What She Overheard in Her Own Marriage novel Chapter 102

"Leo, come here for a second."

Leo jogged over. "What is it, Mom?"

Jane pulled him aside into a quiet corner of the yard, standing beneath the bare branches of an oak tree.

"Kaia is off tonight. You're her older brother. Do you know something I don't?"

Leo's chest tightened. Of course he knew what was going on, but he didn't dare say a word.

"Mom, you're definitely overthinking it. Kaia is totally fine. If she seems off, she's probably just exhausted. She got transferred to the new company, she's up to her neck in projects, and she's juggling Brynlee on top of it all. She's not a superhero; she's just tired." Leo played dumb, hoping to brush it off.

A mother knows her son better than anyone. Jane had been reading Leo's micro-expressions since he was a toddler. Whenever he lied, he blinked too much. By the time he finished his little speech, his eyelids were practically fluttering.

"If you don't start telling me the truth right now, I am going to be very angry," Jane warned, her face hardening.

Leo froze, then let out an awkward laugh. "Mom, I swear I don't know anything. Why don't you just ask Kaia tomorrow?"

"If she wanted to tell me, I wouldn't be asking you!" Jane glared at him, thoroughly annoyed. "You are absolutely useless when it counts. Just go home."

Leo muttered a quick goodbye and practically sprinted to his car.

Jane pulled out her phone and fired off a text message.

Upstairs, Kaia finally got Brynlee to sleep. She went down to the kitchen, ate the soup her mother had left out, and asked, "Mom, do you remember where my box of old textbooks is?"

Jane blinked. "Your dad put them away."

Warren Chavez immediately headed to the storage closet in the hallway and lugged out a heavy cardboard box.

"Here it is. What's up? Looking for something to read?"

Kaia finished her soup, crouched down, and dug through the box until she pulled out a massive, heavy medical encyclopedia. She flipped it open.

The inscription on the title page was still there.

Kaia snapped the book shut and looked at her parents. "I'm heading up to bed."

Back in her room, Kaia opened the book again, staring at the small, elegant words written in fountain pen: "To Noelle. May your world always be bright and colorful, and may all your wishes come true."

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