anymore: He was totally beaming.
“Hi,” Evie whispered.
Chip planted a loud smooch on Evie’s cheek, which got a giggle. “This is my niece.”
“Oh. Cool.”
Chip led me into the house as Evie talked his ear off. I couldn’t make out a word she said: She was talking too fast, and in that funny way toddlers have, where they know what they want to say but can’t quite form the words all the way. Chip was smiling so big his eyes were squinting up.
I really liked seeing him smile like that.
He never smiled like that at school.
“You doing okay? Need another ice pack?”
“I think I’m good.”
Chip shifted Evie a little bit to free up one hand, and pulled a cheese stick out of the fridge. He peeled it open and handed it to Evie.
“Where’s your mommy?” he asked.
“Upstairs.” Evie squirmed a bit. Chip kissed her one more time and set her down. She ran out of the kitchen, doing that funny run little kids do, where they lift their knees up really high and stomp their tiny feet as they go.
Chip grabbed a red Gatorade out of the fridge and handed me a purple one.
“I didn’t know you had a sister.”
“Really? She graduated last year. Ana.”
“Oh,” I said. “From Chapel Hill?”
Chip nodded, like I should have remembered. “I’ve got an older brother too. But he graduated before we started.”
My ears burned.
I had a whole bunch of questions, but I didn’t know how to ask them.
In fact, I was pretty sure it would be rude to ask them.
So I said, “How old is she?”
“Ana?”
“Evie.”
“Oh. She’ll be two in December.”
“That’s a good age,” I said, because that’s what everyone always says, no matter what age is being discussed.
“Yeah.”
We looked at each other for a long moment as the kitchen walls closed in on us. The air in the room grew heavy and pregnant.
Which was a weird thought to have, since I was just thinking about Chip’s sister being pregnant while she was in high school. And wondering lots of things that weren’t my business.
My heart thudded against my sternum.
Chip kept looking at me.
I looked down at my hands.
“I should probably let my grandmas know where to pick me up.”
* * *
A dark blue Camry pulled into Chip’s driveway: Oma’s car. She honked twice.
Linda Kellner was a paragon of Teutonic punctuality.
“Oh. That’s my ride,” I said.
I dumped my ziplock baggie full of half-melted ice into the sink—I’d started aching again as we went over my Algebra II answers—while Chip gathered up our Gatorade bottles.
“Thanks for letting me hang out,” I said. “I don’t think I would have survived a bike ride tonight.”
“It’s all good.”
“And thanks for your help. Really.”
Chip grinned. “I had fun.”
I groaned. “Math is not fun.”
“Well, I enjoyed the company at least.”
Chip kept grinning at me, but it wasn’t his usual grin. There was something gentler about it. Almost like a question.
“Well. Thanks.”
“Anytime. You wanna leave your bike here? You can get it after practice tomorrow?”
My face heated at that. I wasn’t sure why.
But I said “Sure,” because Oma didn’t have a bike rack.
As I laced up my shoes, Evie ran down the stairs. Chip scooped her up mid-dash and swung her up to cover her face with kisses. She squealed and laughed and said “Noooo!”
Chip stopped. “No?”
“Not now.”
“Okay.” Chip set her down, and she scampered off into the kitchen.
I liked that he respected her boundaries, even though she was a toddler.
I thought that was really cool.
“Say bye to Darius!”
“Bye, Evie!” I called after her, but she ignored us both. Chip just shook his head.
In the driveway, Oma honked again.
“Well.” I slung my bag over my shoulder. “See you tomorrow.”
IRON GODDESS OF MERCY
Linda Kellner didn’t like to listen to music in the car. She always listened to the news.
She also didn’t like to talk very much.
“Hi, Oma,” I said as I buckled up. “Thanks for coming to get me.”
Oma nodded and then turned up her NPR.
That meant the conversation was over.
Like I said, I’d never been very close with Oma. Or with Grandma.
Linda and Melanie Kellner weren’t very demonstrative with their affection.
I thought maybe that was just how grandparents were, until I went to Iran. Mamou had practically smothered me with hugs and kisses, and even Babou’s reserve had cracked as we spent time together.
When we got home, Oma parked on Dad’s side of the driveway. I got out and punched in the code to open the door.
Grandma was at the kitchen table doing a puzzle while Laleh read. It looked like she had