Page 28 of Give Me a Reason

“No. Something came up.” There was no way I was talking to her about the situation.

“Who will watch me?”

“I can stay home, or we can call Aunt Ireland.”

Paisley bounced in her seat. “Yes, call Aunt Ireland.”

I wasn’t sure she’d be home. We went inside, and Paisley hung up her book bag and went to play with her toys.

With shaky hands, I called Ireland.

“Hey, how’s my favorite niece?” Ireland asked by way of greeting.

“She’s your only niece,” I said dryly.

“What’s going on? Aren’t you playing at Max’s tonight?”

I ran a hand through my hair again. “I was supposed to, but Aria called out.”

“Oh. That’s not like her. Did something happen?” Ireland asked, concern seeping into her voice.

“Her apartment was broken into.” My stomach knotted.

Ireland sucked in a breath. “Is she okay?”

“I think so.” Although we hadn’t gotten that far in the conversation. “She’s talking to the police. I think she’s going to be tied up for a while.”

“What do you need from me?”

Appreciation for my sister filled me. When my parents were too tied up in their own troubles, we always had each other. “Do you know where she lives?”

Ireland fell silent for a few seconds. “Actually, I don’t. We’ve never hung out there, and come to think of it, she never talks about her place. I didn’t think it was weird before now.”

“Could you get the address from Gia? Tell her what’s going on and that we’d like to help her.”

“Are you planning on going there?” I could hear the concern in her voice.

“I feel like we should do something.” I felt helpless. That was the tightening sensation in my chest.

“I’ll call Gia and see what I can find out,” Ireland said.

“Thank you,” I said as she hung up.

“I’m hungry,” Paisley said, so I pulled out a frozen pizza and turned on the oven. I didn’t have the bandwidth to make a healthy dinner tonight. Then I called Max and said I wouldn’t be in. He was understanding when it came to issues with Paisley, which I appreciated. My daughter always came first.

I was on edge until Ireland called back a few minutes later. “I’m texting you the address.”

“Gia didn’t mind?”

“Oh, she had questions, but she’s just as concerned as we are. Finn?”

“Yeah?”

“She doesn’t live in a good area. I had no idea.”

I pulled the phone away from my ear so I could read the unfamiliar address. I googled it quickly while Ireland waited. “Why does she live there?”

“I have no idea. She doesn’t talk much about her past.” Ireland sounded a little frustrated, as if she wished she’d asked more questions. I did too. But to be fair, we didn’t know each other that well. I’d made some assumptions, and I was obviously wrong. If she was struggling, she hid it well.

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