He set the wrench down finally, looking at me directly for the first time since we’d sat down in that garage.
“For what it’s worth,” he added, “Jonah and Lily’s mom knows about you too. Asked about you once, years back, whether the new kid was settling in alright. I told her you were the easiest part of the whole arrangement.”
“That’s a low bar,” I said, half joking.
“Maybe,” he said. “Still true, though.”
Word got around school faster than I expected. Someone’s older sibling had apparently seen the whole driveway scene from across the street, phone out before anyone realized it.
By Monday, half my grade had watched some blurry ten-second clip of my father handing me keys, and a shorter clip, even blurrier, of me pulling an envelope from my jacket.
Nobody outside the family knew what was actually in it. I liked it that way for now.
