The Pages We Forget Read Online Free PDF Page B

house.
    Neither Trevor nor June said much as they pulled out of the gated driveway onto icy Jenkins Boulevard and headed south. June stared ahead at the slush-covered road, while Trevor stared in the side-view mirror at his father, who drove a short distance behind them.
    â€œYou can turn the radio on,” June said and glanced over at Trevor.
    â€œThat’s okay,” he declined. The Escalade’s right blinker came on as they neared the intersection of Jenkins Boulevard and WoodardStreet. Trevor turned completely around in the seat and waved at Alex, who blew the horn and waved. Alex turned onto the four-lane highway that led to East Jefferson Street and downtown Detroit.
    As soon as Alex turned off, Trevor asked, “What does Mrs. Langford want to see you about?”
    June, pretending not to hear him, leaned closer to the steering wheel and gazed cautiously out the lightly tinted windows at the road, narrowed by the piles of plowed snow.
    Trevor knew she was pretending not to hear him, so he asked again, “Ma, what does Mrs. Langford want to talk to you about?”
    Her face stiffened, her lips drew tight, and her eyes scatted back and forth searching for something, anything, to divert her attention from the question he was asking. “I hate driving in this kind of weather,” she mumbled to herself.
    â€œMa!”
    Acting like she’d been daydreaming, June turned to Trevor and asked, “What did you say?”
    â€œWhat does Mrs. Langford want to talk to you about?”
    June turned on her right blinker and slowed as they neared Beal Academy, a prestigious private school populated by the children of Detroit’s most affluent celebrities, business and industry leaders, and political players. She glanced over at Trevor, who was getting somewhat impatient waiting for her response. “She didn’t call,” June admitted. She immediately turned her attention to the school’s two security officers who were visually scanning cars as they turned into the cobblestone driveway.
    â€œThen how come you told Dad that?”
    â€œI needed an excuse to get away for a few hours this morning.”
    â€œWhat for?”
    â€œThere’s something I need to take care of.”
    â€œAnd you don’t want Dad to know about it?”
    â€œNo, I don’t. That’s why we’re going to keep this between us. He doesn’t have to know. All right?”
    Trevor, feeling a little apprehensive about keeping secrets from his dad, reached in the backseat and grabbed his backpack as the car approached the entrance of the red brick building, formerly a Catholic monastery built more than a century ago.
    â€œTrevor?”
    â€œWhat’s the big deal, Ma? It can’t be nothing too important or Dad would already know.”
    June stepped on the brake and the car skidded a few yards, almost hitting the two parked cars in front of her. The car crashed into the embankment of snow on the opposite side of the driveway. Trevor unbuckled his seatbelt and pushed June’s arm from across him; she had instinctively thrown her arm in front of him when the car began sliding. A tall, redheaded woman, the mother of two of Trevor’s classmates, hurried out of her parked Lexus and ran over to June’s car.
    â€œAre you okay, Mrs. Thomas? Trevor?” the woman opened the passenger door and asked.
    â€œWe’re fine,” June answered. “I forgot how slick this driveway can get.”
    Trevor got out of the car and was about to close the door when he remembered what his father had told him. He knew something was bothering his mom and that it had to be something serious, because he couldn’t remember seeing her so distracted. He turned around and leaned back in the car. “Ma, are you going to be okay?”
    June forced a smile. “I’ll be fine. Now hurry on inside before you catch a cold.”
    â€œI don’t get a kiss?” he asked, a bit