Page 13 of Maid for My Billionaire Boss
My breath lightened, knowing I was being released from having to make up a bad excuse. “Yeah, that’ll be perfect.”
He continued in a hushed voice, “Actually, why don’t you take a few extra days off? I’ll be leaving to visit Tonya, and I won’t be here.”
He didn’t have to tell me twice, and we didn’t talk anymore as he led me to the oversized garage where several nice cars were waiting. He helped us into the closest one, and I didn’t ask what make or model the car was, because I didn’t want to be nervous driving it. I simply drove off, feeling glad I had helped Trey because even though it had been awkward, it was obvious the guy needed help.
Eight
Atalie
Afterafewdaysoff, I led Josiah out the door with two extra smoothies in my hand. We were down about a block before Josiah brought up something we hadn’t spoken about in weeks. “Mom, how much longer is it going to be before we can go home?”
My voice caught in my airway because although that had been my original goal when we came here—to work our way to being able to return home—I wasn’t sure if I could go back. Aside from all the financial stuff that was a huge mess, I still didn’t need to see all the sorry-your-life-sucks faces. I answered as truthfully as I could, “I don’t know. Your dad wasn’t planning all of this, so his stuff wasn’t set up right. I thought for sure we’d have things worked out by now, but the longer it’s been, the more I learn, and he had owed some people some money and some of that stuff is hard to fix.” I looked over at him. “It’s grown-up stuff, though, and you don’t need to worry about it.”
“I know, but I miss my friends.” His voice was sort of listless, making my heart ache.
“I’m sure you do.” I made sure to keep my voice even to not apply pressure on him. “Do you think you want to try to go back to regular school to be with kids your own age?” His lips pursed out like a duck. The longer he held them like that, the more I considered maybe he was ready to go back. Maybe he hadn’t told me already because he was trying to be strong for me. With a lowered voice, I added, “Josiah, you can tell me if you want to return. I understand.”
“I don’t really mind online school,” he said after a long minute, “but it would be nice to meet some friends here.”
“Well . . .” I looked forward as we walked, as this conversation was so out of the blue and I hadn’t been prepared for it. “There’re only a few weeks left in the regular school year, so maybe you finish out what you have and then we enroll in the spring for a fresh start. By then, we should know what’s going on back home and be able to move somewhere more permanent. That way when you start in a school, we know you can stay there. Since that was the main reason we did the homeschool thing this year anyway. You know, to avoid having to switch schools while we moved around.” I fastened my eyes back on him. “How does that sound?”
“I’d like that.” His lips thinned into a straight line, hinting he was holding back a grin.
When we arrived at the house, Mrs. Michael was sitting at the table, working on a crossword puzzle. She forbade a traditional greeting. “What is a six-letter word that means wiggle, but it’s not wiggle?”
I grimaced as it was too early for that much brain work, but Josiah was intrigued, gravitating toward her, and offered, “Fidget.”
“You would know that word,” I teased as he never sat still long.
“No, I thought of that too,” Mrs. Michael replied with a thoughtful tone, “but the last letter has to be an M.”
“How about squirm?” Josiah suggested.
“Hmm.” She plotted out the letters with a pleased grin growing on her face. “That works.” Her eyes raised above the rim of her glasses to Josiah, who was looking over her shoulder at the next clue on the crossword puzzle. She tapped the empty chair next to her. “Have a seat. We have work to do.”
He flashed a look at me, as if he was requesting permission, and I smiled back at him until he relaxed into the chair. It was endearing how he had warmed up to her, and I didn’t mind if they wanted to entertain each other. Mrs. Michael dropped her eyes to the crossword puzzle and carried on. “What is a seven-letter word that means happy?” Before anyone could respond, footsteps barreled down the steps and Tonya fled out the door, without uttering a word in our direction. Trey was fast behind her but halted his steps when he saw she had already slammed the door. He turned on his heel, with his brow lowered, hinting to how he felt. The silence lingering in the air was so thick it was suffocating.
Desperate to create a distraction, I picked up my extra smoothie shaker and offered it to him. “Here, I made you a smoothie this morning.”
He eyed the cup suspiciously. “Why?”
I shrugged, playing down my gesture. “I was making them and figured you could use one too, especially with this week being so huge for you. I put some extra stress support supplements in there.” I pushed the cup farther toward him. “Try it.”
“And by stress support, do you mean Maalox?” His lips stretched into an even smile, but it didn’t reach his eyes.
I snickered, trying to lighten the mood. “No, just some herbs, but I can put that on the grocery list if you need it.”
“I should be fine.” He sighed like he was lugging around the weight of the world on his back and took a small swig, appearing to swish it around his mouth once before swallowing it. “Not terrible.”
“Thank you.” I felt like I had scored a double win as he liked my recipe, and he was now distracted from whatever just happened.
Mrs. Michael peered down at Trey through her glasses which were on the tip of her nose. “What do you have going on today, dear?”
He kept his eyes low, focused on the open lid of his smoothie shaker. “Drinks with Allen again. He’s wavering.”
“What time is that?” she pressed.
“Later.” His cautious eyes rose to her. “Why?”
