CHAPTER TWENTY
I opened my eyes. No sunlight filled the room. I looked at the clock.
Five a.m.
I could close my eyes, rest some more. I could—but I knew I wouldn’t be able to fall back to sleep. Instead, I rolled out of bed, got ready for the big day and headed out the door ready to pile into the car for the drive to Rochester.
When I got outside I stopped and shook my head. “Hey, Patrick!What are you doing up this early?”
He wore new jeans, new white sneakers and held a tablet and pen with him as usual when he came over. Couldn’t let you take off without saying good-bye, he wrote. First day of school for me, too. So I would have had to get up sooner or later anyway.
I read what he wrote and laughed. I wished I could hear myself laugh. I couldn’t even remember what I sounded like any
