R
Ryan walked to the front door, slipped on his shoes, retrieved his laptop, then opened the door. He paused with his hand on the handle. Aelin had been flustered when she’d left. He assumed she wouldn’t want to leave her house unsecured, but he had no way to contact her and find out which lock she preferred. Since he didn’t know the garage code, he flicked the lock on the handle and exited to the porch.
He drove to work and missed morning traffic, had a working lunch with his favourite Cobb salad from Sam’s in the basement of his building, and finished up in time to pick up Amaya from her after school program at five. Considering how the day started, he’d ended with a significant upgrade.
Ryan waited in the pick up line as Amaya finished chatting with her friends and ran to the car. She jumped into the passenger seat, her face flushed.
“Playing soccer again?”
Amaya nodded, buckling her seat belt. “I scored on Kenny twice.”
Ryan made his best “mew” face that Amaya had made him practice for hours over spring break and put all his energy into the word, “Slay!”
Amaya scoffed. “Please don’t ever say that again, Dad.”
She tried to hide it, but she was grinning. He pulled to the edge of the parking lot already thinking ahead to what options he had for dinner. There was leftover pizza from Saturday night, but Amaya thought the sauce was too spicy. He needed to sit down and make a menu for the week. “Anything else happen today?”
Amaya shrugged. “I got a hundred percent on my math quiz.”
“Fantastic. Those practice problems must’ve helped.”
She nodded, then put her hands on the dash as her eyes lit up. “Ooh! Guess what? Bailey’s mom got locked out of their house! Can you believe that? We were just there!”
Chapter
Four
"Okay, your turn."Aelin shifted on the grass, staring at her cards laid out on the paving stone. If they had to be locked out, today wasn’t the worst day for it to happen. They didn’t have any plans that night, and being outside forced Bailey to hang out with her instead of instantly jumping on her tablet and talking with her friends after school.
They had food and drink, courtesy of Wendy’s, and she wasn’t staring at Clark Moses’s smug grin. That was a win.
Bailey bit her lip as she deliberated over her next move. She reached out a tentative hand, her fingers hovering before seizing a card, then groaning when she saw the picture. "It has a bent corner! I thought it was the Queen of Hearts!"
Aelin laughed. “I saw you scoping that out.”
“Did you bend the corner on the Cookie Queen?” Bailey looked scandalized.
“It was too obvious otherwise.”
“Mom!”
Aelin played a four, a two, and a six, then picked up three new cards. Her phone buzzed, and she glanced at the screen, hoping it was an update on the spare key.
When she saw Megan Moses’s face on the screen, she asked Bailey to pause and answered.
“Hey! Any luck?”
Megan paused. “Yep. Key’s on the way.” Her voice was a little too chipper.
“Megan—”
“Ugh, Aelin, I tried. I told him I was going to pop by after work, and he did that thing he does where he makes you feel like an idiot. He was like, “That makes no sense. We’re all adults here, and I’m already home, plus I need to pick up my camping mats?—”
“He does NOT need to pick up his camping mats. I told him he’s not getting those until he brings back my mother’s table runner.” Aelin’s jaw ticked.
Megan sighed. “Yeah. Well. He’s on his way.”
Aelin turned to face the side yard and squeezed her eyes shut. What was wrong with him? Why couldn’t he just leave her alone? Why did he insist on digging in his claws at every damn opportunity? And why didn’t she leave a spare key under the mat like a normal person?
