Ray finished the dishes from dinner, hung up the towel, sat down across from her. He waited. That was the other thing he'd learned. You couldn't pull things out of Mia. You had to make room and let her decide when to put them there.
She looked up after a while. Practice was good, she said. Coach Burch is good. I kept up fine, but Ry said. Maya looked at her tea.
There are people in that school who have decided I don't belong there, she said. Before they've spoken to me, before they know anything about me, she paused. It started on Monday. It'll get worse before it stops. Ry looked at his hands on the table.
What have they done so far? He said looks conversation. They make sure I can hear people who would normally talk to a new kid. They don't. She Garrett wins specifically.
Garrett wins speicipature. Everyone else just followed it. Has anything physical happened? No. Online?
Mia hesitated. Not yet. He heard the not yet. You've got a notebook. He said it wasn't a question.
He knew her. I've got a notebook. Good. He said it simply. You document everything.
Date, times, what was said. Who was there? I know. Daddy, I know. You know.
He looked at her. I'm saying it so we both know we're doing this together. She looked at him for a moment. Something shifted in her expression, a small releasing of something. I don't want you to do anything, she said.
I don't want you to go up there. And she made a gesture that summarized without words everything Ry had been capable of doing for most of his adult life. "I just need you to know I understand," he said. "Do you? " He was quiet for a moment. Honest with himself in the way that he tried these last few years to be honest.
"I want to," he said. "That's different from can, but I want to. " Maya looked at him, a long measuring look that had her mother in it. "That's enough," she said. They sat in the kitchen. The old house settled around them.