Dad shrugs, completely unapologetic. “I thought it would be funny.”
Lore snorts beside me.
I make a face. “Rude.”
Chapter Thirty
Lorelie
“You can’t be serious,” Gen says.
“What?” I ask, perched on the kitchen counter like a gargoyle, one knee bent, scanning the top shelves.
“You are seriously looking for hidden booze.”
Carefully, I hop down. “You know what I’m like. I could’ve stashed something up there and forgotten. The top shelves might as well be Siberia.”
She raises a brow. I sigh and add, quieter, “And I’m worried Patrick-from-a-year-ago might’ve hidden stuff. I don’t know how to ask without making it sound like I don’t trust his sobriety.”
Gen softens, just a notch. “Okay. That part’s fair.”
“I’ve already checked all the bedrooms, all of downstairs, the kitchen-” I gesture around, “-and God, we have a big house. I still have the yard and the garage left.”
Her face twists. “I hate that garage.”
“Same,” I say. “It’s a graveyard of cardboard and junk I never wanted to deal with.” I turn to her, hopeful. “I’ll give you twenty bucks to clean it.”
She snorts. “I’m not cleaning that shit when I’m moving out. And definitely not for twenty.”
I freeze. “You’re moving out?”
She glances around at the boxes stacked by the wall, the ones Patrick’s been slowly moving in. “Yeah.”
My chest tightens. “Where?”
“Don’t know yet.” She shoves her hands into her pockets. “I’ve actually been meaning to move out for a while. I just didn’t want to leave you.”
“Aww,” I say, smiling despite feeling sad.
“I’ve never lived alone,” she says, suddenly bright. “I’m kind of excited.”
“Terrified excited or excited excited?” I ask.
“Both,” she says. “But mostly excited.”
The front door opens then, and Patrick walks in with Milo chattering nonstop at his side, words tumbling over each other. Patrick pauses when he sees us mid-hug.
“What’s going on?” he asks.
I sniff lightly. “She’s moving out.”
Patrick rubs the back of his head. “You don’t have to.”
Gen smiles. “I want to.”
“Okay, Miles,” she says brightly, clapping her hands. Bending down to scoop Agnes out of her playpen, Gen looks at Milo. “Let’s go outside and catch bugs.”
“Yay!” Milo yells, already sprinting back toward the door, Gen close behind him.
