Page 45 of The Art of Us

She hurried with her homework, getting it done quickly so that she could get dressed.

When she’d buttoned the last button, she brushed her hair off to the side and did a single braid that would lay over her left shoulder. Only then did she allow herself to look in the mirror. Her breath caught at her reflection. “I look like. . .” She frowned as she tried to put into words what it was she saw. “Like I belong.”

She wanted to knock on Mara’s door to thank her now more than ever. The fairy-godmother-gift Mara had given was a night of normalcy.

As her eyes felt glued to her reflection in the mirror, she thought of the mural and what she’d written to the mystery lipstick artist. She hoped when that person stared in the mirror, she could feel like this—like she belonged.

When Ireland went downstairs to wait for Kal to show up, Mara was in the living room wearing yoga pants and a bulky sweatshirt. Her hair was up in a sloppy ponytail and she’d washed off all of her makeup, so her face was clean and fresh. It was like Mara and Ireland had swapped places with each other in someFreaky Fridaykind of moment. They inspected each other for a long moment, with Mara finally giving a nod of approval and Ireland saying a soft “Thank you” before the doorbell chimed and Ireland broke eye contact so she could answer it.

Kal let out a small puff of air as if looking at her knocked the wind out of him. “You look amazing.”

“Thanks. You do too.” He wore a black, long-sleeved shirt with a black jacket and jeans. The whole look came together like he was about to be in an ad for guy’s cologne. Grace met them there at the door to greet Kal and to verify that he would get Ireland home early since it was a school night. When Grace asked where they were going, Kal answered, “Humboldt Observatory. It’sclear out, and it’s ‘observe the moon’ night. There’s an activity there that’s open to the public.”

“How sweet is that?” Grace asked “Well, you two have fun. Have her home early.”

Kal agreed again that he would and led Ireland to the car.

“How did you even hear about something like this?” she asked once they were driving up Fickle Hill Road.

“My grandparents were both members of the Humboldt Astronomy Society. Whenever we visited my grandparents before moving here, they would take us to the observatory. One time, we even managed to see the northern lights.”

“That’s cool. I didn’t know you could see those in California.” The forest swooshed past Ireland’s window.

“It’s rare, and it doesn’t look like you would think. At least it didn’t when I saw it. It was a bright red, like the sky was on fire.”

“Okay, that sounds terrifying, actually.”

Kal laughed. “Not at all. Just cool. Ten times awesome.”

When they arrived and were out of the car, Kal held out his hand to Ireland. She would never get tired of holding his hand. Never in her whole life.

“It looks abandoned,” Ireland said softly. She couldn’t help it. She tucked herself into Kal just enough to feel the warmth of his energy next to her. Most parking lots had lights to help people be safe while getting to and from their cars, but this parking lot was entirely dark.

Kal explained that the lack of lights on the outside of the building had everything to do with the light pollution interfering with proper observation of the heavenly skies.

“So why the observatory?” Ireland asked.

“I wanted to give you the stars tonight,” Kal answered.

That statement qualified as next-level, heart-stutteringly adorable. Kal had been right about the facility being open to the public. There were several other people there using theequipment. Kal and Ireland waited their turn to view through the telescope. As they did, she overheard a couple of people using the termearthshine.

“What’s earthshine?” Ireland whispered to Kal.

“See the crescent moon there?” He pointed up through the opening without looking into the telescope. “It’s the sunlight reflected by the earth that lights up the dark part of the moon. See how you can kinda see the image of the full moon along with the crescent moon? That’s earthshine. It only happens a few times a year, which is why the society gathered tonight.”

Ireland gazed into the nighttime sky that was visible through the telescope and hugged her arms to her. The observatory was cold thanks to the crisp, clear night, which meant that even the sweater and the jacket she wore weren’t enough to keep her warm. It might not have been a great idea to wear a skirt.. But she wouldn’t have missed the earthshine for anything. Cold legs were a small price to pay.

“I like that word. Earthshine.”

“Yeah. My grandparents did too. I think I remember my grandpa telling me that Leonardo da Vinci came up with the idea of earthshine.”

Ireland nudged Kal with her shoulder. “Wow. Impressive that Leonardo da Vinci created the idea of the earth, the moon, and the sun. I kinda thought they were here before he was.”

He nudged her back. “You know what I mean.” She could hear the grin in his voice.

He put his eye to the telescope, and Ireland watched him watch the universe. The jacket he wore accentuated his broad shoulders. She’d never considered herself the kind of girl who noticed things like shoulders, but she’d discovered that once she’d started cataloging Kal’s features and found so much to approve of, she could consider looking at him a worthwhilehobby. Her own time at the telescope wasn’t nearly as satisfying as looking at him.

After they were back out in the parking lot and heading to the car, Ireland looked at the sky. Even without the telescope, the earthshine on the moon was easy to see. Kal’s hand enveloped her own in warm safety. “I’ve looked at the sky millions of times, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen it before tonight. Thank you.”

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