Page 84 of Lost Track

“His teachers didn’t notice?” She was a mandatory reporter. She knew how this shit worked.

Max’s gaze turned dark. “Like I said, wacky aunt. She gave permission to withdraw from school when he turned seventeen.”

The fuck?

Even the parents of the students she tutored who struggled with their children’s neurodivergence still cared about their education. Hence why Sabine was their tutor.

What kind of a parent didn’t care whether their child was adequately educated?

“Wait, wait, wait.” She was waving both hands now like it would help make sense of any of this.

Leslie, anticipating her line of thought, started nodding.

“In Texas you can drop out if you’re enrolled in a GED programandyour parent gives permission. He was enrolled, she gave permission.” Leslie made a face. “You think she ever cared to check if he completed that GED?”

Like the Magic Eye pictures that she used to stare and stare at for hours to find the image, there was a slight shift in her perspective and Dave’s insecurities came into stark focus.

He’d been living his life with all of this hanging over his head.

“But you can’t say anything to him about it.” Leslie shook his head like he was giving a dire warning.

“What?” she asked, still trying to sort through all the information that seemed more emotional than factual. There was a lot of conjecture and assumption being hurled around.

“Dave loves his mom. Like, a stupid crazy amount. He accepts her as she is, and he doesn’t like it when people judge her.” Leslie shrugged one massive shoulder.

“That’s why you two are weird about it,” Sabine guessed. Because if they said what they thought, Dave would defend the person they saw as not worth defending.

But that wasn’t their judgement call, was it?

Dave was allowed to love his mom whether his friends thought she deserved it or not.

Max and Leslie both grunted. Sabine and Kara exchanged a look.

On one hand, Sabine was glad to have the heads-up. It explained Max’s discomfort. She could better anticipate any issues that might arise. Also, it didn’t seem plausible that Dave would be able to say the things his friends just had.

On the other more weighty hand, she wanted to stick her hands in her hair and scream at the top of her lungs.

Because there was so much about this situation that was fucked.

And it made her nauseous.

What had she gotten herself into?

When it was just her and Dave, it was as if the rest of the world just…faded away.

No one and nothing else mattered.

But there was (and it sounded like always would be), a sense of dread just in the back of her mind. Parts he withheld, parts he hid. Details that maybe didn’t matter.

But maybe they did.

She realized she was still staring at Kara.

Kara, the first person in her life who loved her despite her shortcomings. Whose friendship had changed the bitter course of her heart many years ago.

Because who was Sabine to judge someone’s family life? The thought would have been humorous if it wasn’t so true.

And the best way to deal with truth?

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