Chapter 25

“Did you get the call you were waiting for?” Mom asked carefully as I curled up in the corner of the couch closest to her La-Z-Boy.

I took a deep breath. If I showed any nerves, they’d both pick up on it and ask questions I wasn’t prepared to answer. “Yes. I need to talk to you about it.”

For the first time since she’d knocked on my door, she glanced in my direction. A tiny line appeared between her eyebrows. “Is something wrong?”

“No, no, everything’s fine,” I was swift to assure. “It was just a friend.”

“Dez?”

“No, someone else.” I couldn’t use her as a cover without talking to her first. “His name’s Fisher.”

Her frown deepened. “Is that someone you know from work?”

His name was too unusual for me to say yes. If she was so inclined, she’d be able to check on that and find out I was lying before any of us went to bed tonight. This required a different kind of lie.