Call It What You Want(88)

“Do they strike you as those kind of people?”

I remember what Rob said about Connor not answering when he really needed him. “No,” I admit. “They don’t.” I look across at Owen. “Not that it matters.”

He hesitates. I hesitate. We’re both the unlikely friends of Rob Lachlan, but that doesn’t make us friends. I feel like we’re different planets orbiting the same sun.

The thought adds another weight to the pile of guilt sitting on my shoulders.

Owen raises his eyebrows. “Want to come over and talk about it?”

I take a long breath. Dad probably wouldn’t like me going over to a strange boy’s house any more than he’d like me hanging out with Rob.

“Don’t worry about it,” says Owen, misinterpreting my silence. He begins to turn away.

“No.” I find my keys in my pocket. “Let’s go.”



Owen’s mother is sleeping because she worked the night shift, so we have to tiptoe into the house. I don’t know where I expected him to live, but I’m surprised that it’s clean and bright inside, though the kitchen appliances look old and the carpeting is worn thin in places. Owen offers me a diet soda from his refrigerator.

“It’s all we have,” he says. “Unless you want water.”

“This is great, thanks.”

We take seats at the kitchen table and stare at each other.

One of us needs to speak, so I take a sip and smooth a hand across the table. “Did you really tell him not to return the earrings?”

“Yeah,” he says. “I thought we could have done something better with the money.” He pauses. “It doesn’t seem fair that they have them and they don’t care, and it doesn’t seem fair that Rob got arrested for returning something they weren’t missing anyway.”

“Well.” I clear my throat. “Technically he was arrested for breaking and entering.”

“We had a good plan,” Owen says, and even in a low whisper, I can hear his passion. “We weren’t going to hurt anyone. We weren’t really stealing. We were just taking what people weren’t going to miss and giving it to people who needed it.”

“Owen.” A stern voice makes us both jump. “What did you just say?”

His mother stands in the kitchen doorway, in leggings and a T-shirt and a threadbare robe. Her face is clean-scrubbed and her hair is in a messy ponytail. “I’m waiting,” she says when Owen doesn’t say anything. Despite the pajamas, her stance is fierce. “What do you mean, you were taking what people weren’t going to miss?”

“Mom, it’s nothing—”

“Don’t you dare tell me it’s nothing.” Her eyes flick to me. “And who is this? Another friend?”

I scrape out of my chair. “Mrs. Goettler,” I say hurriedly. “I’m—I’m a friend of … um …”

“She’s Rob’s girlfriend,” says Owen, his voice resigned. “Mom—”

“Don’t you Mom me. I’m still waiting for you to explain what you’re talking about. Were you and Rob stealing? Is that why you were hanging out with him? Did he force you to help—”

“No. It’s not like that.” Owen puts up his hands, as if she needs to be placated. “It’s not a big deal.”

She comes farther into the kitchen. “You’d better start talking. Right now.”

I back away. “Maybe I should go.”

“No.” She points at the chair I just vacated. “Sit. I want an explanation.”

I sit.

Owen talks.

While he’s talking, I realize how little I knew about what Rob was doing. Through it all, I want to go back to the Rob Lachlan I first talked to about our math project. I want to shake him and say, No, don’t do this. Don’t get tangled up in this. You can’t make up for what your father did.

Owen’s mother listens as he spills it all out, and she’s better at that than my father. When he gets to the part about Lexi Miter’s credit card being used to buy shoes, her eyes grow wide and angry, which makes Owen duck his head, but he keeps talking.

At the end, her voice is deathly quiet. “And you think you were helping people?”

Owen straightens in his chair. “Well … yeah,” he says earnestly.

She takes a long breath, then looks at me. “Do you think they were helping people?”

“I don’t know,” I admit. “I mean, he’s right. No one was hurt. No one was missing those things.”

“Owen. I don’t even know what to say.”

“You were so mad about the guy who stole from us!” Owen explodes. “All I ever hear about is how hard you’ve had to struggle. How Rob Lachlan was the only one who got caught, how they’re all crooks.” He’s glaring at her. “I go to school with kids who have everything—and I don’t complain. You know I don’t complain. But it’s not fair that they get it all, and we get … we get this.” He gestures around the tiny kitchen.

She leans forward. “Owen,” she says evenly. “Just because we don’t have something doesn’t mean we take it.”

“But they don’t even need it!”