Page 70 of The Art of Us

Ireland

Ireland rested her head against the car’s seat and closed her eyes as they pulled away from the correctional facility. She hadn’t known what to expect, but the nondescript, boxy building had been a little underwhelming.

And overwhelming.

All at the same time.

“You okay?” Jarrod asked.

She didn’t open her eyes. “Sure. Ten degrees of fabulous.”

What had she expected? Did she expect that her dad would tell her how sorry he was for everything and that he had plans to make a real go of being a family as soon as he got out? Hehadsaid sorry. But she didn’t think he was sorry as much as he was bored. Yanking on her heartstrings was a convenient way to find entertainment. Beyond wanting to have someone to keep him busy for a short while, he actually did want to borrow money.

She’d informed him that she would not be coming back to visit once she realized that he was conning her. The decision, once made, was easy to stick to, no matter how many different ways he tried to manipulate her into changing her mind. She wished him well. Told him she wanted nothing for him but peace, light, and love—a phrase she’d heard when the gym teacher had them do yoga at the beginning of class for a few weeks.

Ireland told her dad not to call because she didn’t have the money to pay. She said he could email and she might write back, but that was all he could expect. She didn’t give him a mailingaddress because she didn’t want him knowing where she was living.

Now that she was back in the car heading home, she felt exhausted.

“We should get you signed up for driving lessons,” Jarrod said. He liked to chitchat while he did things like driving.

“That’s expensive,” Ireland said, still not opening her eyes.

“Not expensive at all. Not compared to not having a license. You’ll need to drive. It’s an important skill.”

Ireland found it difficult to not compare the man next to her driving the car to the man she’d just left at the correctional facility. The man at the facility wanted to take from her. The man next to her wanted to give. It made her sad that Jarrod had been a better father to her in the short period of time that she had lived in his house than her real father had been to her in eighteen years’ worth of life.

She was sad but also grateful. Because shedidhave Jarrod and Grace and Jade and Mara. Maybe they weren’t her forever family to keep, but they were letting her borrow them for a while. Family on loan was better than no family at all.

“Okay. I agree with you about needing to know how to drive. But I’ll pay for the lessons. I’ll work them off with more hours at the restaurant or chores around the house.”

Jarrod didn’t argue. But that didn’t mean he wouldn’t argue later on. He liked to do things for people.

At the house, Mara was waiting for Ireland. She greeted her with a hug. Jade squeezed into the embrace too. Jarrod smiled approvingly at his daughters and then went to start making dinner. “So? How did it go?” Mara asked.

“About like one would expect from a guy in jail for grifting some lady in a love con.”

“So what that means is you had to send him a wire transferfor your entire life savings? But it’s okay because you really love him.”

Ireland laughed. Just when she wasn’t sure laughing was something she could ever do again.

“So I need you to hear me out,” Mara said.

“That doesn’t sound ominous at all.”

Jade nodded her head like Ireland should tread carefully. “Every time she says that to me, I end up having to do her dishes.”

“This isn’t anything like that. In fact, it’s better than that because there are no dishes involved for anybody, including me. Tomorrow is your birthday, right?”

“Right.” Funny that Ireland could forget something like that. Tomorrow she would be a legal adult.

Her dad hadn’t even mentioned it. Granted, she had forgotten as well, so how could she expect him to remember?

“I say we celebrate in style. We’ll go to dinner and have some entertainment and party like rock stars. I’m buying.”

A birthday party. Ireland had never had a birthday party before. Her dad would sometimes buy her a donut to celebrate, and once he’d even put a candle in it, but there hadn’t been any matches, so she’d had to pretend to blow the candle out.

“I love birthdays!” Jade said. “Am I invited to the party?”

---