“Brunch!” Mia yelled that weekend as she came rushing into the house, weighed down with a large bag and coffees, all boasting the logo for Asterisk.
“Saint,” I called back from where I was laying on the couch and scrambled to standing as Hollis ran over.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” she said excitedly as she grabbed the drink carrier and took it over to the breakfast bar. “Love you forever.”
Mia blew her a kiss and then turned to me. “Saturday usual?”
“Always,” I said as I took the bag containing all our pastries from her to set it next to the coffees, then backed up to the fridge. “Are you staying or running to the next?”
“Running to the next,” she said easily, then gestured to the coffees. “I didn’t know what to get Kinsley since I’ve only seen her for about a minute.”
I gave a slight huff, but it was Hollis who said, “You aren’t the only one.” She looked around to make sure Kinsley hadn’t come downstairs, then lowered her voice. “Stevie’s already plotting how to make her move out because she never comes out of her room.”
“She does,” I said in Kinsley’s defense. “Not Kinsley’s fault we’ve been at work before Stevie wakes, and the two of you are gone before we’ve gotten home.”
Hollis pointed at Mia but looked at me. “Okay, but Mia’s never home, and we somehow still see her.”
“Here I am,” Mia said softly, a light laugh bubbling past her lips.
“I’m just relaying Stevie’s argument,” Hollis said, raising her hands placatingly. “And if you’re going with your side of the argument . . .” She gestured around her. “You don’t have work today, and she’s still up in her room.”
“So is Stevie,” I said pointedly, a grin lighting my face even though I was more than aware that Kinsley had been hiding away whenever we were home.
It had nothing to do with the girls, considering she hadn’t spent any time with them, it was all because of the texts and calls she got every day. Weighing her down and filling her with doubt. Not just from her boyfriend, though I was sure that was the worst of it, but from everyone in Ferndale.
“Anyway, I just brought her what you always get,” Mia told me, her face scrunching up uneasily. “Sorry if she hates it.”
“No, that’s great. Thank you.”
Backing away, she pointed toward the front of the house. “Gotta run.”
“Thank you,” Hollis called out, then asked, “What are you doing?” when she turned and found me shaking a can in preparation.
“It’s all I know about Kinsley’s coffee choice—extra whipped cream.”
“Well, no one can be bad if that’s a necessity in their coffee order.”
“Exactly,” I said as I finished up and headed back to the fridge.
With a sigh, Hollis grabbed her and Stevie’s drinks. “Guess I’ll go wake the monster.”
“I’ll try to get Kinsley out,” I said as I grabbed our drinks, my voice dropping to a whisper as we walked toward the hall. “By the way, she didn’t change her clothes.”
“Mia?” Hollis asked, eyes wide and knowing when she glanced my way.
I tipped my head in acknowledgment. “She said she was going to the next job, but she didn’t change.”
Mia worked multiple jobs—had since before we’d met her. The girl was always running in and out of the house with that gentle smile on her face as if she thrived off keeping busy.
But she still came home, claiming to have gotten off a shift from a job I knew she no longer worked at—that she hadn’t been at for months. And more and more often, she ran to and from jobs without changing. She wasn’t falling behind in her portion of the bills, so we had no reason to confront her about it. But something wasn’t adding up.
Hollis’s head bobbed for a moment before she released a sigh. “I’ve been noticing that,” she admitted before hurrying to add, “But I still think she’ll tell us whatever’s going on when she’s ready.”
“I agree. I just don’t know why she’d keep anything from us in the first place.”
“People need to have secrets,” she whispered, the words sounding at once like a reminder and a burden, and stopped me just as we reached the landing of the second floor.
“You know,” I realized, then stepped closer to her to hiss, “Wait, you know?”
“No.” Her head moved in faint, quick shakes. “No, but . . .” Her eyebrows bunched together in worry and apprehension. “Adam does,” she revealed on a breath.
I mumbled a curse as I rocked back, putting that space between us again. “Of course he does.”
“He won’t tell me. He just said Mia has her own secrets that she’d tell us if she was ever ready.”
“What good is having an FBI agent for a boyfriend if he won’t tell you what he knows?” I asked, but the question was a soft tease and had a smile pulling at Hollis’s mouth. “At least I know I’m not imagining things.” I took another step toward Kinsley’s door but stopped. “Mia’s okay though . . . right?”
“I asked that,” she said with a firm nod. “He said as far as he knows—he wasn’t concerned about it.”
“Good.” Knocking on Kinsley’s door, I lifted a shoulder and said, “Guess I’ll stop worrying over it then.”
“No, you won’t,” Hollis said resolutely.
“No, I won’t,” I agreed.
“Mom,” she said under her breath, all playful affection as she turned toward her and Stevie’s rooms.
I looked to the side just as the door to Kinsley’s room opened and forced my outward appearance to remain neutral when everything inside me went wild at the sight of her.
Still. A week after she’d moved in.
I’d been hoping it was a fluke or that I’d get over it—something. But I was pretty sure my heart raced a little faster, a little harder, each time I saw her.
I wasn’t going to survive living with her.
A stuttered breath left her. Her brows lifting as she shook her head in that way I’d noticed she did over the week—like she thought she was being ridiculous. “Wow, you really don’t like clothes.”
Wait, what?
I looked down at myself and then back to her in time to see her walk into the room, waiting for me to follow. “I am covered,” I said firmly, wondering why that was so difficult for everyone to grasp.
“Well, if you want to be technical about it,” she said, one of those soft smiles crossing her face when she glanced back at me and just about stopping my heart.
I mentally shook myself out and held her drink toward her, silently cursing whatever brought this girl into my life when everything about her brightened.
“Wait, this is for me?” she asked, all that adorable bubbliness coming to life in an instant.
“Yeah, uh . . . it’s kind of a thing here on Saturdays. Someone gets coffee and pastries from Asterisk, usually Mia since she’s almost always ending a shift there.” I gestured to the drink in her hands and said, “Mia didn’t know what you’d like, so she just got you what she gets me.”