Dana’s black silk blouse, bootcut jeans, and heeled shoes. “You look nice.”
“I have a date.” Dana used a spatula to transfer slices to a platter.
Bree took a can of seltzer from the fridge. “Deets now, please.”
“It’s just coffee.” She shrugged. “We connected through a dating app.”
“Seriously?” Bree felt her brows climb her forehead. “An app?”
Dana deadpanned. “Believe it or not, Grey’s Hollow is not a hotbed of dating activity.” She tossed the cutter in the sink. “Not everyone meets a total hottie on her first day in town.”
“I’ll give you that one.” Bree snorted. Her relationship with Matt had been a complete surprise. “Be careful. Text me his picture and contact info.”
“I’m meeting him at a coffee shop. I’ll go early, so he doesn’t know where I park.” Dana tugged on her jeans at the thigh, lifting the hem so Bree could see the handgun strapped to her ankle. “And I’m fully accessorized. I’ve got this.”
“OK. I believe you.” Bree joined the kids and Adam at the table.
Dana had said she enjoyed her new life with Bree and the kids after two and a half decades of dealing with criminals all day long. But sometimes Bree forgot how much her friend had given up to help the Taggert family. She must be lonely.
Dana frowned at Bree. “You haven’t changed clothes. Does this mean you’re going back to work tonight?”
“Matt and I are staking out a suspect’s house.” Bree thought about leaving Luke to babysit Kayla. At sixteen, he’d be old enough in any normal household, but she hesitated. They all had experienced too much violence to have a completely normal life.
“I can cancel my date,” Dana offered.
“I don’t want you to do that—” Bree said. She should have asked Dana before she’d arranged this stakeout. But she’d assumed her friend would be home, which was selfish.
“No need,” Adam interrupted. “I’ll hang with the kids.”
Bree smiled at her brother. “Thanks, Adam. I can get Kayla ready for bed before I go.”
“But I want to stay up with Adam and Luke!” Kayla protested.
Bree stifled the urge to say no. It was a school night, but exceptions had to be made. Kayla had suffered so much loss in her short life. She needed the opportunities to experience joy, even for something as simple as staying up past her bedtime once in a while.
“OK,” Bree said. The little girl would probably fall asleep on the couch anyway.
Happy, Kayla chattered through the meal, while Bree interrogated Luke about his day. At least that’s how it felt. As usual, the teen was reluctant to provide many details, and Bree had to drag the information out of him. When dinner was over, Bree and Adam cleaned up the kitchen. Dana fluffed her hair, freshened her makeup, and left for her date.
Bree grabbed a windbreaker and said goodbye to the kids.
“Pick a movie,” Adam called over his shoulder as he followed her out onto the porch. The sun hung low in the sky, casting long shadows. Dark clouds hovered in the distance.
“There’s a storm coming.” He stuffed his hands into his jeans pockets and squinted at the sky.
“Thanks again, Adam.”
“You don’t have to thank me. We’re family, right?”
“Yeah. We are.” Bree faced him. “Which brings me to my apology. It’s been two months since you asked me to go back to the house with you. I’ve been avoiding it. I’m sorry.”
Back in March, Adam had floored her by announcing he’d purchased their run-down, needing-to-be-condemned childhood home. The same home in which their entire lives had been shattered twenty-seven years before.
The place where their father had killed their mother.
Bree looked away, then realized that was just another avoidance. She forced herself to meet her brother’s gaze.
“I understand, Bree.” Adam’s hazel eyes, the exact color of her own, didn’t blink. “I won’t make you go there. I’m sorry I even asked. It was selfish of me. I didn’t fully realize how difficult it would be for you. You remember everything.” And she knew he was desperate to remember anything at all about the parents who had died when he was an infant.
“You have no reason to apologize. I need to face that house. I just wish it wasn’t taking me so long to work up the nerve.” Bree felt her face heat, even as dread pooled cold in her belly. As much as she recoiled at the thought of returning there, her own cowardice embarrassed her.
Adam put a hand on her arm. “It’s OK. The house will still be there