“I’m afraid to ask which one.”
“The breakfast,” she says immediately. “The gossip is for me.”
I snort, and she beams like she won something.
Hadley moves through my kitchen like she partly owns it, setting the bags down, pulling containers out, wrinkling her nose at the state of my counter even though it is objectively clean, and then glancing at me in a way that says she can tell I’m tired but plans to be annoying first and sympathetic later.
“You look bad,” she says.
“Good morning to you too.”
“It is good,” she says, nudging a takeout container toward me. “I got your favorite.”
I look down and find breakfast hash from the diner, extra hot sauce, and a biscuit big enough to count as emotional manipulation.
“That’s low.”
“That’s family.”
She grabs the coffee meant for me and takes a sip before handing it over like she’s doing me a favor. I should kick her out. Instead, I take the cup and sit.
Hadley does not show up this early unless she thinks something matters. She drops into the chair across from me and watches in complete silence until I take the first bite, which tells me Mom was absolutely involved in this operation.
“Mom send you?”
Hadley shrugs one shoulder. “I volunteered.”
“That’s not a no.”
“That’s because it’s not a no.” She takes her own breakfast sandwich apart with the kind of concentration normallyreserved for delicate surgery. “She worries. I meddle. Everybody contributes.”
I eat another bite before answering. “You’re all exhausting.”
“Still here, though.”
I look at her over the rim of my cup. “What do you actually want?”
She leans back, unoffended. “An update.”
“On what?”
She gives me a flat look. “Please don’t make me list your problems alphabetically before caffeine.”
I stare at her. She stares right back. Then she lowers her voice just a little. “Kenzie.”
I set the cup down carefully.
“How do you know?”
Hadley’s mouth tightens. “Because she stopped by the main house last night.”
That gets my full attention.
“What?”
“She didn’t come in,” Hadley says quickly. “Just sat at the end of the drive for a minute like a creep and then drove off. Mom saw the car from the kitchen window.”
Every muscle in my shoulders goes hard.
