Page 62 of The Endowment Effect

“Let’s eat,” she said, with the energy of a girl her age. “Where are the bowls?”

“Hey, Mi,” Birdie said, softening her voice. “I’m heading out so you can spend some time with… Lucas.”

“You don’t have to go,” she whined, and then her eyebrows slammed together as she turned to Lucas. “Did you tell her she had to leave?”

“Mi,” Birdie said, regaining her attention. “This is my decision. The reason you’re staying is to get to know your… Dad. I’m going to give you time together to do just that.”

Mia appeared nervous, chewing on her thumbnail, those big brown eyes wrecking Birdie.

“So, is Angus coming?”

Birdie shook her head, also thinking their emotional support system, in the form of an irascible Scot, a good idea. “No, he’s getting us set up in our new place in Duxbury.”

Her fourteen-year-old digressed a few years with a petulant scowl. “I don’t see why we can’t find a place in Cambridge,” she said, plopping down on a stool at the kitchen counter and unwrapping a candy. “So I can stay in the same school as my friends.”

No way was Birdie going to tell her that the reason for leaving Cambridge was because she was broke, living off of Angus’s charity until she found a job. There was also paperwork she had signed, agreeing to leave Boston.

“We can talk about that later,” Birdie said, buying time. “For now, Lucas and I are going to give you the time together you asked for, so I suggest the two of you take advantage of it.” She eyed her daughter. “Just a couple days, Mi.”

“Right, I know, just a couple days. Thanks, Mom.”

Birdie hugged her around the middle, breathing in the smell of butterscotch and sunshine, and kissed her on the forehead. “Love you.”

“Love you back, Mom.”

Birdie grabbed her suitcase and rolled it toward the door and then remembered. “Mia, speaking of Angus, call him. He’s worried and will want to hear from you that you’re okay.”

Mia’s face fell. “I kinda… misplaced my phone and all I have is this one.” She plucked what looked to be a burner phone from her front pocket. How in the world did a girl her age know about untraceable burner phones? “Would you pick me up a new one tomorrow?”

With what? Her waning good looks and a smile? It had been a while since not having the funds to buy what was considered a necessity to a fourteen-year-old, who was constantly connected.

Birdie glanced at Lucas with a smirk. Payback.

“I’m sure that’s something your dad can take care of.”

Opening the door she yelled back, “Be sure to call Erma, Lukey, and work that Mayor-Magic.”

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