Twenty-five Million

Keeping his eyes fixed on Carmen and Ethan as they stood by the car door, waiting on him, Liam walked over to them.

When he was a step away from them, he stopped. Then Carmen met his eyes and said, "Ethan wanted us to wait out here for you." 

"Thank you, bud," Liam uttered, looking down at his son.

Then he focused his gaze back at Carmen, and her face still bore no expression, making it hard for him to guess what she was thinking or how she felt.

A few minutes later, as Freddie drove them out of the parking lot, the car was silent and continued to be even after he got on the main road.

That bothered Ethan a lot, and he looked up at Liam on his left for a few seconds, and then looked to his right at Carmen before mumbling "I made a friend at school today."

"Really! Bud, that's amazing!" Liam said with a look of pride in his eyes.

"Yeah, baby. What's your friend's name?" Carmen asked, unable to stop smiling.

With an excited