Page 79 of Made for Mayhem

I put the burger on the plate, then spread the mayo over the top, thinking about that first night.

Rowdy’s head poked out of Junie’s bedroom door as I crept down the hall. “Hey, handsome.” I crouched to ruffle the fur around his neck. “Where’s everybody hiding?”

He huffed, then limped back into the bedroom.

I followed him, my steps soft on the wooden floor and a smile already tugging up at the corners before I saw them.

Ty lay stretched across the top of Junie’s bed, one arm thrown protectively over her small frame. Junie was out cold, her constellation light throwing slow-moving stars across the ceiling.

Like this, he looked peaceful. The hard edges I expected were gone, softened by sleep. He shifted just enough that I saw his hand wrapped around Junie’s, and the sight undid me.

Not the mustache.

Not the messy hair.

Not the body.

But that.

The tenderness of it. The way this man—who didn’t owe her a damn thing—had become her anchor in a storm I could barely stand in myself. He looked so solid, so heartbreakingly gentle, holding my niece as if she were his own.

Needing to preserve this moment, I pulled out my phone and snapped a picture. It was just a quick shot—the stars, Junie’s little hand, the curve of Ty’s arm around her.

Before I thought about what I was doing, I opened my messages.

Daisy

BRB just died of cuteness overload

The second I hit send, the truth hit like a gut punch.

I’d sent it to Violet.

My chest tightened. My vision blurred.

I locked my phone and pressed it to my chest, swallowing the lump in my throat. Rowdy nosed my hand, sensing the shift.

“Yeah,” I whispered. “I know.”

I turned off the hallway light and backed out, closing Junie’s door with care. My phone buzzed in my palm, but I knew it wasn’t Violet, and that was the only person I wanted to talk to tonight.

In my room, I sank down on the edge of the bed and let the silence hit me. The laughter from girls’ night. The fundraiser plans. The way I’d smiled and pretended the world wasn’t falling apart.

But it was.

And it had.

Everything I’d been avoiding for a week all pressed down at once, heavy and unrelenting.

Violet wasn’t coming back.

Junie needed me.

Ty was… I didn’t even know anymore.

And tonight, I couldn’t ignore any of it.

The doorbell woke me up the next morning after a terrible night’s sleep.