What Happens Now(65)

I took a deep breath and turned away from the paints. Dani was watching me over her shoulder as Richard was putting some sticker sheets into a paper bag for her.

Here I was, right back on the track of the day. Back in the store, tasked with a few hours to keep Dani entertained. It was easy to feel like the hours at the lake, the messy intensity of it, had all been a dream I’d come up with while stuck at the counter, waiting for the front door to ding open.

Mom had said she’d be home at six thirty but it was past seven with no sign of her. Richard and I sat at the table, watching our tortellini get cold. Dani had already eaten and retreated to her room.

“This isn’t going to work,” I said. He knew I meant trying to eat together as a family.

“Traffic,” was all he could respond, then took a forkful of pasta. “It’s ridiculous for us to wait. I’m digging in.”

“Maybe from now on Dani and I should eat together, then you can wait and eat with Mom.”

Richard raised his eyebrows. “I can eat with Mom?”

“Why, don’t you want to eat dinner with your wife?”

He speared another tortellini, not meeting my glance. “Of course I do. I don’t know what I meant by that.”

I started eating, too. After a minute or two of silence, I finally paused and said, “Thanks for today.”

Richard smiled. “I’d say anytime, but I can’t, really.”

“I know.”

“I’m glad you had fun.”

I hadn’t said I’d had fun. But why wouldn’t he assume that? Who wouldn’t have fun on a perfect summer day with a boy she’s just realized she’s in love with? That would be me.

“I know the store got busy,” I said. “I hope you were okay.”

He shrugged. “It’s good that it got busy.”

We finished our pasta and I stood up, took Richard’s bowl to the sink for him.

“Let me know when it’s time to kiss Dani good night,” I said, then went to my room. That was when I heard Mom’s car drive up. I shut the door and put on earphones so I could listen to music instead of what happened next.

Later, there was a knock, and Mom poked her head in.

“Hi,” she said.

I took the earphones out. “How was your first day?”

She came all the way into the room and leaned against my doorframe.

“Hard. But good. Really good. I’m going to like it there.”

“Are you mad about dinner?”

She sighed. “No. I just didn’t expect that particular plan to fall apart so quickly.”

“Did you still get a chance to read to Dani?”

Mom nodded. “She wants you to go in and kiss her good night.”

I started to get up, but then Mom held up her hand. “Wait a minute. Richard’s in there with her now, and I need to talk to you about something.”

She closed the door, and I burned with a feeling of betrayal. Richard had told her. Richard had told her!

“What is it?” I asked casually, all my defense mechanisms kicking into gear.

“Dani says she saw you take something from your bag and put it on a shelf at the store.”

I froze. Dani? It was unlike Dani to be confused by something and not instantly ask me about it. Maybe it hadn’t struck her as strange until after the fact.

I forced a laugh. “Oh. Yeah.” I waved my hand and rolled my eyes.

“What’s the story there?”

I was about to make something up, like I was going to buy it for myself but changed my mind, but then remembered something my teacher told us in journalism class. All facts are friendly. Eliza had told me a story, and I would stick to that story.

“This girl Eliza stopped by the store today. She’s a friend of Camden’s. And mine, too, now. She’s Atticus Marr in the cosplay photos . . . Anyway, she told me she took this paint set off the shelf to buy, but then forgot to pay for it. So she gave it to me to put back until she can come in again.”

So okay, all facts may be friendly, but sometimes they sound too stupid to believe.

Mom put her thumb and forefinger on either side of her nose and squeezed. “Ari, I’ve had a long, stressful day and three hours in the car. Tell me your new friends are not stealing from the store.”

“They’re not stealing from the store.”

“But they tried.”

I burst into tears. It all came now, how angry I was at Eliza, how betrayed I felt. How Richard had given me this gift of a day and this was the thanks he got. “Just one. One of them tried.”

“This is the girl who’s arranging the trip to the convention? That MegaCon?”

“SuperCon. Yes, but . . .”

“You can see why I’m not comfortable with you going.”

I stood up. “You’re going to punish me for something she did?”

Mom looked stricken for a moment, then shook her head. “I’m not punishing you. But you want me to let you go on a road trip out of state to some convention with people like this?”

“Not people. Person! One person! Not Camden, not his friends Max or James. Kendall will be there. And Eliza may have her issues but she’s responsible. You’ve never even met her. Why don’t you meet her first?”