Page 39 of The Art of Us

“You seem calm right now.” He wanted to make her living situation seem okay since it was his fault she was in it.

“It’s easy to be calm right now. She’s not home.”

Just by her bringing it up, he felt the tension rise in Ireland. Time to shuffle the playlist. “So what are your plans after graduation?”

But if he’d thought that conversational direction would improve things, he was wrong.

“Moving, for starters.” She became more agitated and got up from the couch to wander the room. “I know most people have big plans after graduation. Mara’s going to Europe.” Ireland twisted her face and rolled her eyes to tell him what she thought of that. “Isn’t that just so one percent of her. Argh!” She threw her arms over her head as if protecting it from falling rocks. “If only Janice would have just minded her own business.”

Kal hated that she blamed Janice. The custodian was innocent. She hadn’t betrayed Ireland. He had. “What about college? You could go to college after you graduate. It’s what all the cool kids are doing.” He flashed her a grin but then wanted to kick himself. Could he be any more glib when she was having a crisis?

“Oh yeah. I should do that. ’Cause college is super affordable.”

“I could help you apply for scholarships.”

She was already shaking her head. “My grades have never been good. We moved around too much.”

By the time Jade came back into the room, Ireland had gone from happy to contemplative.

Mrs. Washington came home not too long after. She greeted them all, but before Kal had time to worry about whether it was okay that he’d come over, Mrs. Washington was asking where Mara was.

“She went to Emily’s.” Jade provided the needed information.

Mrs. Washington didn’t seem to love that answer but didn’t say anything more.

“I better get going,” Kal said finally. “We play Geppetto’s tonight.”

“Oh. Okay.” He and Ireland both stood. She walked with him to the door. Once they got there, he put his hand on the handle and twisted it open. “You can come with me if you want. I promise to get you home before eleven.”

Ireland looked back in the direction of the living room where they’d left Jade. “I should probably stay. We’ve almost got this game solved. I wouldn’t want her to think she wasn’t important enough to stick around for.”

He felt all the meanings in that statement. She’d been living on her own for who knew how long. “Are you going to be okay? I didn’t mean to make you feel sad.”

She nodded. “You didn’t. I’m fine. Or I will be. Just a lot going on. Sometimes I’m just so angry. I want to hit something but don’t know where to throw the punch.”

“You could go ahead and hit me.”

Ireland let out a small laugh. “You didn’t do anything to deserve it. But thanks for the offer. Thanks for everything.” She leaned over and hugged him. Then she kissed him, a light quicksweep of her lips on his before she pulled away, touched her fingers to her lips, and smiled. “Thanks for letting me do that. It’s way better than punching you.”

He smiled. “But the offer of you punching me is still on the table.”

“Can’t do it when you don’t deserve it.” She grinned and closed the door.

Except that everything she’d said proved that if she knew it was him who got her into her situation with Mara’s family, she would absolutely think he deserved it.

Chapter Thirteen

Ireland

Mara had come home from Emily’s to meet a very unhappy Grace. Grace didn’t yell at Mara in front of Ireland but instead took her to the back office, where she and Jarrod did work from home for the bakery cafés. Even still, the argument got loud enough for Ireland to hear from the living room. Ireland heard her name a few times and Jade’s name a few times. It was evident that mother and daughter were fighting because Grace was mad that Mara left when she was supposed to be watching Jade. And Mara was mad that Grace took in a stray—she was referring to Ireland—without consulting how Mara felt about the whole thing.

“Don’t let it bug you,” Jade said. “They do that a lot.”

Maybe they had fought before, but Ireland would bet every dollar she would ever earn in her life on the fact that they hadn’t ever fought overherbefore the last few days. She was a new element to whatever struggles they had between them.

If Mara had seemed frosty before, the fight with her mom had turned her into something glacial.

The following Monday, when Mara drove them to school, Ireland tried to start a conversation. It wasn’t like they could maintain total silence when they were living in the same house. But Mara just rolled her eyes and said, “Oh no you do not. Boundaries.”

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