The Woman Next Door Read Online Free PDF Page A

rough one.
    “I’d like it if I played, but I don’t. I sit on the bench all the time. Know how embarrassing that is? With all the kids watching? With my parents watching? Why do they have to come to games? They could miss one or two. I mean, my mom is always at school. Julie loves it, but what does she know? She’s only six.”
    “Your mom does good stuff for the schools.”
    “Know how embarrassing that is?”
    “Actually,” Amanda said, taking a calculated risk, “I don’t. My parents were too busy fighting with each other to have the time or energy for either my school or me.”
    Jordie lifted a shoulder. “Mine fight. They just do it when they think we can’t hear.”
    Amanda made a noncommittal sound, but didn’t speak. Taking the moment’s space to gather his thoughts, Jordie went off in a direction that was slightly different, but clearly upmost in his mind.
    “And even if we can’t hear, we can see,” he said. “Mom hardly ever smiles anymore. She doesn’t plan fun things like she used to. Like sleepovers for all our friends.” He caught himself. “I mean, it’s not like I want those anymore, I’m too old, but Julie and the twins aren’t. Mom used to have twenty of us over at once with popcorn and pizza and videos, and I didn’t even care if the little kids were bugging me and my friends, because that was all part of it, y’know?”
    His enthusiasm gave way to a somber silence, then anger. “Now she just pokes her head in my room asking nosy questions.”
    “Fuck it,” came a high, nasal voice.
    Amanda frowned at the neon green parrot in a cage at the end of the room. “Hush up, Maddie.”
    Jordie stared at the bird. “She’s always saying that. How come they let you keep her?”
    “She only swears for kids. She knows better when it comes to Mr.Edlin or any of the teachers. She’s perfectly polite when they’re in here.”
    Like checkers, Maddie was an icebreaker. Some students stopped by daily for a month to give the bird treats before they felt comfortable enough to talk with Amanda.
    “She’s a good bird,” Amanda cooed in the direction of the cage.
    “I love you,” Maddie replied.
    “She flips?” Jordie asked. “Just like that? Is she a good guy or a bad guy?”
    “A good guy. Definitely. Good guys can say bad things when they’re upset. Maddie learned to swear from someone who used to chase her with a broom, which was how I came to adopt her. She knows what anger sounds like. She gets upset when kids get upset, like you just did about baseball.”
    “I wasn’t talking about baseball when she swore,” Jordie said.
    No. He had been talking about his mother. But, of course, he knew that, which was why he was on his feet now, hoisting the backpack to his shoulder. Talking about parents was hard for kids like Jordie. Talking about feelings was even harder.
    Jordie needed an outside therapist, someone who didn’t know his family. For that to happen, though, either he or one of his parents had to take the initiative. None of them was doing it, yet. So Amanda went out of her way to be there when Jordie came by. Unfortunately, she couldn’t make him stay. Before she could utter a word, he was out the door and tromping down the empty hall, lost again in whatever dark thoughts were haunting him.
    Wait, she wanted to say. We can talk about it. We can talk about moms fighting with dads, how you feel about it, what you’re doing when you’re supposed to be studying, what you’re thinking when you’re blue. I’m free. I can talk. I can talk as long as you want. I have to keep my mind busy.
    But he was gone, and as they had been doing all day, her eyes went to the desk and Graham’s picture. It was in a neat slate frame, his smile beaming at her through his trim beard. It was a face that many a female entering this room had remarked upon. Graham O’Leary was an icebreaker, too.
    She had to call him. He would be waiting to hear. But she didn’t know anything yet, and she