“For Rebel.”
“Why?” he asked suspiciously. “I shaved his eyebrows and hair for her anyway.”
“Can you tell her the reason why?” Meggie asked. “You can’t, right? That means you had no good reason to do what you did.”
“We could…we could say I-I insulted her,” Kaia said hesitantly. “And Axel took exception to that.”
Axel lifted his brows. “You actually came up with a cool idea. Did that get in your brain or did you Google how to be a not-as-bad shiesty motherfucker and they made you think that?”
Kaia rubbed the back of his neck. “I thought it, Axel,” he said tiredly.
After a moment’s consideration, Axel nodded. “Don’t fucking care. I still don’t like you,” he declared and stomped out.
***
Rebel accepted Kaia’s explanation, scolded Axel gently, then hugged him, thanked him for watching out for her, and told him he was a great brother. She didn’t ask about the insult, so no one offered details.
Instead of finding the cook, Meggie called for a car service. They went to a local café, where Axel and Kaia ate hashbrowns, sausage, and eggs, while Meggie and Rebel dined on Eggs Benedict and avocado toast. The fresh squeezed juice was delicious as was the coffee.
Meggie, Rebel, and Axel snapped photos and sent texts. Rebel to Mattie, Axel to Diesel and his ‘men’, and Meggie to Christopher and CJ. Kaia looked a little lost because he wasn’t as enthused. He didn’t pick up his phone once.
Rebel paid attention to him more than Meggie realized because she said, “Text Kayce. He’ll like photos. Oh, and I told CJ you’d send him photos.”
He smiled at her, then did as she instructed, his tension easing at the responses.
Once Meggie paid the tab and they were loaded back in the car, Rebel talked more than she had in days, which pleased Meggie.
It wasn’t a secret how much Rebel loved to shop, but the sheer amount of clothes, jewelry, shoes, and accessories she chose impressedeven Meggie. Kaia and Axel tapped out at about three and went to a coffee shop to wait until Meggie and Rebel finished.
Back at Mortician’s estate, Xanders greeted them and sent the staff to help with all the packages. Meggie actually was having some things delivered because they couldn’t fit everything into the Escalade. Even with the empty suitcases they’d brought, she had to ask Xanders to order additional ones for her and Rebel, which he was more than happy to do.
Her next request was a gamble, but Rebel needed to get back into the water as soon as possible. Although Rule knocked Rebel out and then dragged her into the pool, Meggie thought if Rebel learned underwater defense strategies, she would feel safe in the water again.
Meggie wanted to spend as much time with Rule tomorrow and then come back to the house and pack. Before she hired someone to train Rebel for more than one hour on a random Monday evening, Meggie wanted to make sure her daughter would participate. Or at least try.
Xanders also helped Meggie secure dinner reservations for her and Rebel, whether the pool lesson took place or not. They needed time to talk, which was the main purpose of the trip.
Rebel was in her bedroom while the boys were outside when Phillip arrived. Meggie wore a sarong but was already in her bathing suit,so she asked Xanders to serve the swimming coach some refreshments and went to convince Rebel.
“Do I have to, Momma?” she asked when Meggie explained the situation.
“Of course not, love,” Meggie told her, sitting next to her on the sofa where she’d been texting Mattie. “But I’d like you to try. If it’s too much for you, I’ll send Phillip away and we’ll try again some other time.”
Rebel sat her phone aside and bowed her head. “Have you been back in the water?”
“I have. At home. In the natatorium.”
“You have?”
“Axel wanted me to swim with him, sweetheart.”
“Did you feel weird in the natatorium?”
“It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, Reb.”
Rebel thought for a moment, heaved in a sigh, then got to her feet. “If you can do it, then so can I.”
Not long after K-P was killed, Val sent Mortician on a run. A job needed to be done—so long ago Mort couldn’t remember the exact details—but it was also to ride off his grief over losing K-P. Kendall had been at her busiest back then, wanting Johnnie to see her and hating Meggie because her man was stupid. Mort had dropped in to let Kendall know he was leaving for a few days and warned her to behave. He could’ve saved his fucking breath because by the time he returned, all hell had broken loose.
