“I knew it was a mistake to come back out here,” I half joked. “You’re all happy and shit.”
Literally all of them had found partners while I’d been on my hiatus. Not just play partners either, but true love. Even River and Reese. Shay was perfect for them. And Greer was in a foursome, much like KC and Lucian.
“Sounds more to me like you’re scared,” KC noted.
I wasn’t scared. He could be scared.
“I’ll have you know I’m extremely busy at the moment,” I said. “I have a cat now. I’m driving my kids around. I have work.AndI’m in the middle of solving a mystery.” I glanced around us, trying to spot a brat who might collect ducks. It was a long shot, though. It couldn’t be anyone out here. Could it? “Does Tate by any chance collect little duck figurines?”
Because in the end, many of the brats out here now were fairly new in the community. They hadn’t been here toward the end of 2018. Noa was new. Kit and Shay were new. Corey had been here last time, but he’d been paired up with someone I hadn’t really liked, so we hadn’t talked that much. Who else? Lane and Nora were even newer.
“What’re you talking about?” KC couldn’t look more confused.
I suppressed a sigh and helped him up on the deck, and I gave him a brief rundown of the duck appearances in my life the past several months. And the suspects I’d crossed off my list.
He chuckled. “Definitely sounds like a brat prank.”
Yeah, but I didn’t fucking know any brats?—
Wait.
You know of one. He lives right next door.
Holy shit. Could it beJordan?
He loves birds too, doesn’t he?
“Jesus Christ, I think I just figured it out,” I said.
“Daddy, over here!” Noa called.
Three hours later
Arlington
Nathan Riley
How could he act like nothing was wrong?
Had it not occurred to him that this could be our last dinner as a family?
“Forget it,” Ash laughed, grabbing another pizza slice. “What about you, Mikey? You wanna come running with Daddy tomorrow morning?”
Micah did not.
“Youindicatedlast week it would be okay,” Hallie insisted. “Come on, Dad—please?”
I cleared my throat. “We indicated it would be okay if you spent the night with one of your girlfriends,” I corrected. “You’re not having a sleepover with that boy. End of discussion.”
Ash wagged his slice at me. “What Dad said.”
“Ugh! That’s so unfair.” Hallie sat back and folded her arms over her chest. “Dylan has sleepovers with girls all the time.”
“No, he doesn’t.” Ash shook his head. “He sneaks out, and then he gets grounded. There’s a difference.”
Dylan sulked and ate in silence.
Today, he had lost phone privileges, he wasn’t allowed to drive for a week, he was grounded for two, and he had to clean the house.
