“I’m here to help your uncle Brock with something,” I said.
“With what?”
“Well… you know how sometimes you do something and get in trouble for it?”
Maisie nodded. “I threw my juice box at Uncle Colt.”
“You sure did,” Colt muttered.
“So my job is to help people after they get in trouble. I help them say sorry the right way.”
“Uncle Brock, what did you do?”
Brock coughed. “Nothing, bug.”
“Then why do you need to say sorry?”
His jaw tightened, the bruise showing. “I don’t need to.”
“But Sienna said you got in trouble.”
Brock looked at me like this was my fault. I grimaced back with a small shrug that said,You brought this on yourself.
“Even grownups get in trouble sometimes, sweetheart.” Silas placed another roll on Maisie’s plate. “Even your Uncle Brock.”
“Especially your Uncle Brock,” Colt added.
“You’re one to talk,” Brock muttered.
“Eat, boys,” Silas said. He turned to me. “So this is what you do, Sienna? Clean up after people for a living?”
"Pretty much. Someone famous does something dumb, my phone rings."
He nodded, shooting a glance at Brock before looking back at me. “And do you like it?”
I chose my words carefully. “It has its moments. But the clients aren’t always the easiest to deal with.”
Brock stabbed a potato with his fork and stayed silent.
Colt’s eyes lit up. “Wait, have you worked with anyone famous?”
“I can’t say.”
“Come on. Just one name.”
“I'd love to tell you, but I really can’t.”
Colt leaned forward, elbows on the table. “Okay, I’ll say names. You say yes or no. Nobody’s gonna?—”
“She said she can’t, Colton,” Silas cut in.
Colt dropped back in his chair. “Fine. But I’m gonna figure it out.”
Wren leaned toward me and lowered her voice. “He won’t. Just distract him with something else. Ask him about the time he tried to ride a sheep at the county fair. It’s his favorite story to tell.”
I laughed, and for a moment the tension in my shoulders finally loosened.
The kitchen was warm and golden from the summer light. The conversation continued without me. Butter and salt still lingered on my tongue, and exhaustion gave everything a soft, slightly unreal edge.
