“And you didn't tell me?”
Trip shrugged. “Wasn't any of my business. You made that clear when I looked into that boy you went with in high school.”
Kyara sighed, collapsing into her chair.
“I didn't even know until... until the shooting,” she confessed.
Trip reached out and took her hand.
“Not your fault,” he said.
Kyara shook her head, her jaw clenched against unshed tear...
“I should have known,” she said, her voice strangled.
“Maybe,” allowed Trip, “but we all see what we want to see. Dad did most of all.” A choked sob escaped Kyara at this statement, but Trip continued. “Thing is, most of the time people lived up to what he saw. It made the world a better place. I don't think that he would have done things any different, even if he know how it'd turn out.”
He's right, Kyara acknowledged to herself. Papa never would have let it change how he did things. Not like me. The thought made her ache.
“I can't say what you should have done, Kyara, or what you could have done. But I know you. You never did any of it with bad intent. I know that. You trusted, just like Dad. I think, in the end, you got to forgive yourself for that.”
Then he came around the table, hugging his sister in his arms, and said nothing more at all. And Kyara let him hold her as she just felt, really felt, the blame and loss which had followed her since the day her boyfriend had helped murder her father.
A knock came at the outside door.
She drew back from Trip, wiping her eyes on the back of her sleeve. She wasn't sure how long she'd been crying. She was suddenly aware of her brother, still telling her it wasn't her fault and that he loved her.
Marcus was still missing, though the sound of the shower going in the bathroom told her that he'd found something to do with himself.
The knock at the door came again, more loudly this time. Kyara rose and went to the door, sure she looked like hell, but equally sure that, if someone was knocking on her door at this time of night, it must be important.
When she swung it wide, it revealed her three friends, K, Caitlin, and Ashley, huddled together on her tiny landing, waiting impatiently for her response.
“It's cold out,” announced K. “Mind if we come in?”
Kyara stood to the side, a little bemused, as her friends filed in, rubbing their arms to get warm. They'd never even come upstairs before, never mind shown up as a group.
They came to make sure I was alright, realized Kyara, and to make sure the boys aren't upsetting me. The thought filled her with a warm glow.
Her brother was rising from the table, trying to look unimposing, but failing.
All three women were eying him accusingly.
Kyara let him hang for a moment of awkward silence before coming to his rescue.
“Trip, these are my friends, Caitlin, Kaitlyn, and Ashley. Ladies, this is my brother, Trip. He and my brother Marcus stopped by for an unexpected visit,” said Kyara.
“Ladies,” acknowledged Marcus, offering them each his hand in turn. “It's a pleasure to meet you.”
Caitlin smiled a little, and Ashley accepted his hand, but K wasn't prepared to let him off the hook that easily.
“Not polite to show up uninvited,” said K, ignoring the irony.
Trip blinked at her.
“Respectfully, Ma'am, I was invited,” he said.
“Ma'am? Did you just call me Ma'am?” asked K, but Kyara had picked up on a different part of the statement.