Liar by Lia Fairchild

Author:Lia Fairchild [Fairchild, Lia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance
Published: 2015-11-02T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 15

--------------------------

Gray

Alyssa carried the small box over to the open window. Austin and I trailed behind, sharing glances of mutual understanding as if we both had a seat on the runaway train manned by Alyssa.

“It’s time to set Shia LaBird free,” she said, placing the box on the ledge.

Days earlier she’d found the bird who’d fallen from his nest outside our building. By the size of him, it was likely almost time for him to fly away when he’d somehow ended up on the ground.

“He’s ready.” Her voice transformed back to the naïve young animal lover I first met. She removed the lid and immediately stuck her hand in to settle the hopping bird. Austin readied his phone camera. Alyssa gently lifted the bird out with both hands and brought him against her belly.

“Careful,” I said, in a soft motherly tone that fit like a glove.

A ray of sunshine beamed in from the window, ready to accept our offering. She took one step closer to the open end, a gust of wind shot at her, and Shia fluttered out of her hands and flopped onto the table behind us.

“Cool,” Austin said, aiming his phone on the bird as it hopped around the table.

“Well, that didn’t go as planned,” she said.

“Get him before he craps on my table.”

Austin chuckled while Alyssa went for the bird. It hopped away toward the end of the table, and just as she scooped him up, he launched himself into the air. He flew around the apartment, bounced off the side of the couch, and landed on the carpet. A second later, he flew into the air again. All three of us formed a triangle around him, hoping to guide him toward the window.

Alyssa’s patience waned as the bird seemed to grow frantic. “C’mon, Shia LaDumbShit, get out the window.” She glanced at me, flinching at her gruffness in front of Austin. Then she stopped, took a deep breath, stuck out her arm, and whistled a soft call. Austin and I watched the bird circle her and eventually land on her forearm. She was close enough to the window that she only needed to pivot to have our feathery friend right near the opening. Slowly she turned. Shia fluttered but stayed. “Be free, Shia,” she said. Out he flew, leaving a proud and smiling girl behind.

“Nice work, girl,” I said, my own sense of pride welling inside.

Just shy of two weeks into my “foster” mom role and things were running surprisingly smooth—aside from the antics of Shia LaBird, that was. I hadn’t heard from Nathan in days, but Alyssa’s well-being had to be my priority. We fell into a routine of school, homework, and nightly visits to see Laurie. Tuesdays and Thursdays were science tutor days. Coincidentally, these seemed to be the days where Alyssa, the smart-ass, rough-around-the-edges, semi-Goth chick toned it down enough to pull off average teen. Austin, not your typical science nerd, loved baseball. Along with the periodic table, osmosis, or whatever other formulaic equations made Alyssa’s head spin, Austin also knew baseball stats.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.