Page 73 of The Art of Us

While they were eating the lemon raspberry confection perfection that was Ireland’s birthday cake, Mara left the table and brought in a box with a big bow on it.

“But you’ve already done so much.” Ireland would not let herself start ugly sobbing again. She’d just stopped, for crying out loud!

“Open it!” Jade insisted.

Ireland pulled off the bow and took off the lid so she could peer inside the box. Clothing. Brand-new with tags clothing. The only new item of clothing Ireland had ever owned was a free T-shirt a bank was giving away at the grocery store to try to get people to open accounts.

In the box, there were a new pair of jeans, a tee printed with a giraffe that was wearing sunglasses, a patchwork sweater inshades of blue and green, and two pairs of shoes—one flat and casual and the other heels. “This is so much. I don’t know what to say! Thank you.”

“That’s not all!” Jade said.

Jarrod brought out one more box from under the table. “This is a special one,” he said.

It was overwhelming to have received so much all at once, but Ireland eagerly opened the new box and gasped.

She reached out a hand to touch the delicate, sky-blue, lacy fabric before pulling the dress from the box. Ireland stood and held it up to her. The midi-length dress had a swing skirt that made Ireland want to rock back and forth just to see it swish. “It’s beautiful! Thank you!”

“We wanted to stick to shades of blue to match your incredible eyes,” Grace said with a smile, clearly pleased with her choices and with Ireland’s reactions to the presents.

From there, the day was filled with a casual hanging-out vibe. Jarrod had to run into one of the bakeries because someone was sick, but other than that, it was chill.

Ireland’s insides, on the other hand, felt anything but chill.

When it came time to get ready to go to Geppetto’s, Mara insisted Ireland wear the blue dress, even though it was far too bougie for a pizza place.

Mara did Ireland’s hair, but Ireland put her foot down when it came to the makeup. She wasn’t really a makeup kind of person.

Then they were off.

“And you promise I can leave anytime I want to?” Ireland asked.

“Of course. You’re not a prisoner. This is going to be fun. It’s pizza. And music. And looking at a seriously beautiful boy singing from a stage. What can be bad about that?”

“Only that I’m in a fight with that same beautiful boy.”

Mara pulled into the parking lot. “What does that even mean?In a fight? It’s not like the two of you are actively boxing. Why don’t they ever call it ‘in a silence’?”

“You are so weird.” Ireland took a deep breath, smoothed her hands over the uneven hem of the dress, and said, “Let’s get this over with.”

Mara laughed. “Should I have my feelings hurt that you sound so fatalistic right now?”

They went into Geppetto’s. Kal’s band was already in the middle of a song. It was one of the ones that Asha had written—fun and punchy. The crowd was loving it.

As soon as Ireland entered, Kal’s eyes were on her. He skipped a few words in the song, then picked things up again.

Kal never looked away from her, maintaining eye contact the entire time. When the song was over, Kal gripped the microphone and said into it, “Thank you all for being with us tonight. It’s kind of a special day. It’s a very special birthday for somebody who’s pretty amazing.”

People followed his eyeline to Ireland, and there were a few catcalls andwoo-hoos from the audience. Mara scooted Ireland to the table in the center front of the restaurant. Kal’s eyes stayed on her. She wanted to adjust her clothing or her hair.

He smiled, but it was a sad smile. “So I’m going to tell a little story. I hope you’ll all bear with me. I had a friend a while back, and we drifted apart. She fell into a bad crowd who made bad choices, and I wasn’t there to help her. And then Icouldn’thelp her because it was too late. Those choices took her life. I told myself I would never stand by and not do something to help when I was able to ever again. It seemed like an easy promise to make to myself.

“But then, in the name of doing the right thing, I broke a promise to someone else and ended up breaking the something special that I had with that someone. I never meant to hurt her. And I’d do anything to fix it. So this song is for her.”

There were a few more catcalls, but then the crowd quieted along with the gentle strum on the guitar.

Kal began to sing.

Through the worst day’s howling winds

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