Love, Scars, & Shooting Stars

Chapter Four

From the depths of the cramped back seat, Finn Callahan watched his mother pass through the propped-open door of the ramshackle convenience store, hoping she would treat him to a soda or a candy bar, or even just a piece of bubble gum. But he knew that wasn't likely to happen anytime soon, being that they were now homeless and all. Still, she was taking an awfully long time, so maybe—

Finn ducked behind the seat as his mother came out of the store. He'd been pretending to be asleep for the past two hours, unable to take anymore of her inane cheerfulness. They'd lost their house and everything in it, including his Playstation; they had no money, and no one to borrow any from; and he was leaving behind the few friends he had to go God-knows-where—did she honestly think she could convince him that this was fun?

Grown-ups can be so obtuse sometimes. He felt a rush of satisfaction at the use of a word from his Summer Vocabulary List, until he remembered that he would be attending some other school in the fall, not the one he'd gone to since Kindergarten. The new school probably had a completely different Summer Vocabulary List, if they even had one at all.

Daring another peek, Finn saw that his mother was still a safe distance away, standing just outside the door with a tall, dark-haired man. What could they possibly be talking about? The man gestured down the road, apparently giving her directions of some sort, and then turned toward the pickup truck that was parked nearby.

Finn's mother started toward the car and Finn ducked down in the back again, but not before he saw the man's eyes slide discreetly to the woman who was walking away from him. Men looked at his mom a lot, although Finn couldn't really see why, because she wasn't as pretty as she used to be, back before everything went wrong. Sure, she was kind of small and thin—too thin, lately, he thought—, with brown eyes and blondish hair, and she was a lot better looking than most of his friends' moms, but she hardly ever smiled for real anymore, and she was a lot prettier when she smiled for real.

But the guy in the truck hadn't looked at Finn's mother in that way, like the way a dog looks at raw meat. He had just glanced after her and then turned away with a shake of his head, like maybe he thought she was weird or crazy or something, and that alone made Finn like him instantly.

The car rocked slightly as his mother slid behind the wheel and closed the door. A long moment passed and she still hadn't started the engine, but with his head behind the driver's seat Finn couldn't see what she was doing.

"I've got an interview tomorrow," she finally said, sounding almost awestruck. "A job interview."

Finn kept up his act, although she obviously knew he wasn't asleep.

"I knew it," his mother continued. "I knew that blue sky was a good omen!"

Here we go again, Finn thought, rolling his eyes as he dragged himself upright in the seat.

He was about to insist that it was just dumb luck—that her first interview in months was simply the result of chance, and that it had nothing to do with omens or rainbows or wishing stars, or any of that other ridiculous crap she believed in—but he stopped short when his mother turned to him and smiled.

For real.