Page 22 of Ignite

Liz rolled her eyes and dropped the charming facade for a moment. “Yeah, I did. It’s revolting, though. Who else but him eats a slice of sharp cheddar on their apple pie?”

Jazz held back her “I do,” but she heard it anyway. All eyes centered on Wolf, who had spoken.

Hugo blinked behind his glasses. “You do that too? I thought Dad and Jazz were the only weirdos.”

Jazz turned red at her brother’s comment. “Hugo!”

Wolf wasn’t fazed. “It’s actually pretty common, especially among people of English descent. My mom always served it that way.”

Delores raised her eyebrows. “She lives here in Pittsburgh?”

He shook his head as he raised a forkful of green beans. “No. She died some years ago and is buried up in Maine, where she was from. My father died about a year after she did.”

“I’m sorry for your loss,” Jazz whispered lightly.

Wolf looked at her warmly. “It was a long time ago, but thanks, babe.”

Babe, baby, gah!Jazz’s insides melted every time she heard an endearment from him.It’s not going to last. It’s only for today.

“I think it’s gross,” Ian yelled from the kitchen.

Jazz’s liquid heat froze instantly. “Quit being rude. It’s okay for people to like different things.”

Wolf let out a huge laugh. “Don’t worry about it, Jazz. The kid is entitled to his opinions.”

Liz, however, took her opportunity. “Can’t get much different than Jazzy. Always has her head in the clouds or on the computer. Right, Mom?”

Delores picked up the familiar topic and expanded as she assumed a dramatic air. “Oh my gawd, all those science fiction space books she read as a kid. If I heard another word about Martians or spaceships that talk, I’d lose my mind. She’s always dreamin’ of some weird fantasy world and makin’ up stories. She even tried to build a rocket thing so she could send messages to all the aliens. All she did was make a big mess and nearly burned the house down when she tried to light it. Got that idea from a book, I bet.”

Jazz closed her eyes as one of her childhood’s most embarrassing moments was revealed in front of Wolf. That was a major sore spot between her and her mother, as the woman constantly brought them up to company and whoever would listen. She hoped it would stop there, but Liz, in her true form, added to the mix.

“Yeah, I remember her begging for a library card so she got all her books for free. Stacks of them. You’d think with all that reading she did in college, she’d be doing something big like NASA or something instead of playing on her computer and pouring coffee.”

Delores heaved a martyred sigh. “Four years wasted. All that money she borrowed. It’s a shame. Thank gawd we didn’t pay for any of that. No, after my kids turned eighteen, they were on their own.”

Jazz cleared her throat. This was another sore spot. It didn’t matter that she paid off those school loans within four years instead of twenty. That success would never be acknowledged. Neither of her siblings went to college, let alone graduated with honors. Hugo found his place in the world and moved out a year ago to his group home. He loved his job and was good at it. Their mom hated it, but she couldn’t stop him. Liz moved in and out with regularity and had never had a job that paid enough to support her or her kids. Jazz was the only one of the three who truly stood on her own two feet. But that never seemed to matter, as her mother and sister apparently had this constant need to put her down. Soon her hair would be brought up, then her state of singlehood, then her age and her clothes, then?—

“Libraries are one of the coolest places for a kid. I used to hang there all the time.” Wolf’s deep voice held a note of admonishment and matter-of-factness. “I liked early sci-fi myself. Jules Verne is a classic. H.G. Wells is another. My favorites are Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov, and Frank Herbert.”

Jazz’s eyes popped open and darted to the man sitting next to her. He put food in his mouth, chewed, and swallowed at a slow and steady pace. Hugo also kept his head down and continued eating. His way of dealing with Delores and Liz was to ignore them or pretend he didn’t understand them until they ran out of steam. Then he’d leave and go back to his room in the community home he’d chosen. Some people with Down’s were nonverbal and had a lot of comprehension trouble, but Hugo understood more than people gave him credit for. Jazz noticed the smirk on his face.

Wolf took a sip from his water glass and set it back done. “I’m guessing the first book your mom mentioned isThe Martian Chronicles. What’s the other one?”

“The Ship Who Sangby Anne McCaffrey.”

“I’m not familiar with that one. You’ll have to tell me about it sometime.” He kept eating and talking between bites. “As far as college, I don’t think education in any form is a waste. I never got to finish my degree, but I still value my time at the university.”

Wolf went to college? Why didn’t I know that?“What did you study?”

“I debated between mechanical engineering and biomedical engineering.” He smiled and met Jazz’s wide eyes. “I wanted to design and build surgical robots before I went into the military.”

Hugo couldn’t stand it anymore. He let out a whooping laugh and pointed at his sister. “Did you hear that, Jazz? He’s a big nerd just like you!”

“That’s… that’s amazing and really cool. Why did you stop going to school?”

His expression darkened a bit, but the smile stayed on his face. “Another time, babe.”

Delores huffed. “Robots, libraries, books, whatever. It’s all a bunch of hooey unless it puts money in the bank. College? Useless in my opinion.”

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