Ira thought about it, watching Staas watching Lady watch his chocolate move from fingers to mouth. “No,” he said, finally, reaching out to distract the cat from attacking Staas’ chocolate with some chin scritches. “Not really.”
It was mostly true. Ignorance in general wasn’t awkward for him. Ira just felt sort of unsafe whenever he wasn’t certain about things that mattered to him. His brain tended to want to fill in holes when it came to missing information, and though he was often accurate (which was why he was good with history) it wasn’t a sure thing. And it was a particularly dangerous quality when it came to thinking about people. If there was anyone Ira wanted to avoid jumping to conclusions or making unqualified judgments about, it was Staas. The Moorens in general. They were too important to him to risk his imagination wandering away on an assumption.
Though in all honesty, at this point it would have to take a hell of a revelation to make Ira change his mind about how awesome he thought Staas and his family was. He wasn’t too worried about that.
But he was nosy, and now seemed a good time as any to start prodding Staas. Ira paused, tentative for just a moment. “…But I have to admit I’m curious.”
He stopped there, taking another bite of his own chocolate without a sign of impatience. If Staas wanted to answer, he would.