I nodded with a forced grin. That’s something I should’ve known, but didn’t. It’s not something you learned from a background check or surveillance file.
Why would it be? It wasn’t important in the bigger scheme of things.
“Get in here and help Bryce set the table,” Veronica,Roni, I reminded myself, said, walking towards the kitchen.
I catalogued the layout and all possible exits as I walked through the living room to the large, open kitchen. She’d knocked down the wall between the kitchen and dining room over a decade ago to make the area more cozy, her words not mine, after she took in her nieces and nephews.
“The kitchen looks great.” She’d upgraded the old farmhouse appliances and warped shelving for modern stainless steel and stained oak cabinets.
“Thank you. Cassie, grab a vase, will you?” Veronica,Roni, said, handing off the bouquet as she closed the distance between us and pulled me into a hug. “It’s been too long.”
I couldn’t disagree. My job kept me out of the country more often than not, and my U.S. home was in Washington, DC. I didn’t come home to Texas often.
I’m only here now because of work.
The face of a female infant flashed across my mind’s eye. The program was aging her, using her parents’ features, so I’d have a face to run facial recognition.
I’d be looking for a needle in a haystack, but it was my best lead.
“I’m sorry I haven’t visited more often.”
“Holy shit, did everyone else hear that?” Bryce asked.
My grin worked muscles in my cheeks that’d been dormant for far too long.
Smiling was something I did when I needed information and had to play nice.
“Are you trying to smile? Because it looks like you’re in pain.”
“Fuck you, Bryce.”
“Boys, play nice,” Roni warned us. “Cassie, why don’t you open the wine Austin brought while the boys finish setting the table.”
Roni’s long, flowing zebra patterned dress billowed around her when she spun back towards her stove. When she lifted the lid, the rich scent of spiced meat assaulted my nose and made my mouth water.
“It smells good.” I hadn’t eaten a homemade meal in months, and the smell alone was enough to make me drool.
“It’s my famous roast beef recipe.”
If I’d had it before, I’d forgotten. It’d been years since I’d last been home, and the last meal we’d eaten together was a Thanksgiving turkey.
“Where’s Dalton?”
He was a firefighter paramedic, so I assumed he was on duty, though I hadn’t verified before driving over.
“He’s on duty.”
“We’re watching E’s game later, if you’re so inclined,” Eva said.
E was what she called her twin, Ethan. He played short-stop for the Houston Falcons baseball team.. I followed his team and could recite his stats, but hadn’t seen a game yet this season.
“Sounds good.”
“Who are you, and what’d you do with our brother?” Bryce asked, using what I assumed was his interrogation voice.
Leave it to him to give me shit.
“You worried I’m an evil doppelgänger or something?” I joked.
