I carry the box up the porch, nodding at Mira. “Go inside and get washed up for lunch.”
“Can Rhett stay for lunch?” Mira asks sweetly.
“No,” I say with too much force in my voice, instantly regretting it.
She sighs and sticks her thumb in her mouth. I don’t have it in me to tell her she’s too old for thumb sucking. I turn to Rhett. He shifts, as if debating taking the box from me, but the look in my eye must be enough to make him stop.
“Thanks for the help.”
He nods. “Thanks for letting me help.”
I snort out a laugh.
“Something funny about that?” he says.
It’s the thing sinful men say to seem like a good guy.
“No,” I say.
His lips curl into a smirk, and his eyes glint. “Then I guess you’ve got some kind of spontaneous laughing condition?”
I turn away so he won’t see my smile. “Have a good day, Rhett.”
He tips an imaginary hat. “You too, Elle.”
I carry the box inside and drop it heavily onto the table. Mira is sitting on the arm of the couch with her arms folded, glaring at me.
I rub my forehead, feeling bone tired. I told him to go, so it’s not like I can be annoyed he left, and I can't resent him for it… what? Fighting for the right to have lunch with a stranger?
“That wasrude, Sissy.”
I look at my baby sister. Even if she’s mad, I will not ignore her. All this talking is pure magic.
“What was?”
“He did all that helping and we didn’t even give him any food. I could’ve made him a sandwich. I’m good at making sandwiches.”
“I know you are.”
“Very, very rude,” she pouts.
“I’ll make us something to eat.”
“Not hungry,” she snaps, walking toward the hallway.
“Mira, wait?—”
She ignores me and walks on. A moment later, her door slams.
I sigh. She’s a confused kid who doesn’t fully understand why our lives blew up last year.
She doesn’t get it: a smile, a lunch, it can lead to obsession and chaos, and so much more pain. The wounds we already carry might never fully heal.
CHAPTER 3
RHETT
Back home, I do my usual checks: cameras, perimeter alarms, booby traps in case someone somehow got through all my other defenses. Once I’m done, I collapse into bed, sore from my long night and a very confusing morning.
