“Have you been taking edibles?” Bowen asked. “You think we’re finishing before the sun goes down?”
“Sure,” James said. “I believe in us.”
“Not happening.” I sighed. I was past ready to get out on Lake A and catch a smallmouth.
“What’s this paint color?” Cash asked, on the tallest ladder of all, edging freehand.
Liam chuckled. “Absolutely Not Pink.”
Everyone laughed but Theo, who looked annoyed that James hadn’t appreciated his decorating efforts.
James scrunched his face, trying to remember. “Plain Gray?”
“Nah, too boring,” Bowen said. “Respectable Mud.”
“Dignified Dirt,” Cash said in a snooty voice.
Theo pursed his lips. “Zero Frills.”
“I’m a guy.” James scowled. “I don’t want frills.”
“A guy raising a daughter.” Theo gestured dramatically at Willow, happily gnawing on her teether in the Pack N Play. “Are you trying to turn her into a villain? She’ll be fifteen and painting everything neon just to undo this trauma. Sheesh.”
Bowen, who was closest to the bedroom door, held up a hand, quieting us. “Did you guys hear that? I think someone’s at the front door.”
“I’ll get it.” I was glad for a reason to stop for a minute. I hopped onto the floor and jogged from the room. Through the window, I saw a generic black Tesla parked on the street. “Huh.” I opened the door.
And blinked.
I almost didn’t recognize the woman standing in front of me—brown hair, no makeup, buried in an oversized hoodie and jeans, a folded sheet of notebook paper clenched in her hand. The look on her face said I was about five seconds from being verbally demolished.
“Nessa?” I asked, shocked. “What’re you?—”
“Where is she?” She pushed inside, knocking me out of the way. “Juliette Serrant!” she hollered. “Get your skinny behind out here, right now!”
I closed the door. “She’s not here.”
My brothers and cousins goosenecked from James’s room.
Nessa whirled on me. “Don’t lie to me. I have a bone to pick with her, and I’m not leaving until I do.”
“Seriously,” I said. “She’s not here.”
“Well, where is she?” she said impatiently as she pulled out her phone. “Drop me her pin.”
“She’s. Not. Here. As in not in Seddledowne.”
Nessa rolled her eyes. “You can stop covering for her. I know she’s here. Fallon told me so.”
I threw up my hands. “Juliette is not hereanymore, and she never will be, okay? Not after learning about her little side gig as a prostitute.”
Nessa stared at me long enough to make it uncomfortable. “For real?” She folded in half, smacked her thigh, and cackled like she’d just heard the funniest joke of her life. “You are—” a gasp and another knee slap “—so stupid.”
“Excuse me?” I raised my voice. “It’s not funny. It’s the opposite of funny!”
She stood, tears rolling down her cheeks, tiny laughs bubbling out. Then her shoulders shook, and something in my chest tightened. She might be laughing, but she was crying too. And not the happy kind.
“You’re right.” Her lips pressed together and she shook with a sob. “It’s not funny. None of it’s funny.”
