Page 91 of On Merit Alone
I grumbled. But my dad just chuckled heartily. “Oh, yeah. Believe me, I saw! He’s definitely in trouble, too. You see how he was talking to her?”
“I know that’s right!” Mom agreed. I swear it was like I wasn’t even in the room. Well I wasn’t, but I was on the phone and that was good enough. “And you hear how sweet she sounded? She woke up just to be with him!”
“Guys!” I snapped. They both peeked over at me like I was interrupting them. “Can we please focus?”
“Who is she, son? Some celebrity or something? C’mon, you can tell your dad.”
“Oh my God. Three seconds and I’m calling Iris instead,” I said.
“Okay, okay,” Mom huffed. “No need to get your draws all tied up. What’s that you said, you need a recipe? Is she sick?”
“Sort of.”
“What’s wrong with her?”
“She had a bad day,” I said. Wincing, I shook my head remembering all that had come to light today. “Or a bad fourteen years.”
Mom nodded and said, “Alright. Let’s try to make her something good then.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Merit
I woketo the smell of some kind of food. I couldn’t quite place it or the heavy feeling that was overtaking my body and consequently my heart. I felt like I was moving in slow motion. Like a thick goo was encompassing my limbs and making it hard for me to do anything but just be.
Which is probably why when Ira appeared in front of me, crouching by the side of the couch, I didn’t put up much of a fuss. I didn’t have the energy to. I just blinked my eyes open to take in the form of him, appearing more like the angelic shape of a dream than reality.
“Ira?” I asked, remembering the way I’d asked for him a little earlier. Confused that he was still here in my apartment, his soft lips had soothed me into compliance and reassurance yet again, making me amenable to his demands. Now I knew he was here, since he’d told me so, but I was no less confused by the fact. Did he feel bad for me? I had hit him with a lot in the last week or so, I guess it was understandable.
“Morning sleepy,” he said as he cast a glance over me. Usingone of his big hands, he leaned forward and pushed some hair off the side of my face. “Are you hungry?”
Sniffing, I caught a whiff of more food-like smells and I shifted to lift up on an elbow, trying to get a glimpse. “Are you setting my kitchen on fire?”
His mouth curved into an amused tilt. “I’m not. I think your place might be my unicorn. I finally did something right.”
I sniffed the air again, raising up more so that I was sitting upright. “Not so fast there, fireman. I think that burnt aroma is the leveljustbefore fire.”
The mouth-tilt got wider. “She’s got jokes.”
“Denver is lucky you decided to play basketball instead of save lives,” I continued, liking the fact that I could still put a smile on his face.
I was rewarded handsomely this time with a laugh. Full and hearty and warm as he moved to cup my face again. His thumb caressing my cheek in a tender motion that made me shiver.
Quietly, he murmured. “Now why didn’t you show everyonethisMerit today, huh? I know I’m cool Six, but you can’t be saving all the jokes for me.”
I smiled weakly. “Sorry, I… don’t know what came over me. Hearing your answers next to mine, I just realized that… well, you know.”
Ira looked at me, his once smiling mouth pulling into a tight line.
“Merit?”
“Hmm?”
“I don’t want to hear another apology from your mouth, okay? You have nothing to apologize for. I should be the one apologizing to you,” he said.
“What?” I asked. The sluggish feeling that was still plaguing my body didn’t stop me from swinging my legs around the side of the couch to sit up completely. “Ira, no! You don’t have to?—”
“Shh, Mer. Just listen,” he said earnestly. “I’m sorry for the things I said. I didn’t know your situation, and it was wrong of me to judge your reactions on what I wanted you to be like. It was selfish. I had a vision in my mind of how you would respond, and I think anything apart from that would have made me upset, and that wasn’t fair to you or fair to your feelings about the situation.”
