Debt

16: Coming Home

The picture is mother and son :) Listen to the song. Even if you don't like Beyoncé, it's inspiring.

Abrielle made plans for dinner, distracted somewhat by Evan's journal. She would be having nightmares too, if that was her dream. She understood why he seemed so on edge.

She went out the back door to check on Sapphire, and the dog came running out of the little house Evan had built her while Shawn was in Mexico. It had heating and everything.

Abrielle had noticed then that Evan was really good with his hands, tools, and drawing, as well as geometry. She had enjoyed to watch him building the house for Sapphire, because it was an interesting thing to watch as he put everything together.

The two had shared conversation while Evan was working, and he told her that he wanted to go to school to be an architect and had even had his hand in designing the house she was staying in now. She was both surprised and impressed.

He told her that he had been taking drafting at school since his freshman year and it was his favorite class. She was surprised to hear of the advanced maths he took, and that he actually liked them. He'd started dual enrolling sophomore year when the classes were offered to him and had been doing so ever since. He was taking his math at the college level.

She had taken a calculus class in her senior year because of how good it would look on a transcript, but she hated the class and was lucky to pass with a low B. And from what her teacher had told her, it was the watered down version of what she would see if she took it at the college level.

Abrielle had wanted to go into child psychology, which didn't take much math. She loved children, and she knew that she could have so many opportunities to work with them with the degree that she would have earned. Now, at least, she got to have her own.

The more Abrielle had talked to Evan, the more she had hoped they could be friends; the more he avoided her like the plague. She wasn't trying to get him to do anything wrong; and she couldn't understand why he was avoiding her the way he was.

Sapphire panted at Abrielle's feet, and she petted the dog, going to feed her and refill her water dish before she went in and washed her hands to start dinner for the humans.

Abrielle began to shave potatoes when Shawn came back into the kitchen. He watched Abrielle for a minute, just looking at her rounding belly. He didn't want that to go nowhere. He wanted her to always be right where he could see her.

"Do you want help?"

She looked at him for a moment, trying to decide whether or not she wanted his help. But she decided to accept it. She was glad at least that he wanted to help her out. She was grateful to it, actually. Her father never lifted a finger to help her mother with house work.

"You need to talk to your nephew," she told him, giving him the shaver as she moved to start on macaroni and cheese.

"What about?"

"I... Looked in his journal. Kinda."

"Why are you going through his shit, Bri?"

She bit her lip. It sounded as if she had gone looking for the thing, when the truth was, she had simply come across it and couldn't help that fact.

"Well... I didn't mean to. I just saw it on the counter."

Shawn gave her a little look. It wasn't like Evan to be absent-minded like that about his things. It didn't sound like him to be leaving things, his journal no less, around the house. But, come to think of it, Evan had been doing a lot of things out of his character lately. So he didn't doubt that he could have. Abrielle didn't have a reason to lie about that.