Rena pursed her lips. “I know a little about a lot.”
“It’ll come in handy one day, I’m sure.” He pulled another pan from the cabinet and heated it on the stove for the bacon. He jumped back when it started popping. “Damn,” he grunted.
Once he finished with the bacon, he poured the eggs in the pan.
The eggs started smoking before he realized it.
Rena laughed softly. “You burning them.”
“I see,” he muttered, annoyed at himself, grabbing a spatula too late. “Fuck.”
She stepped closer, reaching around him, brushing his elbow. “Let me help?—”
Meadow raised a brow. “Oh wow. So this is what y’all do when I’m asleep? Try to burn the house down?”
Rena turned, hand on her hip. “Morning, Meadow. I tried to help him, but he swore he had it.”
Zaire didn’t look back. “I did have it. Pan just hot.”
“The pan?” Meadow asked, stepping over to the stove with a smirk. “Or the fact you don’t know what the hell you’re doing?”
He finally glanced at her, jaw tightening just enough to show he was already irritated — not because of her comment, but because she looked too good first thing in the morning. Bonnet crooked, sleepy-eyed, oversized shirt hanging loose… she didn’t even try and still knocked something loose in his chest.
“You welcome,” he muttered.
“For what?” Meadow asked, reaching past him to turn the burner down. “For giving me salmonella?”
“Nah.” He leaned against the counter. “For letting you sleep.”
Meadow paused. “Letting me?”
Zaire nodded once. “Alarm was ’bout to go off. I turned it off.”
Rena’s eyebrows shot up because she knew that was bold as hell.
Meadow blinked slowly, processing. “You… turned my alarm off?”
“You was knocked out,” he said it like it was nothing. “No point in waking you up.”
She stared at him, her irritation shifting from amused to pointed. “Zaire, I wake up at the same time every morning for a reason. Magnolia’s meds. Breakfast. Checking on Ray. The whole house moves on a schedule.”
“You needed the rest.”
“You don’t get to decide that.”
Before he could respond, a loud thump shook the back hallway.
Then Magnolia screamed —a deep and terrified cry that ripped through the house like a summer storm. “Get out! Get out my room! You not supposed to be here!”
Meadow’s heart broke in half before she even reached the doorway. She sprinted down the hall, Rena and Zaire on her heels, Ray stumbling behind them with panic written all over his face.
Magnolia stood at the foot of her bed, body trembling, eyes wild. Pillows were scattered everywhere, blankets on the floor, her hands still clenched like she’d been fighting shadows.
“Mama,” Meadow whispered, immediately going to her. “It’s me. It’s Meadow.”
Magnolia backed up, not recognizing her daughter at all. “Don’t touch me. Don’t— I don’t know you.”
Ray froze near the dresser, shoulders falling, grief twisting his face into something small. “Baby… it’s me. It’s your Ray. I’m right here.”
