Liora stood in the early morning sun, her eyes tracing the lines of the red jeep as she stood by an older man. "Does it run?" she asked, looking at him. She hadn't yet asked George or Katherine about the bill, but she wanted to inspect it before doing so.
"Yeah, it runs really well. It's just that my wife wanted a new one, and well, she got it," he said with a smile, glancing at Liora. She returned the gesture and began walking around the jeep.
"How much are you asking?" Liora inquired, looking back at him as she made her way back with a smile.
"Well, I assume this would be your first car?" he asked. Liora nodded.
"Yes, my sister and I want to work on a project together, you could say," Liora said, rubbing her lips together. "In truth, we only need one car. We actually just moved here, not too far from here." After what happened last night with Cole standing her up, she figured it would be a good time for this.
"Oh, you're one of the girls who moved in with Katharine and George," he said. Liora nodded. "Well, what did they say about it?" he asked. Liora rubbed the back of her neck.
"Well, I haven't exactly asked them yet," Liora admitted as she looked at him. "I just wanted to look at it first, you know?" She asked, and he nodded.
"How about I cut you a deal," he said. "My wife is on me about getting rid of it, so $800 for it." Liora nodded; it was a good price, and she knew she would just have to dip into her savings.
"Okay, um, let me talk to Katharine and George, and is there a way I can get a hold of you?" she said. He smiled.
"Just come by when you've got it all figured out, okay?" he said. Liora nodded and thanked him before walking back to where she had left Alex and Danny.
"What was that about?" Danny asked. Liora just shook her head as she took out her phone and texted Jackie.
Liora: Sorry for being late. I'm coming now.
Jackie: It's okay. See you when you get here.
Liora sat back in the seat until they made it to Jackie, who was standing by herself near the booth.
"Hey," Liora said, walking up to her, with Alex following behind. "I thought Cole was here. He said he was going to come, so I took a shower. I didn't know you were going to be by yourself," Liora quietly said. She shouldn't be surprised; Cole wasn't there. He left her in the dark the previous night, and to be with Erin of all people?
Liora was more than pissed, though she wasn’t going to say it. She was just not going to talk to him or fall for his unusually good charm for a second time, well, third time.
"It’s okay," Jackie said. "I feel bad for taking you away from your morning routine," she said. Liora shrugged.
"I have my running shoes on. I’m going to run back," Liora said. It would take her a little bit to run all that way back, but she really didn’t want to be at the house right now.
"You know, Parker has a game today. It’s a little ways that way, not really 3 miles," Alex said, looking at Liora. "But you could run there and have my mom give you a ride back. Danny and I can help Jackie," he said. Liora looked to her sister.
"Yeah, go ahead," Jackie said with a smile. "Text me when you get there, and I’ll see you at the house," she said. Liora nodded.
"Are you sure, Jackie? I can stay," Liora said. Jackie nodded.
"Oh, if you stopped by the store, get some tea!" Jackie yelled after her as Liora ran off, giving a thumbs up.
Liora ran a good distance before she made it to where Katharine was. Liora let out a breath as she awkwardly walked up to her.
"Oh, Rory, hey, I didn’t know you were here," Katharine said as she moved over, letting her sit down.
"I was just with Alex and Danny," Liora said, sitting awkwardly next to her. "They're helping Jackie pack up the booth," she mumbled as she looked around.
"Rory!" Liora looked over when her name was called to see Parker waving. Liora had never really talked to her, so she was a bit confused but waved back.
"Have you seen Cole?" Katharine asked, looking at her. Liora looked down and shook her head.
"No, not since last night," Liora said, looking at the kids playing football. "He was supposed to help pack up the booth but never came."
"Yeah, he was supposed to be here too," Katharine said, which made Liora feel bad for Parker. She had seen them practicing. "You made her day," she said, making Liora look at her with raised eyebrows.
"That you came. I know you haven’t really talked to her much," Katharine said with a smile. "But having someone other than mom show up, well," she said, and Liora couldn’t help but let out a laugh.
"Little old me is nothing compared to quarterback big brother," Liora said, shaking her head.
"It still means something," Katharine said as Liora slowly nodded. "I didn’t know when to bring it up, and you were particularly upset the other day when you came home from school, and I didn’t really see you yesterday," she said. Liora looked at her.
"The school counselor called me," Katharine said. Liora closed her eyes and let out a big breath. "You're not in trouble or anything, Rory, but she said you had a pretty big outburst," she said. Liora nodded.
