Page 232 of The Silent Note

I hear apingon my phone.

Pulling out my cell, I see that Grey just dropped a wad of cash at a fancy lunch spot next to the mall. Instantly, the weight on my shoulders lessens. It took far too much convincing before Grey would spend my money, but I’m glad she’s comfortable enough to do it now.

“Cadence said she went to hang out with Grey for lunch,” Dutch announces, also looking at his phone. “But she’ll be back in time for me to walk her to class.”

I barely hear him because I’m busy typing out a message to Grey.

ME: Why aren’t you spending more money? That bill isn’t high enough.

“Have you noticed Cadence and Grey have been spending a lot of time together?” I mumble.

“I have,” Dutch admits. “I think I see her with Grey more than Serena these days.”

GREY: You’re funny. That bill is already too high.

ME: Not for my tastes.

GREY: I have an announcement to make when I get home.

ME: An announcement? What is it?

GREY: You’ll find out later.

Curious, I glance at my twin. “Grey said she has an announcement to make. You think it has something to do with why she took Cadey to lunch today?”

“Huh.” Dutch rubs his chin. “Cadey just told me the same thing. What are those two planning?”

“Maybe something for our nineteenth birthday?” I offer.

“Cadey knows what I want.” Dutch’s eyes flash up to me. “And it doesn’t involve a party. Or an audience.”

“Freak.”

Dutch shrugs and returns to texting his wife.

My curiosity jumps a couple hundred notches. I’m bursting at the seams to find out what Grey has to tell me and can barely last through the school day.

It takes everything in me not to skip classes completely.

But I don’t.

Well, it’s more like I can’t.

Grey and I made a deal. She agreed to spendour—not mine butour—money as long as I continue to attend AP Lit and take my classes seriously. ‘Teachers aren’t there to be ignored. Show up in class and don’t waste their time’she said.

Classes are a drag and I miss seeing Grey with her little pencil skirts and bright smiles around the hallways.

I’m not the only one who misses her at Redwood. As much as the gossip about our marriage is rampant in Jinx’s app and in conversations on campus, people still agree that Grey was a great teacher.

If she’d come back, I think things would eventually return to normal. But that woman… once she gets her mind stuck on something, there’s no changing it.

Later that evening, I speed to the house on my bike.

Martina is there, cooking up a feast.

Dutch and I walk in to the tantalizing smell of our favorite meals.

I crane my neck, looking around for my beautiful wife. Normally, Grey greets me at the door with a kiss, yapping about the yakuza’s underground network and flapping around her organization charts.

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