Page 15 of Saving Tracey
My stomach twisted with nausea.
I swallowed hard. "Yeah.” I cleared my throat, remembering my dad saying he wanted me to befriend him. “I—I don't eat here much. Could you tell me something good to order?"
Kaleb smirked. "Finally want to be my friend?" I hated the cockiness radiating from him.
I avoided looking at anyone, especially my father, as I mutely nodded my head. Kaleb chuckled softly, pointing out a delicious-looking meal on the menu to me.
When the waitress came up, Kaleb smiled up at her and told her both of our orders. Before she could move to ask anyone else what they wanted, Kaleb grabbed her wrist. "How's your dad?"
He made talking to people look so easy.
"He's slowly getting worse. The doctor says he has only a few months—a year at the most. The doctor bills are getting really expensive." Her voice was filled with sadness, and Kaleb’s eyes softened.
"You know my mom will help pay for anything. Why don't you ask her?"
She gave him a small, sad smile, shaking her head at him. "I can't take your mom's money. Dad would have a coronary." She laughed slightly as she imagined her father's reaction.
She angled her head, showing him that she still had a job to do. He sighed, dropping her wrist. "Take care, Cuz, and stay in touch, okay?"
She nodded and moved down the table. I looked back at Kaleb. "Is her dad okay?"
"Uncle Rob has brain cancer." My eyes widened in shock. I wasn’t expecting that. "He's going to die very soon most likely, but Heather still holds hope that there's some way they can save him, so she's constantly taking him to the hospital."
That's incredibly sad.
I didn't say anything more until our food came out. My dad and Kaleb’s mom discussed business, but I didn't pay any attention to them. I didn't give a damn about anything that happened in my dad's life, honestly.
"So, seriously, you have no friends—well, besides me now, right?" His question made me lift my head from where I’d been picking at my food.
I shook my head. "I'm pretty much a loner." If I had any choice, I would want to have lots of friends. My life would have to be entirely different though.
First lie. How many more?
He tapped his chin, leaning forward so his chest touched the table. I swallowed hard, discreetly scooting back in my chair. "Doesn't it suck, though? You know—to not have any friends? I know I would go nuts if I didn't have anyone to talk to and confide in."
Oh, he had no idea.
I shrugged. "You get used to it.”Another lie. "I just finally figured why not just finally make a friend?" A forced smile pulled at my lips.
Third lie.
He grinned, believing my lie in a heartbeat. It kind of broke my heart how well I could put up an act. "Well, I'm glad you finally came around. It'll make it easier to do this project together now that you're not fighting me on everything."
"How is the project going, by the way?" I jerked a little in surprise when his mom suddenly butted into our conversation.
I snapped my eyes to my dad. A hint of anger flashed in the depths of his eyes. He knew—he knew I had been doing something without his permission. On top of that, I had been talking to someone when I shouldn't have been.
I swallowed sharply and looked away from him, my eyes meeting his mom's light blue ones. Her eyes quickly flickered from me to my dad, but then just as quickly landed back on me, not even giving my dad some kind of hint that she had been looking at him, her eyes full of distaste and suspicion.
I felt like being sick.
She knew.
"It's going good," Kaleb was oblivious to the tension suddenly filling the table. "She's just now coming around to being my friend, but I did learn some things about her earlier, such as she's very hostile most of the time."
His mom smiled, but I could tell it was forced. My heart began pounding so hard against my ribcage I felt like it might crack a bone. I could feel Dad’s glare on the side of my head—practically burning a hole through me.
"That's good to hear that the project is going along well." She turned back to my dad, striking up a conversation, but her eyes had become hard and distant.
