True Places(97)

She knocked lightly on Iris’s door, then went in without waiting for an answer. Iris was sitting on the floor with her back against the bed and her knees pulled to her chest. She looked weird, like always, and also incredibly sad.

Brynn sat on the edge of the bed. “Hey, Iris. I wanted you to know I’m sorry about the party, about the whole thing with Sam.” She paused, waiting for Iris to say it was okay, then figured she had to go further. “It wasn’t very nice of me.”

Iris gave her a quick look and went back to staring at the floor. “It doesn’t matter.”

Brynn ran her fingers through the ends of her hair. That wasn’t exactly the response she’d expected. Having had so little practice, she wasn’t very good at apologies. She did honestly feel bad about it. Iris hadn’t done anything to deserve it other than moving in with them. Brynn rubbed her itchy eyes. Getting suspended, her mom running away, her dad being a wimp—it all added up to mega-stress, and she hadn’t been sleeping.

She scooted up to the head of the bed and lay down. “I’m so tired, Iris. Aren’t you?”

“Yes.”

Brynn patted the spot beside her. Iris twisted around and looked at her with bloodshot eyes.

“It’s okay,” Brynn said. “I won’t bite.”

Iris climbed onto the bed and lay down facing the other way. Her hair looked like squirrels had been chasing each other through it. Brynn began untangling it with her fingers. She yawned and Iris did, too.

“One day, Iris, when you feel up to it, you’ll have to tell me about your brother.” As Brynn smoothed Iris’s hair, the girl nodded. “I’d like to hear about him. One thing I already know, though, is that he couldn’t possibly have been as big a freak as mine.”

Brynn couldn’t see, but she would’ve bet Iris had smiled, if only a little.





CHAPTER 43

During midmorning break at school, Reid got a text from his dad saying his mom and Iris were on their way home. Isn’t that great? his dad wrote.

“Fantastic,” Reid muttered.

Alex was sitting next to him, eating a banana, and overheard. “Your blowup doll back from the shop?”

Normally he’d give some smart-ass retort, but nothing was normal anymore. “My mom’s coming home.”

“That’s good, right?”

Reid nodded and slid the message up and down on the screen with his thumb. If it was good news, then why did he feel so pissed off? He’d been annoyed and off-kilter since his mom left, getting more wound up as each day went by, wound up so tight he couldn’t meditate, which made him stress out more. He was mad at his mom for leaving and at his dad for being the idiot who could’ve avoided the dumpster fire with Brynn and Robby. Sure, he felt sorry for his dad when he was crying his eyes out. Who wouldn’t? But Reid didn’t see how things were going to get better unless his parents got real.

What were the chances of that?

Reid couldn’t decide how to respond to his father’s text, so he didn’t. He got up, tossed the wrapper from his energy bar into the trash, and called to Alex over his shoulder as he headed off. “See you later, okay?” Alex would think about following him to ask what was wrong, but would decide against it, which was one of the reasons Alex was his best friend.

After school, Reid walked home at twice his usual pace, trying to burn off some anger, and practically ran up the walkway to the front door. He pushed it open and went straight upstairs even though he was hungry. If his mother wanted to talk to him, she could find him. He closed himself in his room, tossed his backpack on the floor, and spread-eagled on the bed. What now? It was Friday, so no need to think about homework. He didn’t feel like reading, knowing he wouldn’t be able to concentrate. He should have gone to Alex’s and avoided the whole situation. His neck was stiff, and a headache was starting at his temples. What he needed to do was relax. He jumped up and riffled through the pile of clothes on the floor of the closet, remembering Whitney had given him a joint yesterday and he’d stashed it in his sweatshirt. Whitney. The girl definitely wanted to hook up. If things weren’t such a mess, he’d be up for that, but not now. Girls never made anything simpler.

A knock on the door. “Reid? It’s Mom.”

Like he might have forgotten her voice. “Yeah.”

“Can I come in?”

He found the joint and pocketed it. “Yeah.”

She walked in and moved toward him like she wanted to hug him, but he had his hands crammed in his pockets, so she just stood there and smiled. “How are you doing?”

He shrugged.

She perched on the bed and started to tell him everything she and Iris had found out, as if he had been throwing questions at her. He was curious about Iris’s family and her house, so he let his mother talk.

“Detective DeCelle is coming by this evening. He should be able to give us an idea of how hard it will be find Iris’s father.”

Reid finally spoke. “And she wants to find him?”

His mother frowned. “Well, I’m not sure she knows. She’s pretty devastated.”

“He did disappear for six years, then came back to say he’d messed up everything.”

She looked at him more closely. “Are you sure you’re all right, Reid? You seem—”