I hang up before I can blab anything else. Because I’ve already said too much. I grab my art supplies and start to head back into the room.

And that’s when I almost collide with Afton.

Who’s been standing in the doorway for who knows how long.

Chapter 29

29

Fuck, I think.

“Oh my god, what?” Afton exclaims loudly. “What is going on? You’re going to tell me, Ada. Right now.”

I glance behind her, to see where Abby is.

Afton grabs my hand. “She’s watching cartoons in the other room. Seriously, you didn’t hear us come in?”

I was kind of busy melting down on Pop.

Afton drags me back out to the balcony, closes the door behind us, and sits down.

“Okay. What?” she insists.

I don’t have a choice now. I close my eyes. “You have to promise that you won’t do anything rash with this information,” I whisper. “That you won’t freak out.”

“I’m freaking out right now!” she says, and I shush her. We can’t risk Abby hearing. “What is it?” she whispers back urgently. “Tell me.”

“Mom’s having an affair,” I say, still whispering. There’s a sour taste in my mouth. I swallow it down.

Afton’s mouth opens in shock. “What? With who?”

“She’s sleeping with—” God, I think, how did we ever come up with the term “sleeping with” to mean sex? Sleeping is the opposite of what they were doing Monday morning. “I don’t know. I didn’t really see. But she’s hooking up with Billy Wong.”

There. I said it. Which makes it real.

There’s another long moment of silence. Then Afton whispers, “How do you know?”

I take a deep breath. “On Monday, I think it was Monday . . .” The days have all started to blur together for me. “Yeah, Monday. I had to go back to the room. I only wanted to put on my swimsuit. I saw her . . .” It all floods back. I swallow again, hard. “I saw them.”

“What?” Afton says, still keeping the volume of her voice low, but much more sharply this time. “When?”

“I told you. Monday morning. When you had Abby at hula class.”

“Where?”

“Here. In her bed.” I gesture to the adjoining room to this one. I can’t even look directly at Afton as I’m talking about this. I can’t stand to see her eyes when she understands.

Neither of us says anything else for what feels like a year. When I glance up at Afton again, her face is bright red. She’s just staring at the metal railing of the balcony.

I remember that numbness—I felt it myself just a few days ago. I shift in my chair. “Well, say something. Can you just say something? Anything?”

She shakes her head. “What should I say?”

“I don’t know. Something.”