Carrots: A Shelby Nichols Adventure Read Online Free Page B

quickly. It was a stupid science class anyway. Then he could get together with his friends after dinner.
    “And do a good job or you’re grounded from playing your game for the rest of the week, and maybe forever.” This time there was anger in his eyes. “What’s so stupid about your science class?” I asked.
    “What? I never said it was stupid. And how did you know I had homework in science?”
    Oops. “It was just a guess. Plus it seems like you don’t like science.”
    “The teacher’s just boring, that’s all.” He turned to leave, thinking I’d never understand what his life was like, and he wished I would just leave him alone. Why did I have to be so involved in his life anyway? He was old enough that he didn’t need anyone telling him what to do.
    Wow. That was a surprise. Is that what he really thought? “Hey Josh.” I was about to remind him he was only fourteen, but changed my mind at the last minute. “You’re a great kid, you know?”
    He looked at me like I was a moron, but I wasn’t offended because I knew he was secretly pleased. “I’m going to get something to eat.”
    “Okay.” I listened to his retreating footsteps, and took a deep breath. My nap hadn’t changed a thing. I could still read minds. And if I wasn’t careful, I was going to get in a lot of trouble. How was I going to manage around my family?
    Maybe knowing what they were thinking could help me understand them better. But the thing that made shivers run up my spine was realizing I’d know what they thought about me. I mean…really thought. Could I handle it? Especially from Chris?
    We hadn’t been as close to each other lately. His long hours as a junior partner in a big law firm didn’t help. His firm handled all kinds of important cases, which he couldn’t always talk about. Now that I thought about it, it seemed like all we had in common anymore were our kids. Most of our conversations were about them, or paying the bills, and taking care of the house and yard.
    Would I find out that he thought I was boring? Or worse, that he didn’t even like spending time with me? I was his wife, sure, but did he see me as anything else? He needed me to take care of the kids and house, but what did he really think of me? Was I boring? I didn’t think I wanted to know.
    I eased out of bed, and hurried into the small room we used as an office. Maybe there was something on the Internet about reading minds that would help me. I googled mental telepathy, and was shocked by all the hits. I even found a how-to book I could buy, but most of the information was based on developing mental telepathy, not stopping it. There were some interesting articles, but nothing more than conjecture. The only thing that looked like it might work was making a hat out of tin foil. I was desperate, but seriously, how would that look?
    Savannah came home from dance class, and it was only a matter of minutes before my mother and Chris would be there. Maybe blocking out people’s thoughts would be like blocking out background noise. I had done that before, so that was an option. Still, I got out a piece of tin foil just in case.
     

 
    Chapter 2
    Dinner was a disaster.
    My mother got there just a few minutes before Chris, and in the process of setting the table and sitting down to eat, I thought I was going to die. With the talking and all the thoughts flying around, I felt like I was drowning in a sea of noise. I never realized how much gibberish everyone had going on in their minds.
    My mom thought I looked pale and tired, but what she said was she thought I looked great considering I’d been shot in the head. I guess both things were true, but I was getting tired of hearing about the shot in the head part. It just wasn’t that funny to me anymore.
    Christopher was genuinely happy to see me looking so good after last night. He was even happier to see the pot roast. When a man’s hungry, it’s pretty hard to compete with a pot roast. While his