Wilson mumbles something about grabbing towels and clothes after the inning ends, but I hang up. “Thanks for being here, Henry,” Thalia says, hugging me briefly. She’s always been there for me and I’m thankful to be able to return the favor.
“Of course. I’m sorry about the house.”
“C’est juste une maison. Je suis content que personne n’ait été blessé,”10 she replies, looking at the house, but I can’t look away from Mirabelle. The thought of her getting hurt is worse than a knife to the heart.
“Me too.”
“Sweetie, I know you want to stay, but Dad and I have this handled. You need to get some rest,” Thalia says to Mirabelle.
“But, Mom, I want to stay with you,” Mirabelle protests, and Lia smiles, patting her cheek.
“I know, but you had a long day. You don’t need to be here.”
Shit, I was the reason she had a long day.“Wilson’s setting out clean towels and clothes on the guest bed,” I add, and Thalia shoots me a grateful smile.
Mirabelle’s gaze bounces between us. “Okay, but call me if you find out anything please?”
“I will, now follow Henry back to his house. We’ve got this covered here.”
I’m not sure Mira should be driving.
“We can go back in my car. We’ll come back for yours tomorrow?” I suggest, and Mirabelle looks a little relieved at the idea, hugging her mom again. Thalia says something to her that I can’t hear, but it makes Mirabelle smile.
She slips into the passenger seat of my car, sitting in silence as she stares at the house until I pull out into the street. It makes me sick to see all the people standing nearby watching. “I didn’t mean to give you a hard time today. I promise it won’t happen again,” I say, needing to apologize again for making her day harder than it needed to be. I only thought about how it affected me, and not any of the potential repercussions Mirabelle could face due to my lack of cooperation.
She looks at me in surprise. “Henry, I said it’s fine. That’s not a promise I’m sure you can keep anyway.”
I’m not sure it is either, but I’m willing to try a lot harder to keep it.
“I feel bad, okay? I could have been fucking nicer today. I wasn’t thinking.”
“Is this about what my mom said?” Mirabelle asks, shifting in her seat to face me.
I tap my fingers on the steering wheel, trying to keep my eyes on the road. “It was my fault you had a long day.”
“She wasn’t talking about you. Mom was talking about the drinks I got with some of my coworkers. They don’t like me very much because everyone assumes my parents pulled strings instead of considering I’m actually qualified for the internship.” She exhales, shaking her head. “It’s whatever, though. I can’t make them like me.”
“They’re jealous. Mira, everyone in your life knows how hard you work for everything you have.” I mean, for fuck’s sake, she’s an Olympian. They don’t just hand out gold medals based on last names.
“I know, it’s just frustrating, but I don’t want you to think it was your fault I had a bad day. Despite how awesome I am, I’m allowed to have bad days,” she says, chuckling quietly. It takes a special kind of person to be able to laugh after the kind of day she had.
Tomorrow will be a better day, I’ll make sure of it.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Henry
“WHERE ARE YOU going?” I ask Mirabelle, walking into the entryway with my protein shake as she slips into her towering heels. How the hell does she walk in those?
She looks at me like I’m an idiot. “Um, work?”
“I thought you were taking the day off.”
Mirabelle raises her eyebrows in surprise. “One hundred percent sure I never said that, so I don’t know why you think that’s happening.”
“I don’t know? Maybe because your house was on fire last night, and there’s an arsonist who probably hoped you were in it?” I say, because I’m not sure she understands the gravity of the situation. Mirabelle could have been seriously injured last night.
“Alleged arsonist. We won’t know until the investigation is completed,” Mirabelle corrects.
