Page 68 of Last Call

“Expect a little hesitancy at first,” Riley advised. “You’ve been thinking about these ideas for a while. Make sure you give everyone a little time to catch up.”

“Don’t try to hop on the bus before school even starts, huh?”

“Something like that,” Riley said, settling back into Fallon’s arms. “Or don’t try to catch frogs while you’re eating an ice cream cone. It gets messy.”

Fallon laughed. “I’ll try to remember that.”

“You will if you don’t want to deal with dirty laundry.”

Fallon closed her eyes.Somehow, it always comes back to laundry.

Chapter Five

Andisilently pondered Fallon’s fidgeting. Fallon spun the glass in her hand repeatedly; her gaze fixed on the table. “Fallon?”

Fallon snapped to attention. “Huh?”

“You said you wanted to talk to me,” Andi said. “But you haven’t said a word in ten minutes.”

“Sorry.”

“Do you feel like telling me what’s bothering you?”

“I’m notbothered,” Fallon replied.

“What are you?”

Fallon huffed.

“Out with it,” Andi said.

“I feel useless.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Me. Being useless,” Fallon replied.

“You’re bored.”

“I’m…”

“You are. You’re bored. You need a project,” Andi observed.

“Maybe.”

“Fallon, what is it you need to talk about that you don’t want to tell me?” Andi asked.

“It’s not that I don’t want to tell you. I wanted to talk to you about Jacob."

“Do you mean his offer to be the donor for you and Riley?”

“How do you feel about it?” Fallon asked.

“This is between you, Riley, and Jacob.”

“Not really.”

“Yes. Really. Jacob is an adult. This isn’t something I get a say about,” Andi said.

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