Chapter 23
Grace
“Oh, Grace,” Mrs.Adler said after I’d moved away from Isa and Ev and our demolished food, farther down the sidewalk. “Did I wake you? Were you napping?”
“Mm-hmm,” I lied way too easily. “I’m feeling really zonked after last night.”
“Of course,” she said. “I’m sorry, honey, I was just calling to check in. I thought you might be awake by now. Your mom said she stopped home at lunchtime…”
Shit! Shit, shit, shit!I bit down hard on my tongue.
“…but she said you were passed out asleep,” Mrs.Adler told me.
“Yeah, I must’ve been,” I said, faking a yawn to cover my sigh of relief. “I didn’t even hear her come into my room.”
Not that she actually did,I thought, since before Isa and I had left my house, I’d set up the perfect blend of sound effects to make it clear I was asleep. “Don’t you think this might be going too far?” Isa had asked as I hung up my Do Not Disturb sign and shut the door behind us, and I’d laughed. “You can never go too far,” I’d said.
It was James’s life motto.
“Anyway,” Mrs.Adler said, “I made a big pot of soup earlier, so I’m going to send Everett over with some tonight.”
“Oh man,” I said, glancing back at Isa and Ev. They were still eating and laughing. “You didn’t have to—”
“Grace, we have plenty!”
I laughed. “Thanks, Mrs.Adler.”
“It’s the least I can do,” she said. “Your parents have had a lot on their plates lately.”
She knows,I suddenly thought.She knows they’re putting the house up for sale.
Something thickened in my throat. Soon enough, everyone would know…and soon enough, we would be gone. I still didn’t know how to tell my friends.
“I really wish I could come by to check on you,” Mrs.Adler said. “Maybe before I make a grocery run later.”
“Please don’t worry about me, Mrs.Adler,” I said, trying to keep the spiking panic out of my voice. “Really.”
She sighed. “Are you sure?”
“Yes,” I said. “Absolutely. I’m going back to sleep, and when I wake up, I’ll have Ev and your soup. I’ll be perfect.”
Mrs.Adler was quiet for a moment. “You’re so very loved, Grace,” she told me. “It’s wonderful how your classmates and the community have rallied together today.”
My eyebrows furrowed. Huh? Classmates? Community? Rallied together? What was she talking about?
I was confused when we hung up. Really, what was this “rallying together” business? I was absent…so what? Students getting sick was nothing new.
Weird. It must be a slow news day at school. I thought about texting James to get some details, then remembered his phone could get locked in Principal Unger’s office with a hundred others.
I found myself wanting to tell him what I’d done back at Jean-Georges. He was the only one who’d get it without explanation. I closed my eyes, feeling a pang in my chest.
Back at the restaurant, Adrien had arrived with the check several minutes after Isa and Ev had escaped, and instead of handing over one of my Benjamin Franklins, I only needed to dig out a twenty from my wallet. Plus, money for his tip. Our server wrinkled his nose at the crumpled cash. “Thank you fordiningat Jean-Georges,” he said, unimpressed. “We hope to see you again soon.”
“Same here, Adrien,” I said, then slipped on my aviators and crawled out from under the table. Nearby diners stared at me, but I ignored them to shoot one last bullet of a look at Mr.Cruz. He was alone, sipping his bubbly and admiring the cityscape. The woman had disappeared.
I thought about going over there and giving him a piece of my mind.You bastard,my pulse surged.You absolute bastard.
In the end, I didn’t. Not because I worried about word spreading to my parents—Mr.Cruz was, after all, supposed to be in DC like I was supposed to be at home—but because Isa didn’t want him to see me.
