Page 94 of Sundown Somewhere

Shit…

I scramble, trying to catch the girls’ voices again, but I can’t. Like a lost radio frequency, they’ve faded into the air, never to be found again.

Just what…Dolly just what?

Fuck!

I turn and glare at Milo, who doesn’t seem bothered one bit that he disturbed me. In fact, the shit-eating grin on his face relays the exact opposite.

“Eavesdropping are we?” he calls me out.

“No.”

It’s a lie. But I’m not going to own up to it. Especially since I have nothing to report on since he ruined it.

“Catch anything good?”

“I wasn’t listening,” I say, doubling down.

“Try telling us that again, this time without blinking your left eyelid,” Auggie says, side-eyeing me from the grill.

What?!

“It’s his tell,” our father continues. “Always has been. Winks with his left when he’s fibbing.”

Are you fucking kidding me?!

“Seriously?” Milo asks.

“No, I don’t!” Do I? Shit…I don’t actually know.

I look between the three of them, waiting for a response.

“Never paid that much attention,” Nash says.

“Yup.” Keeping his focus on the grill, Auggie claps the tongs together, Milo and Nash quickly stepping back to avoid being unwilling victims. “So, as I said, tell me that without winking.”

“What’s Hux lying about?” Gus asks, stepping through the sliding screen door.

“You knew about his tell?” Milo’s tone is incredulous, as if he were the one who was just outed, rather than the one being left in the dark about it.

“I don’t have a tell!” I try to defend, but it falls on deaf ears.

“You do,” Gus tells me, nodding as he sits in the chair next to me. “It’s subtle, but it’s there.”

Well, fuck…

“Who’s in the kitchen?” Milo turns his question to Gus, realizing that he’s not getting anything else from me.

“It was just Dolly and Willa, although Margeaux is in there now. Where’s Brenna?”

“She ran to Wright’s. We’re out of mustard. She should be back any minute,” Milo answers, then turns to look at me. His shit-eating grin grows, and he crosses his arms, looking smug as fuck. “So, what were baby sister and the ever lovely Dolly McLain talkin’ about that was so captivating?”

“I don’t know; I wasn’t listening.”

There, I said it without winking. I think.

“You were eavesdropping?” Gus half asks, half announces.