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Poppy sighed. “Go pick a fight with Parker,” she muttered. “He’s the one you should be mad at.”
Ian’s eyes cut to Poppy, then me. “You ever think Parker doesn’t feel like he’s needed here, and that’s why he doesn’t come home?”
“Bullshit,” I snapped. “He’s not coming home because it’s hard, and I get it, but don’t project your own issues onto him as a way to make excuses.”
Ian’s gaze darkened, but when his mouth opened to argue, Dad hit his open palm on the table.
“Enough,” he said.
He didn’t yell.
Didn’t raise his voice. Maybe because he couldn’t.
The single word was hardly more than a whisper, but silence fell at the table as if he’d screamed it.
Shame had my eyes falling closed.
“Sorry,” I said, swiping a hand over my face when I opened my eyes and looked at Dad and then Mom. “I apologize for ruining dinner.”
Ian’s jaw clenched. “Me too.”
But my brother didn’t look at me.
So I didn’t look at him either.
“It’s all right,” Dad said wearily. “Lord knows you boys used to fight like cats and dogs growing up. We should be used to it.”
Greer’s gaze caught mine and held, and I could see the concern buried there.
I shook my head slightly.
I didn’t want to talk about it with her.
Mom pushed back from her seat, then stood and laid a hand on Ian’s shoulder. “I love you,” she said, then dropped a kiss on the top of his head. She walked over to me and took my face in her hands. “And I love you.”
“Love you too,” I told her.
Her eyes were smiling, even as her mouth stayed in a firm line. “You’re both stubborn as hell in your own way,” she said. “All you kids are. It’s why you’ve turned out so well, because no one can tell you what to do.”
Poppy rolled her eyes. “Don’t encourage them, Mom. I’d like to note for the record that us three girls never fought like that.”
Greer grinned. “Nope. We’re angels.”
Ian snorted. “Do we practice delusions at the dinner table now?”
“With regularity,” Dad said in a tired voice.
Mom squeezed my arm. “You still planning on working on the coop tomorrow?”
“Yes, ma’am,” I said. “I’ll be here first thing, and Poppy is very excited to help me.”
My sister rolled her eyes.
Mom laughed. “Great. Can you do me a favor?”
“Of course,” I said immediately. Ian’s words flashed through my head, and I cut my gaze over to his, where he looked a bit too smug.
“Can you bring a plate of this food over to Ivy? I hate thinking about the girl going hungry over there.”
