Believe in Me (Jett #1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

Christi.”
    I frown. Becca offers her a refill on her wine glass and I turn around, heading back to the trunk. Mom and I each have a suitcase and a duffel bag. The suitcase is for clothes and living essentials, while our duffel bag has all of our personal belongings. It’s not much; Mom’s has her tablet and all of her business paperwork along with a few knick-knacks I made her as a kid. The wind chimes and craft fair stuff go in the back seat of her SUV. My bag has a teddy bear from my childhood, a few pairs of sandals, two bottles of nail polish, my tablet for getting online, and a stack of DVDs to watch on Mom’s laptop.
    I don’t know why I would need any of that for a one night stay at a stranger’s house, but I grab the stupid bag and carry it into the guest room.
    From the living room, Mom calls my name.
    I slip into the hallway and jog down the stairs, my hand sliding along the banister as if I do this all the time. A fleeting image appears in my mind; a daydream of being a girl who lives in a house like this with loving parents. A girl whose room is filled with clothes and friends and memories.
    “You leaving?” I ask when my feet hit the first floor.
    Mom nods. “Going to head back to the hotel for a couple hours of sleep. Then I’ll hit the road and make it there before noon.”
    I glance around the room and notice that Becca and Park are gone. “Did you tell them you’re leaving?” I ask.
    She nods, examining her hair for split ends. “They went to investigate a funny noise on the grill or something. Now come here, give me a hug.”
    She spreads her arms wide, her bangles dancing down to her elbows. I kind of want to use this moment of privacy to ask about this weird job offer and berate her for not telling me sooner. Are we really settling down in a place called Lawson? Will I graduate high school here? Or is it just another one of her silly schemes to get rid of me for the night? For all I know, she met some guy at the craft fair and wants to get laid without a teenager holding her back.
    I sigh and walk into her arms, returning her hug. She grabs onto the back of my head and holds me tightly, squeezing until I’m all out of breath and have to gasp for air.
    “I love you, K-bug,” she says softly, using my nickname from my childhood.
    “Love you too, Dawn.”
    When the hug finally ends, she pulls back and holds me at arm’s length. Her eyes seem a little watery, but maybe it’s just a trick of the lighting. Mom doesn’t really get emotional about stuff like this. “You be good,” she says as if I’m a five-year-old. “Make me proud, okay?”
    I lift an eyebrow. “I promise not to burn their house down in the next twenty-four hours.”
    Her eyes soften, two clear gemstones without a care in the world. “Okay, well, I’m going to get out of here,” she says.
    “Good luck with your interview.”
    She nods, her lips pressing together in a thin smile. “Thanks, doll.”
    She grabs me in another quick hug and then turns to leave. And maybe I’m just crazy, but it really seemed like her eyes were holding back real, genuine tears. It almost seems like she’s sad that she’s leaving me here. Or like maybe she thinks she won’t get to see me again.

Chapter 6
     

     
    I stumble into the kitchen the next morning, obeying my stomach like a starving zombie. Since tomorrow is the first little kid lock-in of the summer, and I’ll be supervising it, I’m off work today. I guess Dad thought he’d be nice to me before making me suffer at the hands of a dozen kindergarteners.
    One thing about my new job at the family business: it is especially cruel how my body decided to wake up so early on my day off. I used to never get up this early unless it was race day. And even then, I’d wake up early only to crawl into Dad’s truck and sleep until we got to the track. But now after only a few days of having a real job, my body is up at freaking eight in the morning.
    Mom’s chatting on the phone