“What an idiot!”
“An idiot who would do anything to see you smile.”
I shake my head slowly in feigned annoyance.
“And now… let me have a look at your notes. Maybe I can help you with the trial.”
“Don’t you already have yours?”
“This takes precedence over everything.”
I wrinkle my forehead and look at him.
“I like this family, I told you. And I don’t want anyone to break them up. They’ve been through too much. And Seth—he’s a really good man. A mess of a man, but who isn’t? He doesn’t deserve what they’re doing to him.”
No, he does not deserve it at all.
“He needs someone on his side.”
“Thank you, Paul.”
“You’d do the same for me.”
Seth
“Oh, good, you’re home!” I say to Rowan at the door.
“What’s going on?”
“We have an emergency.”
“An emergency?” He immediately follows me into the living room where I left Emily in tears with her brothers.
“What happened?” Rowan leaves the briefcase on the floor and then gets down on his knees. “Are you sick?”
Emily wipes her eyes and stares at him for a few moments, then goes back to crying in Mason’s arms.
“It’s OK, Em. We’re here,” her brother reassures her.
“Can someone tell me what’s going on?”
I ask Rowan to follow me into the kitchen. He gets up and follows me in silence.
“I can’t help you if you don’t tell me.”
“Brittany didn’t invite her to her birthday party.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“The most popular girl in class is having a big birthday party at the Leisureplex. Bowling, laser tag, and video games with unlimited chips and pizza. Everyone has been invited. She didn’t get her invitation. She found out because Jenny, the girl sitting next to her, had put it in her lunch bag. Emily saw it and Jenny couldn’t deny it.
Rowan scratches his head in confusion.
“She held back her tears all the way home, but I knew something was wrong. When we got back, she couldn’t hold it in and spilt the beans.”
Rowan turns to the living room where her brothers are trying to cheer her up.
“I understand it must not seem like a big drama in your eyes, but…” Rowan leaves me alone in the kitchen to go back to the boys.
