Free Jaden Baker by Courtney Kirchoff Page A

other.
    “Okay!” Derek said. “Thanks for coming over.”
    The three of them backed out of the doorway and Derek shut the door, turning to his wife. “Better dearest?”
    “Yes. Don’t you feel better Jaden?”
    “Oh yes, so much better,” he said with the biggest fake smile he could muster. He blinked at her and she grinned, ruffling his hair affectionately.
    “All right smarty pants, go get in the car.”
    The journey to the bookstore was spent discussing what everyone liked to read, and then Jenny and Derek reminisced about the books they read and enjoyed when they were Jaden’s age. He didn’t have the heart to tell them he preferred different sorts of books. Instead he went along, eager to keep the conversation on something other than him.
    But Jaden had a feeling that as soon as both Derek and Jenny had gone upstairs to their bedroom to prepare for the outing, they talked about what had happened at the breakfast table. He imagined Jenny flailing her arms and Derek’s eyes popping so wide they might roll out of his head, bouncing on the floor. Their conversation about books was a distraction, and Jaden tried thinking of a planned response when the inevitable questions would come.
    He expected the Kauffmans to be big bookstore patrons, but they parked in front of a building that reminded him of a vet’s office, perhaps because it was across the street from a pet store. Jaden hopped out of the car and waited for a silver suburban to pass before running through the lot. Jenny and Derek came into the store after, holding hands.
    Jaden picked up a basket and headed to the young adult section, picking up a few books, reading the backs, and putting them in his basket. The Kauffmans joined him but gave him plenty of space, and examined their own favorites.
    A tall and burly man was talking on a cell phone around the corner. Jaden knew this wasn’t a library, but he thought the same rules should apply. He glanced at the man and the man glanced back, nodding and waving a little as he did so, then moved away, speaking softer into his phone.
    Jenny rifled through Jaden’s selection, nodding her approval, then added a few of her own to his stash. “You know, us getting you books is not rewarding you for what you did last night,” she said. By the way she said it, Jaden knew it had concerned her all morning. “With Derek going back to work next week and me needing to work myself, you’ll have a lot of free time on your hands. That’s why the books. We’ll get you a library card for our county on the way home as well.”
    After getting a library card, the Kauffmans headed home. It was silent in the car. Jaden was already on the second chapter of one of his new books. He didn’t notice the talking adults in the front seats. Only when Derek called him by name did he take interest.
    “What?” he asked.
    “We wanted to talk about what happened this morning, kiddo,” Derek said, putting extra emphasis on the moniker.
    Jaden’s fingers turned to ice, and the book slipped from his hands. This morning. Oh crap. How was he going to wiggle out of this one. Trick of the light? He was learning magic? He spiked their juice with LSD? They were insane?
    Jenny faced him. “The napkin tray, remember?”
    Kinda hard to forget, thanks. Think of something quick.
    “Napkin tray?” Jaden asked in what he hoped was an innocent and clueless tone. Though he tried thinking of an explanation earlier, he hadn’t been able to come up with anything better than “I’m an alien” or some variation. The books distracted him, dulled his focus. Now he wondered if that was their plan of attack, to throw him off.
    “You remember. How it slid to you. By itself.”
    Crap. Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap. CRAP!
    “Oh that,” Jaden said. His hands were no longer icy but slippery with sweat, just like the rest of him.
    “Has that ever happened before?” Derek asked, eyeing him through the rearview mirror.
    Lie. Lie, lie,