For now, I had to set all that aside. I had a client meeting in eight minutes, and it would take me six to get back to the office. I picked up my laptop and walked down the stairs and out the door, feeling, for the moment, grateful to get out of this house. As I got in the car, I questioned why Alice wouldn’t have told me about this. And that made me wonder if Iris and me coming to live here wasn’t a coincidence at all.

Iris Half-Day

“So, where exactly are we going?” Merit asked.

“Do you know where my dad’s office is? Beside Trader Joe’s?”

Merit eyed me. “Is this just a ploy to get you that weird flavored popcorn you like?”

“It isn’t weird!” I protested. “And if I didn’t know you were gay, I would think that remembering that little tidbit meant you loved me.”

As we neared my dad’s office, I said, “Go around the back so no one will see us.” When we did, I immediately recognized the car parked there—and the man inside it.

Oliver rolled his window down, giving me a scolding look. I tried not to look sheepish in return. “Hey, Oliver,” I said casually. “Just doing a Trader Joe’s run.”

“Uh-huh,” he said. “You know you can’t go in there. There isn’t anything important left inside anyway.”

I sighed. “I know. I know. I just keep thinking that if I can get in there and look around, I could find something.” I paused. “Wait. If we can’t go in, what are you doing here?”

He smiled. “I keep thinking the same thing you’re thinking—even though I well know that illegally obtained evidence is inadmissible in court.”

I did not know that.

Oliver looked around. “Hey, Iris. I wanted to tell your mom that I got your locks changed, but I can’t get her on the phone.”

I eyed him. “Wait. Our locks changed? So, does that mean we can go home?” I felt excitement rising into my throat.

“Oh, um,” Oliver stuttered. I could see him realizing that he’d stepped in something. I just wasn’t quite sure what it was.

“Oliver…”

“Well, technically, yes, but I don’t think I was supposed to—”

I let out a Sophie-level squeal. That was actually a new term around school. I jumped out of the car and hugged Oliver as best I could through the window. “You are my favorite person in the entire world!”

He patted himself on the back. “I know. I know.”

“So I can go, like, now?”

Oliver looked at me sternly. “Iris, you may not go without your mother. Do you understand me? She gets to make the decision about when you go home.”

“But—” I started to protest.

Oliver looked at the clock on his dash. “It’s eleven forty-five. Shouldn’t you two be in school?”