"Yeah, I, um..." Liora stopped. She really didn’t know what to say; she had already apologized to the lady.
"It's okay. She didn’t really tell me what was said," Katharine said. "She just called to see if you were okay, and I just want to make sure everything is fine," she said. Liora blinked her eyes a couple of times before looking at her.
"I was just having a bad day," Liora mumbled, her eyes fixed on the ground.
"I just want you to know that you can talk to me, okay?" Katharine said. Liora just nodded again. "I don’t want you to feel like you can’t," she said.
"I can’t talk about it," Liora said. "I don’t want to. Jackie held herself together after it so well, and I…" she said, but stopped.
"Well, I sort of didn’t, and I did…" Liora stopped again. Katharine didn’t say anything and let her take her time. "I did a bad thing. I pushed my luck and everything. I was like, 'God, this is the last straw,'" she said, looking at Katharine.
"I just haven’t figured out yet how I feel or where I stand," Liora said. "After the accident, I found it hard to feel anything for a long time. It was more like I didn’t want to, because when I did, it would come out in the wrong ways. It wasn’t the first time I've done that to someone who was just trying to help, and God knows if it will be the last, but I did say I was sorry," she said.
"She said you did," Katharine said, moving her hair back, which made Liora look at her. "I can never imagine what you're going through, Rory, but I want to help in any way that you’ll let me," she said. Liora nodded.
"I miss them," Liora said honestly. "Some days it's worse than others. She just caught me on a bad day," she said. Katharine nodded as the two sat in comfortable silence watching the game.
Soon after the game ended, Liora and Katharine made their way to the car with Parker. "Do you like football, Rory?" Parker asked as they got in the car.
"I mean, I don't know much about it, but…" Liora said, looking back at her. "I have a friend on my dance team whose dad was football crazy. He was also the coach for the team at the school, and every time we went over there, he would teach us how to throw the ball right and the secrets to getting to the quarterback," she explained.
"You can throw a football?" she said, Liora raised an eyebrow with a smile.
"Yep, I can," Liora said. "I could probably throw it better than anyone in the whole house," she said in a light tone.
"Even better than Cole?" Parker asked.
"Absolutely better than him," Liora said. "Maybe one time I’ll show you," she said. Parker gave her a light smile and nodded as they drove back to the house.
When they arrived, Liora didn’t waste any time and got out, thanking Katharine before running inside.
"Jackie, are you back yet?" Liora said, knocking on her door before walking in.
"Hey, how was it?" Jackie asked, getting up from her bed.
"The game?" Liora asked, closing the door. "Fine. I never expected 9-year-olds to be so violent," she said as she walked to the window and looked out. Jackie followed her.
"Do you think we will ever be happy here?" Liora asked, looking at her sister. "And I don’t mean 'fine' happy, I mean 'happy' happy," she said as Jackie looked up at her.
"I think it’s going to take a lot more time," Jackie said. "But 'fine' happy is a good step, Rory," she said. Liora gave her a smile as she looked back out the window to now see Cole with Parker; it didn’t look like it was going well.
"What’s that about?" Jackie asked as she watched.
"Cole didn’t just not show up to help with the booth," Liora said. Jackie let out a small "oh" and walked back to her bed as Cole looked up. Liora stood there for a moment before turning away and sitting next to Jackie.
"So, I was on the laptop last night," Jackie said as Liora hummed in response, "and I might have come across a dance studio," she said.
"You might have?" Liora asked. Jackie huffed.
"Okay, I was looking some up and I found a good one, Rory," she said. Liora just looked at her. "You've been doing so well with getting back into your dance thing. I thought maybe you would like to look at it, try getting back into dancing," she said. Liora let out a breath.
"Okay, I'll look at it," Liora said, "but I just don't know yet." She said. Jackie nodded.
"Speaking of looking at things, I looked at that jeep this morning," Liora said. "It's actually in really good shape; he says it runs and everything, and he's asking $800 for it," she said.
"That's not too bad, especially if it runs well," Jackie said as Liora lay back on the bed. "The only thing is you only have your permit," she said. Liora nodded.
"Yeah, I'm going to ask about it, see if they will bring me to take the test and ask about the jeep too," Liora said as Jackie lay next to her. "Want to take a nap?" She asked. Jackie laughed and nodded as they both got under the covers.
"I love you, Rory," Jackie said.
"I love you too, Jackie," Liora said, turning to lay on her side, her back to her. "Now, go to sleep."