Xavier’s Point of View
“Xavier, why aren’t you answering your calls?” Nanny Millie asked, the older woman’s voice laced with both curiosity and worry. I leaned against the wall of the storage room. I was cleaning the volleyball court with my team when her call came through.
She never called unless it was urgent, so I excused myself to answer her.
“I did answer you,” I muttered stiffly.
“You know exactly what I mean,” she warned. “Why aren’t you answering your father’s calls?”
My jaw tightened.
“Is that why you called me? If you don’t have anything else to say, then please—”
She cut me off before I could finish.
“Your mother has gotten worse.”
My heart pulled painfully in my chest.
My mother… she had already been sick before I left home. Every day since, I’d held on to the hope
