Close Liaisons (The Krinar Chronicles 1)

“Uh-huh,” said her mom, a small frown appearing on her face.

“It’s a great program,” lied Mia. “These kids don’t really have anyone to help them figure out the next steps, whether they should go to college or not, how they should apply if they decide to go . . . And you know, that’s exactly what I want to do – provide that type of counseling . . .”

Her mom’s frown got a little deeper.

Mia hurried with her explanation. “Well, I didn’t know about this program before, but I was chatting with my professor this week and mentioned my interest in counseling to him. And that’s when he told me about this program, and that he was actually desperately looking for a volunteer to help out for a week or two this summer –”

“But you’re flying home on Saturday,” her mom said, looking increasingly unhappy. “When would you be able to do this?”

“Well, that’s the thing,” said Mia, hating herself for lying like this, “I don’t think I can come home this weekend, not if I do this program –”

“What! What do you mean, you can’t come home this weekend?” Her mom appeared livid now. “You already have a ticket and everything! And what about your camp internship? Aren’t you supposed to start that on Monday?”

“I already spoke with the camp director,” lied Mia again. “He’s fine with pushing back my start date by two weeks. I explained the whole situation, and he was very understanding. And my professor said he’ll reimburse me for the cost of the ticket and even buy me another one to make up for this –”

“Well, that’s the least he could do! What about the money you were going to earn during those two weeks of your internship?” her mom said angrily. “And what about the fact that we haven’t seen you since March? How could he ask you to do something like that, so last-minute?”

“Mom,” said Mia in a pleading tone, “it’s a great opportunity for me. This is exactly what I want to do career-wise, and it’ll really boost my chances of getting into a good grad school. Plus, the professor said he’ll write me a glowing recommendation if I do this – and you know how important those are for grad school applications . . .”

Her mom was blinking rapidly, and there was a suspicious glimmer in her eyes. “Of course,” she said, a wealth of disappointment in her voice, “I know that stuff is important . . . We were just so looking forward to seeing you this Saturday, and now this –”

Every word her mom said was like a knife scraping at Mia’s insides. “I know, mom, I’m really sorry about this,” she said, blinking to hold back her own tears. “I’ll see you in a couple of weeks, okay? It won’t be so bad, you’ll see . . .”

Her mom sniffed a little. “So no family dinner this Sunday, I guess.”

Mia shook her head with regret. “No . . . but we’ll have one in two weeks, okay? I’ll cook and everything –”

“Oh, please, Mia, you couldn’t cook to save your life!” her mom said irately, but a tiny smile appeared on her face. “I’ve never met anyone who couldn’t manage to boi

l water –”

“I can boil water now,” said Mia defensively. “I’ve been living on my own for the last three years, you know, and I can even make rice –”

The tiny smile became a full-blown grin. “Wow, rice? That is progress,” her mom said with barely contained laughter. “I honestly don’t know what you’re going to do when you meet someone . . .”

“Oh, mom, not this again,” groaned Mia.

“It’s true, you know. Men still like it when a woman can make a good meal, and keep the house –”

“And do laundry, and be a general domestic slave, and yadda yadda yadda,” finished Mia, rolling her eyes. Her mom could be amazingly old-fashioned sometimes.

“Exactly. Mark my words, unless you find some guy who likes to cook, you’ll be stuck eating takeout for the rest of your life,” her mom said ominously.

Mia shrugged, biting the inside of her cheek to avoid bursting into semi-hysterical laughter. The irony of it was that she had actually found such a guy – except he wasn’t human. She wondered what her mom would say if she told her about Korum. He’s great: he loves to cook and even does laundry for us both. Just one tiny issue – he’s a blood-drinking alien. No, that probably wouldn’t go over well at all.

“Mom, don’t worry about me, okay? Everything will be fine.” At least Mia sincerely hoped that was the case. “We’ll see each other soon, and maybe I’ll really try to learn how to cook this summer. How about that?” Mia gave her mom a big smile, trying to prevent any more lectures.

Her mom shook her head in reproach and sighed. “Sure. I’ll tell your dad what happened. He’ll be so disappointed . . .”

Mia felt terrible again. “Where is he?” she asked, wanting to speak to her father as well.

“He’s out getting the car fixed. The damn thing broke again. We should really get a new one . . . but maybe next year.”

Mia nodded sympathetically. She knew her parents’ financial situation was not the best these days. Her mom was currently between jobs. As an elementary school teacher, she was usually in demand. However, the private school where she had taught for the past eight years had closed recently, resulting in a number of teachers losing their positions and all applying for the same few openings in the local public schools. Her dad – a political science professor at the local community college – was now supporting the family on his one salary, and they had to be careful with bigger expenses, such as a new car. In general, her family, like many other middle-class Americans with 401(k) retirement plans, had suffered in the K Crash – the huge stock market crash that took place when the Krinar had arrived. At one point, the Dow had lost almost ninety percent of its value, and it was only about a year ago that the markets had recovered fully.

“All right,” said Mia, “I’ll try to log back in later, see if I can reach dad.”

“Call Marisa too,” her mom said. “I know she was really looking forward to seeing you on Sunday.”