“You never rag on Andy—”
“Your brother is probably gonna be a professor or something and write textbooks and make us all look like idiots, okay?”
Jackson started to smile.
“School is like a walk in the park for Andy.” Val let him go and took a step back. “I know it’s not the same for you, because it wasn’t that way for me either. It doesn’t mean you’re not as smart as he is, it means you have to work for it. And that’s okay. That means you’re gonna know how to work better than your brother does.”
Jack crossed his arms over his chest. “Fine. I hear you.”
She tapped her fingers on the paper. Quickly. She couldn’t mention anything about Jackson and the girl, but this grade was clearly a result of her son not doing the work he needed to do. “There have to be consequences for this. You know there have to be.”
“Am I going to lose car privileges?”
Her father had given Jackson his old, beat-up Ford pickup. It wasn’t much to look at, but it ran and Jack loved it. It was freedom.
“No, you’re not losing the car.” She pointed to the paper. “Yet. Don’t let something like this happen again or you will. I’ll think of something. It will not be overly heinous, and in the meantime, ask Mrs. Fletcher if there’s any extra credit you can do to make up for this.”
“Okay.”
“Do you understand me about your grades? Four-year college. Bachelor’s degree. That’s your goal. Scholarships. Forging your own identity and finding amazing friends and doing all the cool stuff.” She tossed the paper on the table. “I want you to have that. You deserve to have that. But you’re not getting it unless you put the work in.”
“I get it.” He rolled his eyes. “I can’t believe some of my friends think you’re the cool mom.”
Val blinked. “Your friends think I’m the cool mom?”
“Some!” Jackson held up his hand. “Seriously, don’t embarrass me. Just chill. A couple. Like maybe one.”
“Yes!” Val raised her hands and pumped the air, tossing her head back and forth like she was headbanging. “I. Am. The. Cool. Moooooom!”
Jackson put his hand over his eyes. “I’ve made a horrible mistake.”
It was after midnight and she still couldn’t sleep. Val pressed the heels of her hands to her eyes and took deep breaths.
In. Out.
Clearing her mind.
Relaxing her body.
Clearing her mind.
Relaxing…
Relaxing, dammit.
She sat up and walked to the dresser in the corner, opening the drawer to take out the antianxiety medication her doctor had prescribed six months ago.
“Take it at night. It’ll help you sleep.”
The pills had helped her sleep, and they also did what she’d been hoping for. They dulled her clarity when she got visions. Her perception wasn’t as fast or as clear.
She hated feeling dependent on them.
But Val never wanted superpowers. She hadn’t asked for any of this. She never wanted to know that much about anyone. It was bad enough living in a tiny town where everyone was in each other’s business all the time. Owning the town’s only coffee shop meant she perceived too much as it was through her five normal senses.
So occasionally Val convinced herself that she could manage without her pills and stopped taking them.
The anxiety always came back. The sleeplessness returned.
Val could battle through it… but it had been three nights of poor sleep because her brain wouldn’t turn off. It had been days of hair-trigger visions she didn’t want.
She gave in and took the small white tablet, washed it down with a glass of water, and returned to bed. Just as she was about to close her eyes, she saw her phone buzz. Josh was texting her.
You awake?
Val rolled over and closed her eyes. Josh was a pest and she did not want to talk to him. She didn’t have the time, patience, or energy for her ex. She ignored the text and the buzzing sound that told her he was calling. If it was important, he’d leave a voice mail and she could check it later.
Nothing her ex-husband had to say was urgent enough to answer the phone at one in the morning.
Chapter 3
Val was bleary-eyed and aching when her alarm went off. She reached for the bottle of water on her bedside table, downed the contents, and set it back down. Then she sat on the edge of the bed and tried to wake up.
She could already feel the effects of her medication like a fog in her mind. She reached for her test object on the bedside table, a pair of her mother’s reading glasses she’d swiped from the house. As soon as she touched them, she got a vision of her mother reading a book in bed.
Shit.
She needed to keep taking her medication. After a week or so, it would take a little longer for the visions to come, and that was all Val wanted. If she could control the immediate and sudden results of touching objects, she’d be able to live her life a lot more easily. She could avoid visions like the one with Americano Asshole and his mistress.
She rubbed her eyes and stood, stretching one way and then the other. She stepped onto the small rug in her room and did a few lunges, warming up her hips and knees. She bent over, dangling her head down as far as she could to loosen her back.
Why didn’t Glimmer Lake have a boxing gym? She’d love to have a good reason to hit things. It would benefit her health on so many levels, all while giving her a perfectly decent excuse to wear gloves.
I can think of better ways to loosen up your back.
She pressed her eyes closed. She didn’t need to be thinking about Sully.
Her phone buzzed on the dresser. Shit. She’d forgotten about the call and text from Josh. But would Josh be up this early? That couldn’t be right.
She absently noted a voice mail notification from her ex, but when she saw the number of her produce guy, she called him back immediately. “Hey, Don. What’s going on?”
“I’m running late today. Probably won’t get there until after breakfast.”
“Shit.” She squeezed her eyes shut. “Seriously, Don?”
“Can’t help it. Roads are icy as hell and it’s gonna be slow.”
“I get it. I do. It’s just that I heard the phrase ‘dangerously low on onions’ yesterday, and you know how Ramon feels about onions.”
“I got ’em, they’re just rolling up the hill a little late.”
Val sighed and wondered how many onions she had in her fridge. “I’ll let Ramon know. Thanks for the call.”
She splashed water on her face, put on a heavy slather of lotion to combat the dry winter air, and tugged on fresh clothes. She was going to have a ton of laundry come Monday.
Her phone buzzed again. It was a text from her other barista, JoJo.
I can’t come in today.
Fuuuuuuuck. Val groaned. She tapped out a quick text message. Are you okay?
Fight with Mom.
JoJo’s home life was anything but simple. Their dad wasn’t in the picture, and their mom always seemed one fight away from kicking JoJo out of the house. She constantly used the wrong pronouns with JoJo and blamed them for everything going wrong in her life. Ramon and Honey were surrogate parents and trying to figure out a different living situation, but until they did, Val knew it was better for JoJo to do whatever they needed in order to not make waves.