Before I Say Goodbye by Rachel Ann Nunes

Author:Rachel Ann Nunes [Nunes, Rachel Ann]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction
Publisher: Deseret Book Company
Published: 2011-05-06T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-One

Becca

Tuesdays were usually good days. I had the house in order after Sunday’s activities, and I often made time to go to the temple after I’d finished teaching Cory his lessons for the day. Afterward, he’d come with me to do errands. I was really enjoying the one-on-one time with my little boy, who usually wasn’t as demanding as the rest of the children and who I sometimes suspected I overlooked.

After school, Kyle dropped off James for his lesson and asked to use Allia’s bike. Allia came out and talked with her for a few moments, but she had no more luck finding out where Kyle was headed than I had last week. Except for Saturday, Kyle hadn’t asked to borrow the bike on the days James didn’t come here. I wondered if she was heading to the same place she’d taken him and if she was still going with him on days he didn’t come here. I made a mental note to ask James about it. I still hadn’t told Rikki that both times James had come last week, Kyle had picked him up late. I hadn’t really minded because James was such a sweetheart, but if Kyle wasn’t on time today, I’d get to the bottom of it one way or another.

“Don’t forget about Young Women tonight,” Allia said as Kyle got on the bike. “Remember we’re making chili and bread sticks.”

“Oh, yeah. Right.” Kyle couldn’t have looked less thrilled. “Not sure I can go. Depends if my mom gets home.”

“It’s not until six-thirty. Usually it’s seven, but we’re doing it early because it’s dinner.”

“Okay.” Kyle nodded without smiling and rode away.

Allia sighed. “That is just weird.”

“Yeah, she’s been really cranky lately,” James said, bouncing as he talked. “Hey, are we doing more letters with that dough?” His glasses still hadn’t arrived, but he was making progress. The bigger we wrote the words, the better he could read them. Better still if he could feel them with his hands.

I rumpled his blond head. “Maybe later if there’s time. I have something else planned today. Come on, let’s go out back.” I led them to the sandbox where we scratched letters in the sand with the small end of my old wooden spoons. We spelled all the words on James’s spelling list and then anything else we could see in the backyard, including the names of a few flowers.

An hour and a half later as I was reading a Magic Tree House book to Lauren and James on the living room couch, the phone rang with the tone I’d programmed for Dante.

“Hi, honey,” I said. “I hope this call doesn’t mean you’re going to be late. I have a roast in the oven.” Roast was one of the easiest things to make as I sat and did homework with the children, but he didn’t need to know that. And why wasn’t Kyle back, anyway? This was beginning to be a bad habit. On the other hand, James was making beautiful progress, and I’d enjoyed myself, too.

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.