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Chapter 31

'Paige, I need you to come and stay with Arty next week

while I go away for a few days.' My mom, for once, didn't

start with any sort of preamble.

I didn't stop to think about why she was asking, just that

she was. 'Stay at the house?'

'Yes.' She sounded tired and cranky. 'I need you to be here to get him on the bus in the morning. He has that

after-school program until you can get home from work.'

'What time does he get on the bus?' Already I was

calculating excuses, thinking only of the torture of having to

stay in my mother's house for any length of time.

'Eight. Plenty of time for you to get to work. And it's only

five days, Paige. Sunday through Thursday. I should be…

I'l be home on Friday.'

Her assumption that I'd put my life on hold to do this

rankled. I was already in a bad mood from my fight, if you

could cal it that, and I did, with Austin. My mind was on

other things, like meeting Eric and teling him the truth

other things, like meeting Eric and teling him the truth

about me and his unknown her and what would happen.

'Where are you going?' I asked. 'It's not like I can just drop everything, Mom.'

'I'm going away for a few days. To a spa,' she said

defensively. 'Some me time.'

I gritted my jaw and turned off the heat under my pan of

reheated spaghetti. I wasn't hungry for it, anyway. 'You

couldn't have let me know sooner?'

'They had a last-minute opening. Don't argue with me

about this, Paige.'

Her tone, the one she'd used often on me as a child, set

my teeth on edge even more. I dumped the pasta onto a

plate and slammed it onto my table, but I didn't sit to eat it.

'What if I can't?'

My mom's voice cracked. 'You have to. I don't have

anyone else to take him, and he loves you. You're his

sister. I need you to do this for me.'

The tremor in her voice slammed a door on my anger. 'Is

this about Leo?'

this about Leo?'

'Why would you say that?'

'Because you lived with him for five years, Mom, and you

guys just broke up. You have to be upset.'

'I am upset. Very upset.' She paused. 'Yes, it's about Leo. He…he's taking me away. To try to work things out.

It's last-minute because he just got the time off and this

place had an opening. So we're going. I know it's late

notice, Paige, but I don't have anyone else to ask.'

I stil wasn't happy, but I was the last person to stop

anyone from trying to repair a relationship. Helping out my

mom might, in some way, redeem my lack of effort with

Austin. Or not. In any case, I sighed and puled out my