Page 62 of Roar for Me
Katie snorted.
“One morning, he came into homeroom and said, ‘I won’t be bugging you today.’ As if that would upset me.”
Katie stifled a laugh but waited.
Aurora’s hand hovered over the fan dial, wanting to turn it up but not wanting to shout to be heard. “I asked why. And he said his parents told him that morning they were getting a divorce. I felt so bad. He looked devastated, downright sick, Katie. He stopped bugging me after that.”
“That’s terrible. What kind of home life could he have had until then?”
“Exactly! I realized that later. He ended up living with his mom for a couple of years and went to a different school. He came back in ninth grade.”
Katie nodded.
“We had some classes together, and we were friendly throughout musicals and choir. My attraction never went away, but he was more popular than I was, and I felt like I wasn’t good enough. I thought he’d reject me if I told him I liked him. And that the other kids would have teased him.”
“Do you regret it?”
“I did,” Aurora admitted. “But who knows if we would have been right for each other then? If I had been braver, or less nerdy, I wouldn’t have met your dad. And I wouldn’t have you.” She turned off onto the exit for Mountain Rock. “Besides, I’m still a nerd. The difference is he’s nerdy now too.”
“LikeStar Warsand Nintendo?”
“Not that I’m aware of, but he runs a pretty nerdy company, don’t you think?”
“True.”
Aurora pulled into a guest parking spot five minutes before their appointment time. “Ready, kiddo?”
“Let’s go!”
I Dreamed A Dream
Duncan: Hey beautiful. My plane just landed.
Aurora: Hello, handsome! We just got home from Mountain Rock.
Duncan: How did it go?
Aurora: About the same as all the rest. She just doesn’t want to commit. It’s driving me crazy.
Duncan: Kids will do that.
Aurora: That’s the truth. Where does Ryder go to school?
Duncan: I don’t know.
Aurora: How could you not know where your son goes to school?
Duncan: It’s part of that long story I told you about this morning. I’ll call you when I get home. Can you be on your laptop in an hour?
Aurora: Yeah, sure.
An hour later, Aurora sat on her bed with her laptop, hair freshly washed and dried, in a tank top and pajama shorts. Her lunch sat already packed in the refrigerator. Right on cue, she got a call from dsullivan18. She clicked to pick up.
“Hi,” she drew the word out with affection.
“Oh, aren’t you a sight for sore eyes?” Duncan was still wearing the T-shirt and shorts she’d last seen him in, sitting on his couch with a glass in his hand.
“You just saw me this morning. All of me.”
