The television was on, and after a few channels Mitch yelled, "Stop! I think that’s Patrick McGoohan!"
"Who?"
"This British actor. I think he was in that Braveheart movie with Mel Gibson."
Kyra squinted. "As who?"
"The king, actually." Mitch watched as the much younger McGoohan, in khaki pants and a navy blazer, ran on the beach, sped in a boat and then was attacked by a gigantic plastic bubble. "What the Hell?"
"Do we have to watch this?" Kyra whined.
"Just a minute. This is like The Teletubbies. It’s so weird you’ve got to look."
"It’s The Prisoner!" Mitch and Kyra both turned around. Sleeper One was roused from his sleep by their conversation. "Hey, Jim, it’s The Prisoner!"
"Excellent!" his friend said, starting to open his eyes. "Which one is this?"
The first one squinted. "I think it’s the first episode. Oh, look, there’s Rover!" He pointed to the screen as the gigantic bubble came back into view.
Kyra snickered. "At least we know what it’s called now."
"Don’t you guys get this in the States?" Jim said groggily. "This should be required viewing for everyone. It explains politics, society-"
"The enemy really is within," his friend intoned seriously.
"Who’s the enemy?" Kyra asked.
"That would be telling," Jim said, and then he and his friend both burst into laughter. Mitch moved toward him.
"Sorry, I didn’t catch that."
"No, mate, look! Shhhh!" He pointed to the screen, and everyone turned around.
They saw another man in a blue blazer, but this one was wearing a hat. "That would be telling," the man in the hat said, and then Young Patrick McGoohan glared at him as he rode off on his bicycle.
That would be telling, Mitch repeated silently. He hadn't really paid attention when the drunks had said it, but now... Where had he heard that before?
"Okay," Kyra huffed. "I think I’ve had enough." She moved toward the door, but Mitch grabbed her hand.
"Can we just finish the episode? It can’t last too much longer."
"What?!?"
"Huh?" Mitch turned to her, half-looking at the television. "Oh, ignore them, they’re drunk."
"That makes it better," Kyra snapped. "Why don’t you finish this stupid show with your new friends and I’ll go back to my room?" She stormed out, and Mitch stole one last look at the screen before he chased after her.
"Don’t be mad!" he said when he finally caught up to her.
"It’s more important for you to watch some stupid old English TV show than defend me!"
"Guess what? Those guys were so drunk I could have taken them while I was half asleep. But they probably wouldn’t have remembered, and there’s no point in beating the pulp out of someone if they don’t know it’s you."
Kyra thought a moment. "Okay," she said sulkily, "but do you promise to talk to them when they’re sober?"
"I promise to scare the living Hell out of them as soon as I think they’re up for it."
"There’s my knight in shining armor," Kyra whispered as she kissed him.
"You want me to be a knight? Honestly, damsels in distress didn’t do that well with knights-"
"Oh, you’re so smart," she said, kissing him again.
After Kyra fell asleep, Mitch lay awake, staring at the ceiling. That would be telling. Why did that keep bothering him?
CHAPTER 28
By the time Drew left for Ohio, Emily had put away all her clothes, bought her books and started reading in anticipation for next quarter’s classes. She had the syllabuses for three of the classes, but two of the professors hadn’t published them yet. So she was going to read all of the books. Why not? It would give her something to do while she stayed in Boston without Zainab or Drew. Jessie wanted to do something, but she wasn’t going to be home until the day before the party.
Emily still worried about money. She had to find some kind of job. The books had taken half of her savings. She quickly realized that cheese sandwiches were a luxury item, and even eating beans and rice two or three times per day were going to deplete her savings by the end of the quarter. And how would she buy books for the spring? She had to do something. She just didn’t know what it was.
By the day of Richard’s party, Emily was filled with dread. She wanted to see Jessie and she didn't want to offend Richard. But... ugh. She didn't know if she could handle being around the other beautiful, fabulously wealthy people they must have invited. She hated going into something where she knew she was going to be outclassed.
