Romily nods. “Yes, but only about twenty-five percent of all furries own partial fur suits. The most common item is a tail—”
“I want a tail!”
“—according to the International Anthropomorphic Research Project.”
“Why do you know that?” I ask. While I’m no stranger to obscure internet research rabbit holes, Romily’s ability to retain statistical data on niche topics is unmatched.
“That’s so cool,” Kira says before breaking into a shout. “Da-ad!”
Nick cracks her door open and pokes his head in. “Everything okay?”
“Dad.” Kira stands up. “Do you know about furries? Can I get a tail?”
“A furry?” He looks at me, eyebrows raised, but not particularly alarmed.
“It’s a fetish for only ten percent of the fandom,” Romily says.
I shrug helplessly at Nick. All I can picture is Kira typingAm I a furry?into her tablet’s search engine.
“Tell you what,” he says. “I’ll do a little more research so we can talk about it, okay?”
Kira looks back down at her drawings and adds thoughtfully, “Actually, some of my characters have feathers or scales,which isn’t the same as fur, so maybe I need to be my own thing.”
“Then there’s your answer,” Nick says, shooting me the tiniest little relieved grin as Kira gives him a hug around the waist.
It’s such a precious father-daughter image that I don’t even clock her ulterior motive:
“Can I have des-sertnow?” Kira asks in that very specific singsongy whine that kids seem to think helps them get their way.
“Did you fill out your reading journal? Mom’s taking you to the library tomorrow.”
“I know what I’m gonna write,” she says without answering the question.
“Then you better get it done now if you want ice cream. That’s the deal.”
“What kind of ice cream?” Romily asks, following Nick out of the room.
I pick up one of Kira’s drawings, tracing over the heavy black marker outlines with my index finger.
“Are you on Discord?” she asks.
“Aren’t you a little young to be on messaging apps?”
I get an indignant sound in response. “All my friends are. My dad lets me use his phone.” She reaches up onto her bed to grab a tablet with the handle and the purple case. “Here. Put your name in.”
Kira hands me the tablet, open to the Add Friend screen on Discord. I consider it. This would definitely be a talking point in aDatelineinvestigation should, God forbid, something happen to any of us. On the other hand, I guess this means a kid likes me enough to start a chat with me. Win?
I type in my username.
10
“She’s out,” Nick says fortyminutes later, shutting Kira’s door softly. “And by that I mean, your cousin is asleep on Kira’s floor.”
I’m standing at the kitchen island, eating the last scraps of leftover pizza. “I’ll wake her up when my mom and Perry get back.” I look at the clock on his microwave that reads 11:47. “Shouldn’t be too long now. Sorry.”
“Don’t apologize. While Kira held you hostage in her room, I tackled unpacking two more boxes of kitchen stuff.” He opens an upper cabinet that contains two wineglasses and approximately seventeen reusable water bottles covered in stickers. I assume Kira takes these to school and loses them. “I found my wineglasses.”
He grabs both glasses and kneels to pull a bottle from acardboard box on the kitchen floor. “Don’t wineglasses usually come in sets of four?” I ask.
