Almost Strangers: A Decker Family Novel (Somehow Everlasting Book 1) by Claudia Burgoa

Author:Claudia Burgoa [Burgoa, Claudia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-10-28T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty

Pria

“You said not to leave any loose ends, Mommy.” I smile sweetly at her and hand over the receipt for the books I returned. “I’m settling everything because I’d hate to lose any money or have to leave Maeve if I had to return to campus. Tell me how I could help, please?”

Groveling and kissing her feet are one of my gifts, according to Maeve. My sister never gets into trouble because she’s sick and can do no harm—unlike me, who can’t do anything right, according to Mother Dearest.

“Take a shower and make sure you’re not carrying any germs,” she orders. “Then come to the kitchen to carry Maeve’s dinner to her room. She wants to speak with you.”

I place some of my things on the floor next to the door. It was stuff I had at Jacob’s place but I’m pretending everything came from my dorm. I’m trying to be helpful so tomorrow we don’t have to do much. This is going to be the reason I end up in jail—I’ve been lying to my mother for months.

Not that it matters. I walk toward the bathroom when I hear Mom yell to Dad, “Fred, place those bags in the garage. She has to go through them and disinfect everything. Can’t you do anything right?”

I chuckle. That’s not love. Anything but love.

That’s Mom. She has to control everything.

Tuning them out, I head to where she sent me, even though I’m clean. I bathed only an hour ago—with Jacob. His idea of saving energy and water. God, I had sex two more times before I left his place.

Rushing through the motions, I shower, dress, throw my clothes inside the washing machine, along with all the pending laundry I brought from the dorm, and scurry to the kitchen. As I approach, Mom starts arranging the tray of food for Maeve.

“There’s a new box of face masks outside her room, along with disposable gloves.”

“Yes, Mommy.” Dearest.

“By the way, we’re leaving on Monday.”

“What do you mean we’re leaving on Monday?”

“They need your father sooner. His new boss is paying the moving company. They’ll be here to pack everything on Sunday.”

“Monday?” I repeat as I blink rapidly. “That’s too soon.”

“Things are moving faster than we expected. I think your father finally getting a job that pays well is a blessing.”

My heart slows down. I was going to try to sneak out to see Jacob one last time. I didn’t promise anything, but I thought it’d be a good surprise. What am I going to do without his voice?

I touch the cellphone in the back of my pocket. We’ll sneak phone calls. He programmed his phone number into mine.

“Cipriana, are you sick?”

“What?”

“You look pale.”

I grin. “No, Mom. It’s nothing like that. I just… I feel like we have so many things to do and too little time.”

She nods. “If you’re not feeling well, stay outside.”

“I’m healthy as a horse,” I say, pushing Maeve’s door open.

“Finally, my servant has arrived.” My hooded eyes glare at my sister as I enter, and she lashes me with those words.

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