Page 33 of From the Ashes

“Uh-oh,” Yara says under her breath, hugging me tighter. I try not to let any emotion show on my face, but my throat does thicken somewhat. ‘Uh-oh’ is certainly the right sentiment.

“What did I do right?” Anton asks, sauntering over with Sawyer. They’re sharing a bag of pretzels Sawyer’s holding, and as Anton reaches for a handful, their fingers brush. I wonder if anyone else spots the way Sawyer’s eyes widen, just for a second. It’s probably nothing more than him being mad at his best friend stealing his snacks, but still…I wonder.

“You were right that Del and Colt were busy when we left the beach yesterday, Daddy,” Rebecca says helpfully. Her tone is innocent, but I feel several pairs of eyes swiveling my way as the grown-ups read more into her words than I’d like them to.

“Busy, huh?” Teddy asks, swinging a chair around and sitting backward on it.

“Can it, Probie,” Lili says, coming up behind our youngest member and massaging his shoulders. “You have to earn your right to give anyone a hard time around here.” She arches an eyebrow at me. “So…busy, huh?”

“Guys,” Lieutenant Flores says in a warning tone from the kitchen. “Maybe Zahir doesn’t want to be grilled by half a dozen people at once about him and his friend.”

I shake my head, my spirits too low to really care anymore. “I don’t think we’re even friends after yesterday,” I say, trying and failing to keep the bitterness out of my voice.

Yara stiffens beside me. “I’ll unalive him,” she growls.

Rebecca giggles. “I know that means you want to murder him,” she says precociously. “But you don’treallymean murder, because that’s a crime.”

Yara winks at her. “You got me kid.”

“Why do you want to unalive your best friend?” Lochlan asks, coming in late to the conversation. Then he glances at his own meddling best friend, Lili, who gives him a devilish smirk back. “Never mind, dumb question.”

“No one is unaliving anyone,” I say heavily. “It was my fault. I made a mistake. I’m simply sad about it, but I’ll recover.”

“Or you could apologize,” Mrs. Bloom says, looking at me like she’s the principal and I’m a naughty schoolboy.

I squirm in my seat. “I don’t think he wants me to do that. I think the friendship is over…again.”

She scoffs. “It doesn’t matter. If you are in the wrong, it is your responsibility to make amends. Otherwise, your karma will be out of balance, and it will catch up to you in other ways.”

Her ominous words hang in the air for a moment before Yara huffs and tugs on my arm so I look at her. “Is whatever happened actually your fault or are you just letting him get away with more bull-poop again?”

“I…it’s complicated,” I admit. “But I do think that I was…unfair to him when he came over to my place. Made some assumptions I shouldn’t have and confused him about where our…friendship stands.”

Rebecca’s narrowing her eyes at me like she’s trying to break the enigma code, but everyone else seems to be following what I’m saying.

“Are you saying you, um, did a crossword together?” Yara asks, waggling her eyebrows like I can’t decipher her meaning.

“What’s a crossword?” Rebecca asks.

“A game people used to play before they had cellphones,” Anton tells her before also narrowing his eyes at me. “Are you worried the crossword spoiled your friendship?”

I shake my head. “I know it did. But I don’t think that matters. Being friends is probably a bad idea after everything that’s happened.”

“How does Colt feel about the crossword?” the lieutenant asks from where he’s making a large salad in the kitchen. Clearly, my disastrous love life is so interesting, even being several feet away isn’t stopping him from getting involved in the conversation.

“He left right after we finished…the crossword…so I don’t know,” I admit.

“I know you guys aren’t really talking about crosswords,” Rebecca mutters as she doodles flowers on her book report.

“How was he when he left?” Yara asks.

‘Please forgive me.’

“I think he regretted doing the crossword,” I say, tracing my finger along a line in the table’s woodgrain.

“You think or you know?” Mrs. Bloom demands. “Because it sounds to me that a lot of emotions are involved and you’re making assumptions. You know what they say about people who assume.”

“No?” Rebecca pipes up, interested.

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