“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?”
My mother sighed. “I would like to meet her. But this is all a moot point. The thing is, Ari, I found out that I have a required training session at work that Saturday. We need you to be with Danielle.”
It was as if this information was something she’d thrown into the air between us and lit on fire. We stood there for a speechless few seconds, watching it burn.
“You just found this out.”
“Well, I found out on Friday. But I hadn’t been able to bring myself to tell you yet. I knew how much you were looking forward to the convention.”
“It’s more than a ‘looking forward to’ thing, Mom. They’re depending on me for the group cosplay. . . .”
“Sweetie,” she said in a decidedly unsweetened tone. It was a tone that welcomed no more comments. “We’ll talk about this tomorrow, okay? I need to eat and your sister is waiting for you.”
She turned to leave, then stopped halfway out the door, turned back around.
“You had Dani with you when you put the paint set back. Exactly when did this girl give it to you?”
For the record, I didn’t want to lie. I’d gotten this far without it. But when you’re in a corner, you’re in a corner.
“She knew I picked up Dani at camp,” I said after a second, “so she found me there to give it back.”
Mom looked at me for a long time, then slowly closed her eyes. She took a deep breath.
“God, I’m tired.”
And then she left the room.
At first I thought Dani was asleep when I stepped through her doorway, and I thought, lucky break. But I must have put my weight on the One Creaky Floorboard and her eyes fluttered opened.
“Ari?” she asked.
“It’s me.” I sat on her bed. “Did you give Mom the lanyard?”