“No,” Akira assured him. “Hail—H-A-I-L—is a perfectly good scientific word. Who knows what hail is?”
“It’s like round ice cubes,” another boy answered. “We had hail at our house last year, and I caught every single one in my baseball cap before it hit the ground in my backyard.”
“Impressive,” Ben said. “Please prepare the ingredients for our storm-in-a-cup experiment. I’ll be right back.” Ben stepped into the hall with Luke. “Hey. Nice to see you.”
“Hey.”
“How’s Agatha?”
“Terrible.”
Ben laughed. “Everything good with you?”
“Blair came by my apartment on Saturday. She said you told her where I live.”
“Yeah.”
“Do I seem like someone who has the gift of hospitality?”
“No.”
“Visitors put me in a bad mood. Just so we’re clear, I don’t want anyone else to know where I live. It’s bad enough having to deal with those who already know. I just want to be left alone.”
“Got it.” Apology entered Ben’s friendly expression. “Sorry.”
Luke ran a hand through his hair and saw that several of the kids were peering at them. He moved out of the doorway. Ben followed.
“Just how much of a rebel without a cause is Blair?” Luke asked.
“She’s not as wheels-off as you were at that age, but she’s challenging. Reckless.” Ben massaged one of his knuckles. “She doesn’t respect the boundaries your parents have put down to try to keep her safe. She’s got a lot of attitude.”
“I noticed.”
“I’m worried about her, and your parents are worried about her, too.”
It sounded like history was repeating itself. His mom and dad had done everything possible to keep him out of trouble during his high school years. But there’s only so much adults can do to restrain a teenager who’s set on destruction.
After Ethan was born, his parents had attempted to have one more child. They’d suffered a miscarriage, followed by infertility. No luck having a third child, so they’d made peace with the fact that God meant for them to be a family of four. Then Ethan died, and they’d all imploded.
His parents had held tight to each other and God. They’d tried to hold tight to him, too. But Luke had made that impossible.
Three years later, when his mom was forty-one, she and Dad had been shocked to discover they were expecting a baby. Then shocked again to discover the pregnancy would result in twins.
Luke had been glad for them. He’d also been glad for himself, because the girls’ arrival made it easier for him to leave. His parents could have a family of four again—with two girls this time instead of two boys. He’d been sure they’d have nothing but happy, carefree parenting days in front of them. They’d been through a lot. They deserved happy, carefree parenting days.
Only Blair wasn’t acting according to plan.
“And Hailey?” Luke asked. “How’s she?”
“She’s a dream. Very sweet and studious. Have you seen her lately?”
“No. Why?”
“Just ...” Ben shrugged. “You’ll know when you see her.”
“What’s Blair into?”
“So far, I think it’s stuff like vaping, smoking, drinking at parties. She doesn’t have a boyfriend that I know of, but sometimes kids hide that.”
