Page 14 of All the way home

“You’re calling in backup?” Lucas asks. “Damn, that’s low.”

“Eleven,” Kieran says promptly. The tiniest tilt of his head indicates the unspoken question.

She lifts an eyebrow in response, her own question, gaze flitting back to Not-Josiah.

“No.” Kieran understands instantly. “Don’t even start.”

“I think I missed a step.” Lucas shakes his head. “You two freak me out.”

When Rena and Kieran exchange another glance, he doesn’t seem sure whether Lucas is talking about their unspoken communication or their shared ability to remember details. Neither is she.

“We were all holding peace signs for the photos,” Kieran says, but his eyes are still on Rena and her unrelenting eyebrow.

“Are we talking about the trip again?” Lucas looks between them.

“Yes.” Kieran nods. “Peace sign. Two fingers. Two ones. Eleven. That was the joke.”

“Right.” Recognition dawns on Lucas’s face. With a grin, he asks, “Can I borrow your brain next time I have an exam?”

Kieran offers him a grim smile in return. “Sure you want it?”

The question decays Lucas’s joke while it’s still in the air.

With a sour little smile, Kieran puts his headphones back in.

Lucas looks horrified. “I didn’t mean to—”

“I know.” Rena heaves a sigh. “And so does he. He’s just being nasty. He—”

“Attention all Air Canada passengers,” the attendant begins, an apologetic upward tilt to her voice.

All throughout the gate, heads swivel.

Rena checks her watch and gives a little jolt. It’s twenty minutes past when boarding was supposed to begin.

“Flight AC156 to Toronto has been delayed due to current weather conditions. It will now depart at two thirty p.m. We apologize for the inconvenience, and if you have any questions or concerns please see an attendant at the desk.”

At least half a dozen people get up at once, storming the desk with varying degrees of agitation.

Waiting a moment to make sure the announcement is over, Rena kicks at the side of Kieran’s leg to get his attention, connecting with his ankle bone harder than she means to.

“Ow!” he hisses. “What the fuck, Rena?”

“Sorry.”

He shoots her a long-suffering glower.

“Did you hear the announcement?”

“Yes,” he snaps. “I have ears, you—”

“Delayed to two thirty,” Rena interrupts, so she won’t hear whatever rude thing he was about to say.

Lucas buries his head in his phone.

“I know.” Kieran sniffs. “That’s not the end of the world, right? We’ll still get in early enough.”

While Kieran scowls and rubs at his ankle, Lucas frowns at the attendant, then examines his watch, tucking his bottom lip under his front teeth.