Page 118 of On His Team

“You didn’t send it,” she says.

He looks at the screen. “I did not send it.”

Aspen groans.

He kisses the side of her head as he opens his email. “That’s why I have you.”

“That is not romantic.”

“It was meant to be.”

They leave three minutes later. Blue follows not long after. Percy is already gone.

By five-thirty, the house is quiet. Completely quiet. I stand in the middle of the kitchen listening to the refrigerator hum. Then I check the time. Gianna is coming at six. I take another piece of chicken out. There is no reason to pretend I’m cooking only for myself when I already know better.

I make rice, cut the ends off the green beans, season the chicken, and put music on low through the speaker beside the sink.

I shower while the rice cooks.

When I come back downstairs, I open my laptop at the island and pull up more homework.

At six-oh-three, the front door opens. Her boots hit the floor in the foyer. Then nothing. I look toward the doorway. Gianna appears with her jacket halfway off and stops dead. Her eyes move around the kitchen, then through the living room beyond me.

“Where is everybody?”

“Out.”

“All of them?”

“Yeah.”

She keeps one arm inside her coat and narrows her eyes.

I look back at my laptop.

“Did you do this?”

“Do what?”

“Get rid of everybody.”

I could get out of this. There are at least four ways to answer that question without technically lying.

“They had places to go.”

Gianna’s mouth opens. Then she smiles. “All of them just happened to develop plans on the same night?”

“Yeah.”

“Blue too?”

I don’t answer fast enough.

Her eyes widen. “Oh my God. You got rid of everyone.”

“I didn’t do anything.”

“You even got rid of Blue.”