Keira sat up and pasted on a fake smile. “I was just thinking, Papa.”
Sam raised his eyebrow dubiously. Keira had always been a more introverted kid, but she seemed content with her life and her small group of friends. She wasn’t a huge fan of change. He, Devin, and Luke had agonized over the move affecting Keira negatively the most of all the kids, and it seemed now that their fears were coming true. She didn’t have her brother JP around to use as a cushion and Sam knew it was hard for her. He realized he was going to have to step up more as a source of support. Until recently, he had left that mostly to Devin, who tended to be the more sensitive to their kids’ emotional needs.
Not that Sam was insensitive, he just felt like he never knew the right thing to say. Devin, and to a degree Luke, always knew. Luke was always especially intuitive to what people were thinking and feeling, probably why he was such a good writer.
“It seemed more like you were moping, Princess. What’s wrong?”
Keira pulled a knee up to her chest, her father’s invitation making the words come rushing out. “It’s just that nothing is the same anymore, Papa. We left Boston and I have to be at this new school, and JP isn’t here and he doesn’t have time to talk to me anyway. I don’t fit in in school and no one talks to me, and I’m homely and gawky and clumsy and if people notice me they probably think I’m an idiot anyway!”
Sam tentatively sat down next to his daughter, biting back the urge to say “Sorry I asked,” and wishing Devin would know by osmosis to come home from work and solve this problem because he was beyond petrified he’d fuck it up..