"Why is the table set?"

Jacy slouched in front of her plate, looking especially jetlagged. Her plane had been delayed twice, and she didn't make it home until damn near one a.m. She was sunburned and smelled like pine trees and was full of stories about Dad and fishing and him letting her use the speed gun on the highway. Twice.

"Edward is coming over for breakfast."

Her mouth dropped open.

"What happened while I was gone?"

"Nothing," I hissed. "Nothing happened—he just wanted to see you. And I mentioned peach pancakes. He insisted."

A knock on the front door. Jacy bolted, and I snuck a peek around the hallway, just in time to see her give Edward a hug around the middle and him return it. I ducked back to the stove, hoping neither of them saw me snooping.

"Morning." Edward sat next to Jacy and gave me a nod hello, even though he looked like he would rather grind me into the countertops, and took a drink of orange juice. Jacy was staring at his splint.

"I thought you told me nothing happened while I was gone," she accused me.

"That's his story, not mine." I set pancakes down in front of them. Jacy took one. I took one. Edward took four.

Jacy spent the first part of breakfast talking Edward's ears right off his face. She spent the latter half trying to convince me that I didn't need to use the garage anymore.

The car could sleep outside.

"With the motorcycle gone, there's way more room, and I could set up a little practice place for when winter comes," Jacy said, smothering her pancake in way too much syrup. She had this all planned out.

"That's exactly when I'd like to be parking inside."

"Is there a motorcycle in your garage that I don't know about?" Edward paused his pancake annihilation long enough to gape at me.

"Not anymore," I quipped, gulping orange juice.

"We sold it to pay for my teeth." Jacy flashed him the straight pearly whites I'd barely paid for, eventually selling Jake's beloved bike to afford his daughter's smile. "It was my daddy's bike," Jacy continued, garbled around an enormous mouthful of doughy peaches.

Edward kept staring at me, but his whole face changed.

We finished breakfast in silence.

AN

All of my love belongs to Hadley.

Thank you for reading.

xo

HB