Chapter 23

I expected the house to be empty when I got home.

It wasn’t.

I walked inside, dropped my bag onto the counter, and looked up to see my mom at the kitchen table, her laptop in front of her. A coffee mug sat to her right and there was a bowl of fruit to her left. She wore her headphones, and she bit her lip before she looked up.

Seeing me, her eyes widened, and we stared at each other.

“What are you doing here?” I asked.

She took off her headphones....