“Stop!” Tears sprang to Ari’s eyes. “I don’t want you to do that, I just . . .” She shook her head, swiping at her cheeks. “You don’t get what it’s like. Listening to some of the things he says. Trying to talk to him about how messed up it is. Knowing he’s not a bad person, but . . .” Ari trailed off, sniffling.

Something tugged at the center of Candace’s chest, tightening and twisting. She hated seeing Ari cry, mostly because she knew it was due to anger and not sadness. But she also knew this situation wasn’t her fault. She wasn’t the one who had turned the conversation toward the latest police shooting and how dangerous it was to walk the streets with a badge these days. She wasn’t the one who had talked about how “certain people” needed to learn how to protest peacefully or their message would just go on being ignored.

That was when Candace had asked who he’d voted for. And Ari had dropped the salad bowl.

“. . . he wasn’t like this before the divorce.” Ari sniffed.

Candace sighed. “He probably just didn’t show i—” Something on the TV caught her attention. “Wait a sec.” She dove for the other end of the couch, snatched up the remote, and turned the volume back up.

Still sniffling, Ari faced the TV. “What is it?”

“I don’t know.” Candace hit rewind, stopping at the point where breaking news swept across the screen.

A white woman looked into the camera. “A story is developing in Central Square, where a third night of protests have begun to escalate. The protests are in response to the officer-involved shooting that resulted in the death of an African American man Wednesday of last week. We now go live to Mark Ruiz, who is on the ground. Mark, what’s it look like out there?”

The screen shifted to a somewhat jostled vantage of Central Square at dusk. Cloudy skies bloated with the last rays of sunlight could be glimpsed between the buildings. At the center of the screen, a man with sandy skin and wide brown eyes addressed the camera. “Sara, what started as a peaceful protest against the latest shooting of an unarmed Black man has escalated in a few pocket areas of the square. Three storefront windows have been shattered, no looting has been reported, and police are on the scene with riot gear and orders for the crowd to disperse.”

Candace didn’t hear what he said after that. She didn’t have to in order to know what came next. She pushed to her feet, reaching for her hoodie. “I gotta go.”

“I know.” Ari sounded defeated. She wiped at her nose, her face still red.

Candace paused in gathering her things and leaned in to press a kiss to those freckles. She smirked as Ari scrunched her face. “Cover for me?”