With a greatthwack!he lands at the foot of the stairs. “Millie?” he hollers.
I’m across the house in seconds. “Hey, hey, hey,” I hoarse whisper, almost charging him. Harry steps back, eyes wide.
“Luc, what the hell—”
“Millie’s asleep upstairs. She’s sick.”
He blinks and his brows lower. “Well, did she say when she’d be getting dinner?”
I suppress a growl. Hanging around Alex has reminded me that fourteen-year-olds are pretty selfish. They don’t really mean it. They aren’t trying to beburros.They just haven’t figured out yet that not everything is about them.
“No, she didn’t.” I look at my watch. It’s barely five-thirty. “Do you usually eat this early?”
Harry shrugs. “Around six. I’m starved.”
I know from the time I’ve spent under this roof, Harry is either eating or hungry at all times. Just like Alex. Another trait of fourteen-year-old boys.
“Millie looked pretty bad. What do you want for dinner? I can get it for you.”
His lowered brows leap. “You’d do that?”
I grin. Harry’s a good kid, even if he is a little self-absorbed. “Yeah. That’s easy.”
“Aw-right,” he says with a chuckle. “Cane’s. Always.”
The piano playing stops. Mattie turns on the bench. “We should get Chick-Fil-A,” she says to her brother.
He scowls. “No. Cane’s. Millie said we could have it tonight because we had Chinese delivery last night.”
This I remember. Millie looked worn out when she made that call. I had asked her if she was okay, and she’d blown me off. I should have been paying more attention.
“Sorry, Mattie. Sounds like it’s Cane’s,” I tell her. Then I turn to her brother. “What do y’all usually get?”
He points to himself. “I get the Caniac Combo. Emmett gets the Three Finger Combo, and Mattie gets the Sandwich Combo.”
I look at Mattie to confirm this. She pulls a face but nods.
“What about Millie?”
“She doesn’t like Cane’s. She usually gets something else,” Mattie explains.
“Like what?”
Mattie’s face goes blank. I turn to Harry.
“Well, don’t look at me,” he mutters.
I roll my eyes. “What about drinks?”
“Cokes. All three of us,” Harry says with confidence.
I look back to Mattie to confirm. She bites her bottom lip. It’s such a Millie gesture I almost grin.
“What?”
Her gaze shifts to her twin brother and she winces. “Millie usually makes us get waters.”
“Then water it is,” I say, starting to get a better idea of just how hard it is to be Millie Delacroix. Shit, it’s got to be like walking a tightrope with these three. Give in on the fast food chicken. Hold the line on the sodas. Put up with their disagreements. Put what she wants aside.
