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She nodded. “Exactly. So, no, I’m not going to leave. I just like to have a backup plan because Finn, if he’d had a choice, would never have gone into the Five Points.
“What Jake chooses to do is down to him, and no one will influence his decision.”
“From one momma bear to another,” I said easily as I raised my mug for her to tap with her own, “I approve this message.”
We shared a smile.
Friendship took time, but we’d sowed the foundations of a relationship together.
And not just for Conor’s sake, either.
8
CONOR
LATER THAT DAY
Lyra was shy.
Beyond shy.
It was only then that I realized I wasn’t used to shy kids. Jake was rowdy, Seamus’ confidence was that of a politician in the making, and even Victoria was self-assured. As for Kat, she had the confidence of all three of them, but Lyra was more prone to hiding in corners with her nose buried in a book, a stone’s throw from Troy’s side, than stepping into the spotlight.
“I’ve tried,” Kat wailed, drawing my attention away from the little girl who wore noise-canceling headphones and was reading a paperback thicker than her waif-like frame.
Star huffed. “Kat, she’s my cousin. You can’t say ‘tried’ as if you can’t try again. Don’t you want her to feel comfortable with us?”
Katina pulled a face. “What if she doesn’t want to be comfortable with us? What if she wants to just read her book and I’m disturbing her? It’d be like me trying to yap at you when you’re coding. Don’t you get mad at me when I do that, huh?”
I hid my smile by pretending to rub my fingers above my upper lip.
Star, of course, noticed and glared at me. “That’s a dumb example, Katina, because you often interrupt me, and do I ever not answer one of the million questions you ask on a daily basis?”
Katina’s nose crinkled but she mumbled, “She doesn’t like me.”
“How do you know?”
“She takes ages to talk, and I have no idea if she’s being rude or just…” Her small pout spoke of her uncertainty with the situation. “I tried to get her to play Mario Kart with me, and last night, I heard her tell Troy that I was annoying and loud-mouthed.”
Star grimaced. “I’m sorry she said that, Kat. That was very rude of her.”
The little girl wriggled her shoulders. “I was being loud, and I figure I kept annoying her because she had to stop reading her book whenever I tried to talk to her.”
“How’s it feel to be right?”
Kat’s eyes widened. “I’m right?”
“Yup,” Star agreed with a shrug. “I was wrong for pushing you and I was wrong for not listening. Sorry, kiddo.”
She glanced at me. “You heard that, didn’t you, Conor? You’ll be my witness.”
“If it ever goes to court, Kat, you can count on me.”
Star shot me a look that had my smile twisting into a grin. “Nice to know whose side you’re on.”
“I’m on the side of right and wrong,” was my pious retort. “Payback’s a bitch,” I mock-whispered to her in retaliation for earlier.
“I’m on the side of right and wrong too, Conor!” Kat chirped, thankfully not hearing the second half of my declaration. “I’m going to play games now. If you’d like me to whoop your butt, then please feel free to play with me.”