She showered and read, but at eleven a terrible thought occurred to her. She had nothing to wear.
She went to the closet. There were the jeans, the white shirts, the sweaters. This wasn’t going to work. No, wait a minute. There it was. The dress. She took it off the hanger and held it a little bit away from her.
She remembered sitting at Princess Cappuccino with Mitch and watching him fingering it. She remembered the way his eyes shone when he smiled, then regretted that he had never seen her in the dress. The thought made the room feel bigger. She threw the dress onto the bed. Someone was going to see her in it. She got out a pair of black stockings, her black boots- she’d lucked out at Boomerangs a few months ago when a large shipment came in from Urban Outfitters- and a black turtleneck. Jewelry, jewelry... It was all she could do to wear a watch, but she had two necklaces, one small with blue stones and one with green beads. She liked the green necklace better, but thought the blue would look better on black. Done. Now someone would see her in it, even if it was only Jessie.
She washed up, got dressed and put a little bit of lipstick on. She looked at herself in the mirror. Attractive, even striking, but she felt like she was looking at someone else. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to be someone else for an hour or so.
Emily arrived at the house on the corner of Dartmouth and Beacon. It was different in the daytime. Wasn’t everything?
Richard opened the door. "Emily! Let me introduce you to everyone, and then I’ll give you the grand tour."
The huge living room had a large Christmas tree in one corner, sparsely decorated with white lights. It was early, but three other people had already arrived. She thought she recognized Vijay, Jordan and Carlos. So much for the fabulous guests, she thought to herself.
"Emily! You didn't blow me off!" Jessie came running down the stairs and threw her arms around Emily. Emily nearly lost her balance, but Richard steadied her. Jessie pulled back and looked her over. "What are you wearing?"
Emily was pretty sure that Jessie had on the same jeans she'd had on the night they'd met, and possibly more blue streaks. Now she had on a ripped t-shirt to go with it.
Not outclassed, but definitely outsmarted. "Isn't it a great dress? Fifteen bucks at the thrift shop."
Richard patted Emily on the back. "And you wear it well."
Jessie smirked and Emily rolled her eyes. "Thank you, Richard. Someday Jessie's going to grow up and be as gracious as you are."
Jessie scoffed. "I'm an original. Instead of being polite but back-stabbing, I'm a straight-up jerk."
"Oh yeah," Richard said. "That's the first time I've heard a teenager try that."
"Ooh, ooh, ooh!" Jessie said, tickling Richard under his armpits.
"That's cheating!"
"You did use the teenager thing," Vijay mused. "That's sort of low, so I think she's entitled."
Clearly, everyone was in a better mood than they’d been a few weeks ago. "This is terribly amusing," Emily said as Richard graduated to beating Jessie with a pillow, "but did someone say something about food?"
"Richard!" Jessie exclaimed, hitting him on the ear with the pillow. "You forgot to put the food out!"
"Alright!" He made the time out sign. "Can you help me bring it out?"
Jessie, breathless and giggling, grabbed Emily's hand. "You help too."
"Wow!" Emily marveled as she walked into the kitchen. It was like something she'd seen
on a cooking program but it was well-used.
Jessie leaned in and whispered, "You know, he’s single."
"Did someone say something about food?"
Emily turned around to see a woman standing in the doorway. Emily immediately took notice of her head of curly, almost kinky, dark hair. She was very fair with light, crystalline blue eyes. She had high cheekbones, large eyes and full lips. All she needed was a redder shade of lipstick and she could have passed for Snow White- or a model.
"Since when do you eat?" Jessie shot back.
"Before we get into that," Richard said as he filled a bowl with nacho chips, "Miranda, this is Emily. Emily, this is Miranda."
Miranda smiled and shook Emily’s hand. There was something about Miranda’s smile that made Emily smile back. "Nice to meet you. And how do you know these two?"
Miranda opened and closed her mouth twice, then raised her eyebrows. "Well-"
"Michael," Jessie spat. "But we keep her around anyway."
