Chapter Twenty-Three

“How was your night?” Mrs. Warden greeted Emery as she stumbled her way through the door of the kitchen. It was almost nine o’clock in the morning and she knew Emery would be leaving soon for her time at the hospital.

“It was good. Austin won the game and we went over to the ice cream shop to celebrate with some of his friends.” Emery grabbed her bowl of Cheerio cereal, a banana, and a large glass of orange juice.

“You two are becoming quite close.” Emery’s mom sat down when she did. They hadn’t had much time to talk in the past couple of days since school, volunteer time, and Austin seemed to have consumed most of Emery’s time.

Emery shrugged. “We like each other, but I’m not sure if it’s love on his part.” Austin had never exactly told her how he felt about her. Emery didn’t know how she felt about him either. She liked him, like really, really liked him. But she’d