauling him up to his. “I’ll take you to see Fluffy. But you are not to take him out of the cage, you got it?”