Chapter 35: Too Close for Comfort

"WAIT! NOT SO FAST, mister."

I pushed Isaac back. He looked wretchedly hopeful and what I wanted to say felt mean. He stared down at me with just the right amount of insecurity in his eyes to make me forget what I was going to say. I certainly didn't want to hurt him.

I didn't want to make him mad, either, because that had gone over so well already. Instead, I took the coward's path and I tried to distract him. "Why did you guys miss school today, anyway?" He leaned back against the counter again, folding his arms. His face closed in. I got the feeling he didn't want to talk about it.

"Family thing. My uncle is visiting."

"Nice. Wish I got to skip school for something like that," I said, trying to lighten things up. I didn't think my dad would ever let me skip school to visit with Uncle Ira.

"Actually, Phoebe and I didn't want to miss school. But, well, our folks are real sticklers about family duty." He made it sound like a chore, which, now that I thought about it, was true f