Page 35 of The Blairville Legacies

“She’s got a name, too...”

My mother didn’t like Larissa at all. Maybe it was because of that one time with the drugs when I’d had to go to the emergency room for my lost pills, and Larissa had been all drugged up. I understood that it had been a really lousy action. But the fact that I had fallen over was not because of Larissa. It was only because of me. But exactly this fact made Mum put Larissa in a bad light whenever possible. Like now.

And the fact that she hadn’t contacted me wasn’t due to her, but to this lousy signal in this part of town.

“No, but she promised to call me on Friday night.”

“For your birthday. I’m surprised she even remembered it,” Mum joked.

I didn’t elaborate on her teasing.

Larissa wasn’t stupid. She was just trying her hand at a lot of weird things at the moment, always trying to get me involved. But only because she thought I wouldn’t have had fun with her otherwise. That wasn’t true, of course. Larissa was easy-going and funny, and everyone who knew her knew that where Larissa was, something was going on. And I missed her incredibly. Of all the days, she couldn’t be there for my birthday.

I took the flyers from the university along with the envelope and headed for the stairs.

“I’m going to have to do some more prep work for the university.”

Unfortunately.

“Don’t forget dinner tonight!” Mum called after me.

“I won’t,” I called back, annoyed, as I climbed the stairs.

I would have preferred to stay in my room for the rest of the day, because the last person I wanted to see today was Julian.

Chapter 6

Julian

The first thing that met me when I entered the Adams’ house was the smell of something being burned. It must have been a few hours since anything in the house had been on fire. Probably, the dinner had been burned, but that wouldn’t have fit the timing.

Looking for more clues, I noticed that Mia must have smelled it, too. She tried to hold her nose, but Dad pulled on her arm.

He seemed to ignore it because his expression was relaxed and with a smile he walked to the kitchen. To be more precise, to Ms. Adams, who had been slicing ham until just now.

My mouth watered.

“Good to see you, Graham,” she greeted him with a bright smile.

Dad hugged her a little awkwardly before turning to us.

“And, of course, good to see you...”

Her searching gaze, which wandered to the door and finally back to Dad, revealed that she had expected more.

“Where is your mother?” she finally asked, addressing our father.

“She died thirteen months ago,” Dad returned dryly as if he had fully gotten over it. Which he hadn’t.

Ms. Adams looked at him, startled. There was pity in her expression, and she hesitated.

I looked at Mia. She was suffering the most from our grandmother’s absence, and I would have loved to give her a hug right now, but she probably would have pushed me away.

“I didn’t know...” Ms. Adams was still staring at our father.

“My sincere condolences.” She brushed one of her blonde strands behind her ear. “I wish I had known her better.”

Fortunately, she didn’t elaborate. But there was concern in her words. Concern for my father.

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