Dark as it was, she couldn’t see her sister. But Lara guessed that Caroline was still awake in her own bed. She just had a feeling.
“Lina-Lin?” Lara said in a loud-ish whisper. Caroline was a notoriously heavy sleeper, so it shouldn’t disturb her if she really had managed to fall asleep.
A grunt came from the next bed. Lara had been right.
Soon, Caroline’s computer voice spoke. Caroline had turned the volume down on her tablet, but the room was quiet enough that Lara had no problem making out the words.
“Are Dad and Ima going to be okay?” Caroline asked.
Lara winced. Her sister certainly hadn’t wasted time on trivial matters. Generally, Lara appreciated this, but after today’s events she wouldn’t have minded a little useless chatter.
“Of course!” she told her sister. She hoped very much that she sounded sufficiently confident. Caroline had enough to worry about without throwing their parents’ marriage into the mix.
“How can you be sure?”
In truth, Lara was not sure at all. But she couldn’t share that with her sister. Her mind raced to find a lie that sounded at least a little bit true.
“Because it’s just one fight,” she said finally. It was the best she could do. “People don’t . . . you know . . . because of just one fight.”
Lara did not mention the fact that Dad and Ima rarely fought at all. Or that this particular fight was way scarier than any other fight she could recall. Caroline probably knew that already.
“I guess you’re right,” Caroline responded after a pause. As usual, her computer voice gave nothing away about her state of mind.
“We should try to go to sleep,” Lara said. She had no desire to discuss the subject further. Hopefully, Caroline would get the hint.
Caroline didn’t answer. But about ten minutes later snores came from her side of the room.
More glowing numbers changed on the clock, and still Lara could not find sleep. Finally, she decided to get out of bed. Lying there clearly wasn’t accomplishing anything. If she had to be up, she could at least enjoy a glass of milk.
Lara tiptoed out of her room. She didn’t think anyone else was up—how could they be?—but she didn’t want to risk causing a disturbance. Once she reached the bottom of the stairs, she slipped toward the kitchen. But when she reached the door outside of the den, Lara paused. A sliver of light poked out from underneath the door. As she drew closer, Lara heard laughter.
She opened the door to find her mother, sitting on the couch watching an old-timey show on TV. The volume was on low, but she could still hear the fake laughter punctuating every line.
Ima turned toward her. “What are you doing here, Lara-bear?”
“I couldn’t sleep.” Lara tried to sound casual. As though finding her mother watching sitcoms in the middle of the night was a regular occurrence.
With a weary sigh, Ima beckoned Lara toward the couch. “I suppose I have an idea of why that might be.”
Lara plopped down on the middle cushion and curled herself into a human-sized ball. Despite the many thoughts and fears gnawing at her mind, she could not think of a single thing to say. So she just said “Yeah.”
“I apologize for not telling you sooner about your father’s . . . situation,” Ima continued. “I wanted to tell all of you from the very beginning, but he . . . well, never mind that. You know now, and I want to reassure you that we’ll be okay. I make enough money for us to get by.”
Nodding, Lara did not bother to inform her mother that she’d known about Dad’s “situation” long before this afternoon. “Okay,” she said, her voice rather smaller than usual.
“Okay,” her mother repeated. “We are going to be okay. We’ve gotten through hard things before as a family and we can do it again.”
Lara didn’t say anything more. She wasn’t sure what words could do right now.
She should probably go back to bed. But she didn’t want to. Instead, Lara started rocking herself. Back and forth, back and forth again. Her movements matched the strokes of Ima’s hands across her back.
Somehow, it all made her feel just a little bit better.
Eventually, Ima pulled Lara forward and planted a soft kiss on the top of her head. “I think it is time for you to go back to sleep.”
And so Lara retreated to her room. Yet it would be quite a while until sleep arrived.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN: IN WHICH THE INVESTIGATION RESUMES
Lara had never officially closed the Case of the Gross Brisket. And one question kept nagging at her: Why did Dad lose his job? After her parents’ fight, she absolutely had to know. Obviously, she needed to continue the case. If she could just figure that out, then maybe everything would be okay again.
First, she needed to review her notes. Lara pulled out her detective notebook and went back to the very beginning. Caroline glanced at her from the other side of the room, but Lara ignored it. She needed to focus.
“Are you still doing fiasco business?” Caroline asked.
She had spelled out the word rather than the acronym when typing out her question. Quite generously, Lara ignored the mistake.
“Maybe,” she said.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea. We shouldn’t get involved in Dad and Ima’s business. Besides, what else is there to investigate?” Caroline asked. “We figured out why Dad is upset.”
Lara scowled. Georgia Ketteridge would never drop a case if there was still a huge question hanging out there. She would try to figure everything out.
“I decide when FIASCCO’s cases are closed. It’s still open if I say it is. And I say that I want to find out why Dad lost his job.” Lara said her words firmly. After a moment, she added, “Besides, I don’t
