Falling for My Best Friend by Victorine E. Lieske

Author:Victorine E. Lieske [Lieske, Victorine E.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-07-02T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

I tripped over a mound of clothes by my bed as I tried to get to my phone. Why hadn’t the laundry been done yet? I grabbed my cell. Parker’s face smiled at me, his cute dimple showing. I slid my finger across the screen to answer. “Hey.”

“Can you give me a ride to school?”

That was odd. Parker liked to drive to school. He never asked for a ride. I glanced at the clock. I had time. “Sure.”

“Okay. I’ll be watching for you.”

“I’ll leave in a minute.”

“Thanks, Hannah.”

I hung up, wondering what was up. His voice sounded weird. Tired. It wasn’t like him.

Dad’s voice called from downstairs. “Hannah, can I talk to you?”

Oh, no. He sounded mad. I rushed to grab my backpack. “Coming.”

I sprinted down the stairs and into the kitchen. He was at the kitchen table with his laptop, his glasses on. He always did that when he was paying the bills. He glanced at me, his lips turned down into a frown. “What is this charge on my credit card? Three hundred dollars?”

Crud. He didn’t look happy. “I bought something at the mall,” I hedged, not wanting to pull Parker into it.

“For three hundred dollars? What in the world did you buy?”

I twisted my fingers together. I didn’t want to lie to him. “A leather jacket.”

He took off his glasses and exhaled, pinching his nose. “Hannah, you know I want the best things for you. But you couldn’t have picked a worse time to do this. I got demoted at work.”

My heart rate picked up and my stomach dropped. “You what?”

He looked at me, a sad expression on his face. “The company is suffering. It was either take a demotion or get laid off. I chose the demotion.”

My vision swirled and I plopped down on a kitchen stool. “What does that mean?”

“It means we’ll have to watch what we’re spending, for one thing. And I had to fire Flora. I’ll need you to help out more around the house.”

My tongue felt like sandpaper in my mouth. “We’re not going to lose our house, are we?”

Dad shook his head. “No, honey. We’ll be fine. We just need to budget more carefully, that’s all.” He pointed to the screen. “No more leather jackets.”

I exhaled in relief. We weren’t going to have to move. I still hated that I had to do laundry now, and I couldn’t spend whatever I wanted, but the thought of keeping my home helped calm me down. “I swear. I won’t use the card again.”

“Good. I knew you’d understand.”

Except, I had to buy a formal dress for the dance next week. But now probably wasn’t the time to bring that up. I stood and kissed him on the cheek. “I’m glad you didn’t get laid off.”

“Me too, honey.”

I grabbed two yogurts from the fridge, a strawberry for me and a mixed berry for Parker. I tossed them in my bag with two plastic spoons, then headed toward the garage, my heart still thumping loudly from the news my father had given me.

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