Page 54 of From Nowhere

“I haven’t done anything to feel guilty about. Am I not allowed to have acquaintances?”

He chuckles while I hand him the dirty dishes. “Some days, Tia resents the air you breathe. So anything more than that feels extravagant to her. She just misses Brynn.”

“Well, I miss her too. But I don’t know what more I can say or do. I don’t know what level of misery I must endure to satisfy Tia’s need to see me suffer.”

“What are you two talking about?” Tia asks as she and Lola haul more dishes into the kitchen.

“I was just asking Ozzy if he’s recently had his prostate checked. But now that I think about it, he’s still young.”

Tia frowns, sizing up her lying husband.

“Dad, I need help with homework,” Lola says.

“You two go do that. Tia and I will clean this up.” Amos shoos us toward the stairs.

“Lola, we have to leave for school in ten minutes. Why didn’t you mention your homework last night?” I ask.

When we reach the basement, I follow Lola to her bedroom. She pivots at the door and lowers her voice. “I don’t have homework.”

She’s ten.

I think it a lot, but this girl is too astute and clever to be only ten. Brynn would be proud of her. She always knew Lola was intelligent beyond her years.

“You know this will come back to haunt you when you try the homework excuse on me in the future,” I say.

“I do need you to sign the permission form for track-and-field day. So it’s not a whole lie. It’s not technically homework, so it’s half a lie. See how good I am at math?”

I grab her head and kiss the top of it. “Get the form, and let’s go.”

“Can we get ice cream from Swirls on the way to Maren’s after school?”

I stop at my bedroom door. “Swirls isn’t on our way. You need to work on geography.”

“Remember, asking too many personal questions is not polite.” I do a final prep with Lola after school when we’re a block from Maren’s house.

“You mean it’s not polite to embarrass you?”

Yes.

“No. That’s not what I mean, but that’s a good rule too.”

“I hope Bandit likes me.”

“I hope so, too, but cats can be finicky.”

The driveway is full of vehicles when we arrive. I’m meeting her roommates with my daughter. Fantastic.

What could go wrong?

Maren steps outside in an oversize gray T-shirt and white leggings, hair pulled into a ponytail. “Hey!”

We park our bikes on the walkway, just past the vehicles, and remove our helmets.

“Where’s Bandit?” Lola asks.

“Let’s start with hello.” I stand behind Lola, resting my hands on her shoulders.

“Hello. Where’s Bandit?”

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