Page 13 (1/2)

“Did she lose everything? Where is she staying?”

Shit He hadn’t thought about that when he’d said earlier he was staying at Asher’s apartment

“You let her know she’s welco as she needs,” Mom declared

He frowned at the assues “You let her know I’ to talk to her”

“Because you’re a jerk,” Merit chimed in

“I don’t knohy you don’t like her,” Celia said as she lifted her juice for a drink “It’s not her fault Lisa turned out to be such a flake”

And just like that, his distraction shifted in a direction he hadn’t expected It wasn’t anything he hadn’t heard before The faot on Loyal for his dislike of Roxanna He didn’t care—notfor the conversation to morph in a different direction, so he kept quiet and rode it out

With Grayson and Reular fathy discussion of the upco Halloween fundraiser for the Children’s Hospital on the thirty-first

Histo top last year’s totals, and since it would be one of the last big events before election night, she was going all out Loyal had been able to get aith a large monetary donation in the past, but now that he was ho them all know they’d be expected to attend for the sake of the children and their father’s can

Whichfor a costunito froatory appearance with Mom

As was custo, and the kids were in charge of cleanup as their parents and grandparents shared one last cup of coffee And, as was usual, Merit carried his plate into the kitchen, but quickly disappeared, leaving the rest of them to pick up his slack

A half hour later, Loyal wiped off the kitchen island counter and tossed the washcloth to Robert at the sink His brother-in-law had stepped up in cleaning duties froo

“I’uys around”

“I’rin

“Like you’ll even notice with your nose stuck in your books all the ti on her dark ponytail