I know that too.”
“Then what is the problem?”
Mom pressed her lips together.
For several seconds, she couldn’t speak.
Finally, she sat on my bed.
“Do you remember the year your father left?”
The question threw me.
“What does Dad have to do with prom?”
“Nothing.”
“Then why are we talking about him?”
“Because something happened that year.”
I folded my arms.
“What?”
“You stopped eating lunch.”
My arms slowly dropped.
“How do you know that?”
Mom looked at me.
“Noah told me.”
I stared.
“What?”
“He found me one afternoon.”
“Where?”
“In the school parking lot.”
Her expression made the room feel smaller.
“He caught me crying in the car.”
I sat beside her.
“Mom…”
“I thought nobody saw me.”
Downstairs, faintly, Noah laughed at something my aunt said.
Mom heard him too.
Her face crumpled for half a second.
“What did he say?”
She looked at me.
“
