Bensontakesthelongway home from the diner because Lucy wants to swing by her place to grab her bag, and the long way home is twelve minutes instead of six. I’m in the back seat of the truck as the third wheel. I would have never thought of this scenario with the drafted first-round captain of the Wolves.
Lucy talks the whole drive about math. Honestly, I don’t get it, but Benson is all about the conversation like he knows exactly what she’s talking about.
“What is this?” I ask. “A tutoring session?”
They both laugh, looking at each other.
I stare out the window, tuning them out.
When we get back home, the house is warm. Stanley actively pauses the game on the TV. Rowan is on the couch scrolling his phone. Percy is at the dining room table.
I’m two steps into the entry when I see my hoodie and my t-shirt folded neatly.
Rowan looks up from his phone. “Melly dropped that off.”
I look at him.
Stanley says, “Yeah. She just left. Like ten minutes ago.”
“Fifteen,” Percy corrects.
Great. All three of them saw her without me here?
Stanley makes a sound at the ceiling. A weird noise. Halfway between a laugh and a wince. He puts the controller down on the cushion next to him. “Everyone, I’m calling a house meeting.”
Benson is three steps in the house. “Right now?”
“Right now. Kitchen table. Everyone.”
Benson turns to Lucy. “Sorry you have to hear this, baby.”
She smiles up at him. “I don’t mind.”
I kick my shoes off by the door. I don’t look at the stack on the bench again. I walk through the entry, past Stanley, past Rowan getting up off the couch, into the kitchen.
Percy is already at the table.
I don’t care what this meeting is for. I care that she came here while I was gone. I take a seat at the head of the table, drop my elbows on the wood, and wait.
Benson sits across from me. Lucy slides onto his lap and tucks her legs sideways and rests her cheek on the side of his head, and he doesn’t even flinch. Rowan takes the chair next to Benson. Percy is to my right. Stanley sits last. He claps his hands once.
“All right. I’ll get straight to the fucking point.” He says, “Blue.”
I look up.
“You good?” he asks.
“Yeah.”
Benson is staring at the table. Rowan and Percy are watching me. Lucy has gone very still on Benson’s lap.
“Tell us about last night,” Stanley says.
“What about it?”
“Melly.”
“Is this because she dropped off my clothes?” I shrug. “Her costume broke. I lent her a shirt and a hoodie. You guys all saw. So what.”
