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“Mark said it’s because I’m stupid,” he added, tightening his hold on my hand. “He whispered it in my ear when I came back from the altar.”
“Mark’s the stupid one,” I growled, feeling cross. “You’re the smartest person I know. Like supersmart.”
“It’s when the words are on a page,” he said, releasing a frustrated breath. “I swear I can remember them just fine in my head. I could have said it no problem if I didn’t look down at the stupid page.”
“Gerard.”
“It makes no sense to me,” he hurried to add. “It doesn’t matter if I write it down or Mam writes it. Not one word on the page makes sense to me.”
“I can help you,” I offered. “I’m getting really good at reading my Tara and Ben reader at school.”
“Just stay.” He squeezed my hand. “That helps.”
“It does?”
Nodding stiffly, he took a step closer to the open grave and peeked in. “It’s deep.”
“Yeah, super deep,” I agreed, peering into the big hole in the ground alongside him.
“It’s dark.”
“Uh-huh.” I nodded eagerly. “Too dark.”
“She’s scared of the dark.”
“Bethany?”
“Yeah.”
“It’s okay, though, because your daddy is with her, so he’ll keep her safe.”
“What about me?” he whispered as a lone tear trickled down his cheek. “Who’ll keep me safe?”
“I will, silly,” I replied, releasing his hand so that I could give him a hug. “I’ll keep you safe, Gerard.”
His breath hitched and I knew that he was about to cry again. But he didn’t. Instead, he broke free from my hug, turned away from the big hole, and ran down the footpath away from the big crowd, ignoring his mammy and aunties who were calling his name.
He was faster than me.
He had longer legs.
But Gerard never ran away from me before.
It made me sad.
“Hey, Gerard!” I called out, huffing and puffing out big breaths as I raced after him. “Wait for me.”
“I’ll get him,” Hugh and Patrick both said, bolting past me like the fastest runners in Ireland.
My brother and his friends were seven. I was only five. It wasn’t fair that I couldn’t keep up with them.
A small hand slipped into mine and I turned around to see a pair of bright-blue eyes. “Hey.”
“Lizzie!” Smiling at the sight of my other best friend, I threw my arms around her and squeezed. “You came.”
“We all came.”
“Even Caoimhe?”
