Page 53 of The Runaway Billionaire's Inconvenient Baby
“Your mother hasn’t lost all the hope in her yet.” She smiles. “You never know when things might change.”
“Okay,” I breathe. “Together.”
I let her pull me to my feet, but we’re both startled by a sudden uproar outside. We take a second to look at each other. Our faces are mirrored in frowning confusion before we rush to the window to see people running down the street.
“Another protest?” I ask.
Mom shrugs. “I didn’t think there was one planned.”
“Doesn’t mean there can’t be one,” I point out. She just nods. “It’s good to see people caring,” I say quietly, wondering if Ishould be out there too. Once, I would have been leading the protests. Now, everything feels so lost.
My mothertsksat me. “You sound like you’re losing hope again.”
“Sorry,” I mumble.
“Maybe this time, they’ll make a difference,” she says, with such certainty that I almost believe it. Almost.
Slowly, I pick up a box. It drags in my arms like it’s made of lead, but I’ve barely even opened a drawer when my neighbor, Christina, thumps on the door and lets herself in.
I almost drop my box in surprise. “Christina? What’s happening?”
She’s six inches shorter than me with a shock of red hair, and her face is flushed like she’s just sprinted, her breath coming in heavy gasps like she’s terrified or excited. It’s hard to tell which. “You’ve got to come, Billie, Gracie.”
“What’s happening?” my mother asks again.
Christina’s words tumble out as a non-explanation. “Outside on the street. Everyone’s going there now.”
“Where?” I demand.
“The dock.”
“Why?”
“It’s that billionaire. It’s Jacob. He’s come back.”
My whole world turns so dizzy that I stumble back a few paces and have to sit down. “He’s back?” I echo, numb. “Why is he back?”
Christina shrugs. “Word on the street is he’s called some sort of town meeting. He wants to speak with us.”
“Why? So he can lord it over us peasants that he owns our island?”
She shakes her head. “I don’t know. Apparently, Briggs was really weird about it when he told people. He was being super cagey.”
“That’s not that unusual,” I say.
My mother raises an eyebrow at me as if trying to tell me to be nice. I ignore it.
Christina shakes her head again, her ginger curls bouncing in her face. “Apparently, he was weirder than usual. I think there’s something really big going on. You’ll be there, won’t you?”
“I…” I stammer. I don’t want to tell her no, because I don’t want to look like a coward. But the idea of seeing Jacob, meeting him face to face again, makes me feel sicker than any morning sickness.
“We’ll be there,” says my mother, stealing the conversation to give a response I didn’t want. “Are you going down to the dock now?”
“Yeah,” says Christina. They’re chatting so casually, so normally, like all this is nothing. How can they be acting like all of this is just nothing? “I am. I’ll report back. I won’t let you miss any of the juicy details.”
“Of course not,” says Mom.
With that, Christina offers us a mock salute, says goodbye, and then hurries out the door, closing it behind her,