"Oh."
Miranda made a face at Jessie. "We have the same guardian."
"Guardian?" Oh. The party a few weeks ago started to make a little more sense.
"Guardian," Jessie answered, but she was looking at Miranda. "Apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree, or something like that."
"So," Richard said as he cut up some vegetables, "is this how you’d like to spend time together? Or is there something else you’d rather talk about?"
"I would love to hear more about your solar car," Emily said as cheerfully as she could. Jessie and Miranda groaned, then grabbed plates of food and brought them out to the living room.
"Thank you," Richard said before he gave her a plate of food.
"No problem. Now tell me, is Jessie always trying to fight with people?"
Richard smiled sadly. "You’d think that, wouldn’t you?"
"Anything I can do?"
"You’re already being very helpful."
Jessie swung the door open. Her mouth hung open. "Oh my God you guys! Richard’s smiling." She looked at Emily and grinned. "What’s your secret?" Then she looked at Richard. "Don’t you want to know?"
"Jessie," Richard said under his breath as he walked out. Jessie followed him with her eyes then grinned even wider. "He’s blushing!" she whispered.
"Just shut up!" Emily said as she walked out herself.
She found Richard talking to Carlos and insisted they give her a solar car tutorial. They were joined by Vijay and Jordan, and the four of them ended up reviewing some of what they’d done in the past year and what still needed to be done. Emily pricked up her ears for some mention of Drew but didn’t hear anything. I guess, she thought, he really is more public relations than anything else.
After thirty minutes Jessie joined them. She folded her arms and loudly cleared her throat. "Yes?" Richard asked.
"I think you’ve monopolized my guest long enough. I never get to play with anyone for too long, so if you’ll excuse us." She grabbed Emily’s hand and took her to the couch where Miranda was sitting.
"We’re much more fun than they are," Miranda whispered.
"I bet you are, but didn’t we agree that I’m not?"
"That’s not true." Jessie patted Emily’s knee. "You were fun that night with Zainab."
"Well, I was in my natural habitat."
"And where was that?" Miranda asked.
"That café on Newbury Street. You know- the one with royalty," Jessie said with a smirk.
"Oh, that one," Miranda said after a minute.
"You’ll have to excuse her," Jessie said. "Newbury Street is slumming for her. She’s more at home in Paris- or Tel Aviv."
Emily held her breath and looked toward the door. If this was going to be an anti-Semitic rant she’d have to leave quickly. What a shame. She liked Jessie...
Miranda tilted her head. "You’re actually going to meet my family someday and like them, so maybe you should stop complaining about them."
Jessie sneered. "Well, maybe they can get their asses over here so I can."
"There’s one of you and about a dozen of them, so maybe it’s easier if you come over with me."
Jessie frowned. "Yeah, Aunt Lucy’s going to let me go to Israel."
Miranda opened her hands. "You really think she’d notice?"
"Okay," Emily said. "So... your family’s in Israel? What are you doing here?"
Miranda narrowed her eyes at Jessie then turned to Emily. "My father’s family. He was visiting the states when he met my mother here."
"And... then he went back?"
Miranda smiled. "Yes, and then he couldn’t come back. He was killed on duty before I was born."
"Oh my God, I’m so sorry. And your mom?"
Miranda pushed some hair away from her face. "She died in a car accident when I was five."
"I’m so sorry," Emily repeated.
Miranda nodded quickly and smiled. "Thank you, but it was a long time ago. And Alex was there to take care of me."
"And Alex is your guardian?"
"That’s one word for it," Jessie hissed.
Richard came over before Miranda could say anything. "I hope you two didn’t waste too much time bickering. I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask Emily to leave."
Emily turned her head quickly. "Excuse me?"
Richard sighed. "I’m sorry. It’s for your own good."
Jessie leapt up. "Are you kidding me?"
"No. Michael just texted me. He’ll be here in about fifteen minutes."
Miranda stood up as well. "You’re out of here."
Emily stood up. "I thought he wasn’t allowed here?"
