After a long moment, she shook her head. “She’s an awful lot like her mother, though.”
“As in, silly and romantic and totally impractical?”
“Or we could go with headstrong, ruthlessly honest and never knows when to shut up.” At Ryder’s laugh, Mel seemed to weigh her options for a moment before slowly lowering herself into the chair across from him, her eyes alight. “She is so smart, Ryder. Taught herself to read at four, she goes through library books like candy. I home-school her, so she can go at her own pace. She’s reading at high school level, just finished eighth grade math. And she adores science—far more than I ever did, that’s for sure.”
“Wow.”
“You said it. Except I don’t know how much longer I can keep up with her. And now that she’s so far ahead of other kids her age, putting her in public school seems pointless.”
“What about a private school with a program that would challenge her?” When she got up to face the sink and the blackness outside, he took a scalding swallow of the tea, then carefully set down the mug. “There are scholarships—”
“I know. And I actually checked out a couple of schools in Baltimore, but …”
“But, what?”
She blew a short laugh through her nose, then turned back to him. “Despite our friendship, Ry, I was always extremely aware growing up that you were breaking ‘the rules.’ That I was the hired help’s kid. And I pretty quickly figured out that people … well, we pigeonhole each other, don’t we?”
“I don’t,” Ryder said evenly, his fingers strangling the mug’s handle.
“Of course you do,” she said on a sigh. “It’s what human beings do. Even when we were kids, you knew you were breaking the rules, too, and don’t tell me you didn’t.” When he glowered at the mug, she let out another little laugh. “It wasn’t possible to be in the position I was in at that house and not feel ‘less than.’ A point more than driven home to me at the end. And I don’t want Quinn to ever feel like that, as though someone was doing her a favor by ‘letting’ her go to a school with the rich kids.”
His forehead pinched, Ryder lifted his eyes to hers. “It’s not the same thing. True, my mother can be a snob, but—”
“You don’t think I didn’t hear your private school buddies give you grief about me? That I didn’t know the real reason behind why you pushed me away when they came over? As long as our friendship stayed in the closet we were fine—”
“For heaven’s sake—you were five years younger than I was! No bunch of twelve-year-old boys on earth is going to be okay with a seven-year-old hanging around with them!”
“And that’s all it was?”
“Yes! Mel … where is this coming from?”
She bunched her mouth for a moment, then said, “One of your friends, I don’t remember his name, brought his little sister with him a couple of times. I caught a glimpse of her from the hall when they arrived, she looked to be about my age—”
“That would’ve been Robbie Banes’s sister. Sylvia or Sarah or something.”
Mel nodded. “She saw me, too, even asked her mother if she could play with ‘the little girl.’ Your mother glanced in my direction, then mumbled something that sounded like ‘That wouldn’t be a good idea,’ before steering them away.”
“Oh, God …” Ryder scrubbed a hand through his hair. “Again, no idea. Although, if I’m remembering correctly we all would have been thrilled if the kid had been able to play with you. Man, what a little pill.” He lifted the mug toward her. “Count yourself lucky you were spared.”
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