Fireside by Susan Wiggs (pdf e book reader txt) 📗

saw her face turn red. “But why would you assume it’s a compliment?”

“Maybe she means you’re like a snake charmer,” Bagwell said.

“Dino told me he’s known you for years,” said Mrs. van Dorn. “He knows I’m very particular about my guests.”

Bo grinned again and caught AJ’s eye. “We’re going to be on our best behavior.”

“So, AJ, how about your old man?” asked Dino Carminucci, beaming at Bo. “That’s some news, eh?”

It was weird the way everybody liked Bo so much.

Bo’s grin disappeared. “Yo, Dino—”

“What news?” asked Mrs. van Dorn.

Good question, thought AJ. “What news?” he asked.

Bo set down his fork, used his napkin. “Well now, I meant to talk to you about this today, AJ, but Dino let the cat out of the bag.”

What cat? AJ wanted to know. What bag?

“I’m going to be in a special training program for rookies.”

“Where?” AJ asked suspiciously.

“Virginia. It’s not for long.”

AJ turned himself to stone. This was the only way to keep from cracking into a million pieces.

Daphne seemed to pick up on AJ’s quiet mood. “So are you a baseball fan?”

He was pretty freaking tired of that question. Everyone he’d met so far just assumed that because Bo played ball, AJ not only was a big fan, but he played, too, and played it well. Which was all a bunch of bull. He couldn’t care less about baseball. “I don’t really like any sports,” he said bluntly.

“What do you like to do for fun?” Bagwell asked.

The question cut deep. Nothing was fun. How could anything be fun when your mother was being held at some detention center like she was an international criminal? AJ was tempted to say, “Well, I like pulling the legs off insects. That’s pretty fun.” But he kept his mouth shut.

Here was the problem. He couldn’t blame this situation on anyone. No, wait. He could, too. He could blame Bo. If Bo Crutcher had done the right thing when he learned he’d gotten AJ’s mom pregnant, and married her, then his mom would be totally legal and none of this would be happening. So this was really Bo’s fault.

“I see you’re a southpaw like your dad,” Dino observed, beaming at him.

AJ set down his fork. “Yes, sir.”

“How about another roll?” Kim offered, holding out a basket. She alone seemed to sense how much he was hating the conversation.

“Thank you,” he said, and ate the roll in record time. Then he asked, “May I be excused?” Before anyone could say no, he set aside his napkin and left the table. He was blinking fast as he moved, heading for the room Mrs. V called the rotunda. It seemed like a refuge to AJ, a big round room filled with books. There was a sitting area, and lots of windows hung with lace curtains. AJ flung himself into a big armchair and ground his fists into his eyes.

Don’t do it, he warned himself. Don’t cry, whatever you do. By pressing hard and clenching his jaw, he managed to stave off the tears. If he let himself get mad enough, the heat of anger would cause the tears to boil away like drops of water on a hot skillet.

Nobody came after him, not right away. AJ couldn’t tell if this meant Bo was being decent, knowing AJ didn’t want anyone to see him, or if Bo was just blowing him off because he didn’t care. Probably that, yeah. He didn’t care. He hadn’t cared for twelve years and he sure as heck wasn’t going to start now.

AJ went over to Bo’s laptop, which Bo said he could use whenever he wanted. Back home, AJ hardly ever got to use a computer. The ones at his school were always swarmed, and he always felt out of place at the public library. Having a Mac all to himself was pretty amazing. He looked up stuff about immigration, finding a ton of agencies claiming they could help. And most of those agencies had an address in New York City, which was just a train ride away. He went looking for a train schedule, but then he heard Bo coming and quickly shut the browser. Snatching up a heavy illustrated book about Greek mythology, he acted as though he’d been reading the whole time.

“Hey,” said Bo.

“Hey.” AJ didn’t look up. He focused on a story about a guy named Kronos, who envied the power of his father so much he castrated him with a sickle, which totally skeezed AJ out, but that was a Greek myth for you.

AJ didn’t really know what it was like to have an actual dad. Bruno had never paid much attention to him. Bo was a stranger.

“You okay?” asked Bo.

AJ gave a shrug, still not looking up. The sickle thing backfired on Kronos, though, because when his father bled into the sea, the Titans were born, and everybody knew you don’t want to piss off a Titan.

Maybe he’d better not piss off Bo, either, because stranger or not, Bo was the only thing standing between AJ and a foster home, the only one paying the lawyer and the only one who seemed to give a hoot about getting AJ’s mom back.

“I didn’t mean for you to hear about the rookie trip that way,” Bo said. “I wanted to tell you myself, without a bunch of other people around.”

“Doesn’t matter to me. I mean, congratulations and all, but it doesn’t matter if I found out when everybody else did,” AJ said. He did not want Bo to give him any kind of special status. As far as he was concerned, they were roommates. He studied a drawing of Kronos facing down a badass Titan called the Cyclops.

Bo didn’t say anything for a few minutes. AJ pretended to read, but the words blurred before his eyes.

The chair across from him exhaled as Bo sat down on the leather cushion. “I know it’s a lousy break, this thing that happened to your mother,” Bo said.

Duh. Tell me something I don’t know, thought AJ.

“And