Jessie shot an angry look at Richard. "So did I."
Emily put her hands on her hips. "If this guy is as bad as you say he is, I don’t want to leave you two alone with him!"
Miranda blinked. "What did you say?"
"I’m not going to leave you two alone with him if he’s that scary."
Miranda smiled but shook her head. "That’s really sweet of you, but Richard’s right."
Emily put up her hands. "Fine, I’ll go, but I’m not leaving you two here. There’s plenty of room at my place- I mean, Drew’s place."
Miranda leaned forward. "Did you say Drew?" She turned to Richard.
Jessie rolled her eyes. "Yes, Drew. He’s another loser Richard knows who couldn’t-"
"It’s a fascinating story, but we’re wasting time." Richard nodded at Emily. "Please," then gestured toward the coats.
"Is anyone coming with me?"
Miranda shook her head. "I have to stay."
"And I have to make sure these two finally kick him out," Jessie said.
"Fine." Emily put on her coat. "Then I want to see you tomorrow."
Jessie cocked her head toward Richard. "Are you going to let me out tomorrow?"
Emily buttoned her coat. "He is or I’m not leaving."
"Alright," Richard said as he put his hand on her back and guided her to the door.
"Where?" Jessie shouted as Richard opened the door.
"Tealuxe at eleven."
"Okay!"
"Bye!"
The door slammed. Emily shook her head. Maybe she should walk on Dartmouth toward the river. Then she remembered. "Alrighty then," she muttered as she set off toward Drew’s place.
CHAPTER 29
Jessie flopped into a chair at Tealuxe at eleven-fifteen the next day. "I shouldn’t tell you this, but Richard felt like an ass yesterday. He’s really sorry and is offering to make you dinner any night this week to make up for it."
"Yeah, nice try. I’m with Drew, remember?"
"He is really sorry."
"Uh huh. What happened with Michael?"
Jessie sighed. "He was even more of an asshole than usual this summer."
"To you, right?"
Their tea arrived, and Jessie stirred in her milk and sugar without looking up. "Aren’t you Nancy Drew?"
"Not really. I don’t get it. I don’t get why Richard take
s care of Michael, or you."
"I don’t get it either." Jessie drank her tea. "Richard should have said no to both jobs a long time ago, but he’s too decent." She looked up and her eyes were red.
"I don’t understand."
Jessie looked down again. "My parents died when I was little. I don’t remember my father at all, and my mother only a little bit." Emily could see her smile for a moment. "The only adult around was Lucy. The only problem is that she has no interest in children. So Richard was in charge."
Emily shook her head. "But he’s not that much older than you."
"I know," Jessie said softly. "But what can I say? He’d already been taking care of Michael for a few years."
"I thought you said this Alex person was Michael’s guardian?"
Jessie scowled. "Alex makes Lucy look good. Miranda doesn’t need a lot of caretaking, but Michael did." She shook her head. "But Richard... he’s only a few years older. There was only so much he could do. Miranda does what she can, but again, there’s only so much." Jessie looked her age now. "Richard almost killed him last summer, but Miranda was the one who took me away. She’s the one who saved me. She stands up to Michael and Lucy and even Alex, but she won’t leave. Speaking of people who should say no."
"Maybe she doesn’t want to leave you," Emily said softly.
Jessie looked away again. "Then she’s an idiot."
"Or a good friend."
CHAPTER 30
By the next week, Mitch and Kyra’s classes began in earnest. Mitch was jazzed by his Poli Sci professor, a former candidate for President. After that first class, Mitch had nodded to himself. This was why it had been so important to get to Ireland.
Kyra was considerably less impressed with the Literature professor. She found her hard to understand, but Mitch wasn’t sure if she was referring to the instructor’s accent or the actual lesson. If it was the latter, Mitch was sure Kyra could remedy that by paying more attention in class or occasionally participating. Mitch didn’t share that thought with Kyra, because he knew that she felt intimidated by a lot of the other students and he didn’t want to make it worse.
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