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Did anything seem off about Alana after dinner?
The dots appear and disappear twice before a message pops up.
I’m not sure. Ask me tomorrow when I’m sober.
I throw a pillow over my face and groan. Although Iris won’t be much help tonight, I plan on hounding her for answers once she is coherent enough to remember what happened.
Sleep evades me no matter how long I lie on the bed, staring up at the ceiling as I comb through everything that happened tonight for a second time. Despite considering every little detail, I can’t think of anything that might have upset Lana. My family was on their best behavior—a shocker in itself—so I’m not sure what could have gone wrong.
Just ask her in the morning.
It’s the last thought I have before my eyes slide shut and my breathing evens out.
“Hey.” I kiss the top of Lana’s head. She doesn’t lean in to me like she usually does, which only adds to my growing evidence that something is wrong.
I already texted Iris early this morning, but she hasn’t answered yet. Knowing my sister-in-law and the headache she gets after drinking too much wine, it might be a little while.
“Hi.” Her gaze flickers from her food to my face before turning back to her plate.
I take a seat next to her and wrap my arm around the back of her chair. Lana is careful to keep from touching me.
“Everything okay?” I twirl a piece of her hair around my finger.
“Just tired.” She takes a long sip of her coffee.
“You went to bed early.”
“I had a headache.” Her lips thin.
“Are you feeling better this morning? We can always skip the waterpark today if you’re not.”
“I’m not going to let Cami down no matter how shitty I feel.” Something passes across her face, but it fades away quickly as she returns to her empty expression that makes the acid roll in my stomach.
“Do you want me to get you some medicine?”
“Sometimes the best cure is time.” She looks away in a poor attempt to hide the tic in her jaw.
“Ready!” Cami comes out wearing a bathing suit and a cover-up skirt that resembles a mermaid tail.
Lana places her cup on the table and stands. “Perfect. Let me help you with your hair.”
“Can you do a braid crown? Pretty please?”
“Sure.” She walks around the table, leaving me behind.
Compared to the icy interaction with me, Lana is nothing but warm to her daughter. The tightness in my chest intensifies until I’m subconsciously rubbing at the spot over my heart with a frown.
The silence surrounding me adds to the weight pressing against my chest. After spending weeks around Cami and Lana, eating meals alone seems unbearable.
I take a deep breath and fight the temptation to drink as I pull out my phone and text Iris again.
Alana is acting weird and I don’t know why.
I think something happened at dinner. Did Declan pull her aside when I was in the bathroom or something?
I sit with bated breath, waiting for a text that never comes.
She is probably still sleeping.
