Laney hands Emma a plate, and they both look at me.
“Hungry?” Emma asks.
“I’m…not,” I admit.
Emma looks at Bash, then down at her own plate, which holds a hamburger bun without the hamburger, a banana that I didn’t see on the food line, plus plain noodles that I didn’t notice on the food line.
That looks like what Begonia’s sister fed her kids when they were recovering from a stomach bug.
Is Emma’s stomach upset today too?
She nods. “Understandable.”
I hate that I make her nervous. “How long have you had chickens?”
“About a year. Bash’s daycare center got eggs for their oldest preschool class, then asked if anyone wanted the chicks. Helovedthem, and I’d been thinking about it anyway, so Dad and Theo helped me build the coop and now here we are with almost a dozen.”
“Does that count the one inside?”
“Yes.”
“You can look at my tax returns. I do pay my taxes.”
She laughs.
Actually laughs.
And the smallest bit of tension leaves my shoulders.
“Thank you,” she says.
“How long are the triplets going to pretend to be each other?”
“How do you know they’re pretending to be each other?”
“Good guess.”
She slides me a look.
I smile. Can’t help it. “Your brother didn’t run a full background investigation on me?”
“Actually, that was Grey’s grandmother,” Sabrina says as she lowers herself into the chair on my other side. “You’re lucky she’s not here today, or this would be even more uncomfortable for you. Why aren’t you eating?”
“You make me nervous.”
“Good. I accept that answer. Carry on. Pretend I’m not here.”
“Is she always so blatant?” I ask Emma.
Emma smiles past me at her friend. “No. Most strangers have no idea how much she knows about them until it’s too late.”
“It’s already too late, isn’t it?” I murmur.
There goes the wariness again. “Most likely. I’ll save your seat if you want to get food.”
“I will too,” Sabrina says. “I’m here for the entertainment, and I have questions about what Razzle Dazzle was thinking with redoingThat Last Summer. Your version was fine. The new version gave me worse morning sickness.”
“My version wasoutstanding,” I correct.
