Read Even When You Lie to Me for Free Online Page B

always did.
    “So what are you guys doing down here?” my mother asked. “I didn’t realize you still needed help, Paul.”
    “Charlie’s just saving me from myself,” he said.
    “This whole operation is going to fall apart without me,” I said.
    I could hear them talking to each other behind my back, but I didn’t move. I didn’t want to know what they were saying.
    “So what else happened today, Charlie?” my mother said eventually.
    “Got an extracurricular, like you wanted.”
    “Did you? That’s wonderful.”
    I turned around again. “It doesn’t involve marching in lockstep, so that’s something.”
    “I’m glad to hear it. So what will you be doing?”
    “Our new teacher’s restarting the newspaper.”
    “The newspaper!” she said. “You’ve always wanted to work on the paper.”
    She sounded so pleased that for a moment my resolve crumbled. I looked down shyly. “Yeah, it seems like it might be fun.”
    “I’m really happy for you, honey,” she said. “That will be a great fit.”
    “Thanks,” I said, still looking down. I tried to hide my smile.
    She paused. I saw her grab my dad’s hand. “I know I shouldn’t say I told you so, but do you think you would have joined if I hadn’t made you?”
    My mouth tightened. “Maybe not,” I said. “Um, I should do some homework before dinner. Dad, you want to take over here?”
    “Sure,” he said, and let go of my mother.
    She watched me as I passed her, but she still let me go upstairs.
    —
    Half an hour later my dad knocked on my door. “I brought a peace offering,” he said, and let Frida inside. She was carrying a package of Oreos in her teeth. “I wanted to talk to you right after you came upstairs, but it took this long to get her not to chew it.”
    “So this is how you spend your time while we’re gone all day,” I said. Frida offered me the Oreos with a faint wag of her tail.
    “Have to occupy the hours somehow.” He sat down on my desk chair. “Your mom is just looking out for you, kid.”
    “And she had to brag about it?”
    “You know she didn’t mean it like that.”
    I snorted. “How
did
she mean it? And why did she get you in here instead of coming to talk to me herself?”
    “You’re so upbeat and charming, I can’t imagine why she wouldn’t.”
    I ignored him. “And how did she mean it when she stopped me working for you?”
    “That wasn’t a punishment, you doofus. We—as in
both
of us—just realized it wasn’t fair to keep you locked in the basement, and you are so ridiculously stubborn that the only way to do that was to kick you out.”
    I looked at him. “I like helping you.”
    “I like it too,” he said. “But if I were a real employer, I’d be prosecuted for breaking about three hundred child labor laws.”
    I hefted the Oreos. “This is enough payment for me.”
    “Go talk to her,” he said. “Please. For me.”
    I sighed. “Okay.”
    “Tonight,” he said. “Not when you get around to it.”
    “All right, all right, I promise.”
    He paused. “The other thing I wanted to tell you, which I must stress is contingent on you being less of a pain in the ass in the future, is that I’m going to let you start using my car to get to school. I know it’ll be difficult to stay late if you can’t get the bus.”
    “Really?” I said. I sat up. “Are you sure? I’ll pay for gas with the pathetic wages you’ve given me.”
    “I know you will. And half the insurance. And any required maintenance.”
    “Yes, all of that, and I’ll even leave you some music so you can see what uncool teenagers are listening to.”
    “That’s very generous, but you know how I feel about post-Beatles music.”
    “You’re old,” I said.
    “I just learned many—”
    “Many.”
    “—many years ago that anything not available on LP wasn’t worth bothering with,” he said. “Just talk to your mom for me, okay? You don’t realize how much of an effect you have on her.”
    “Okay,” I