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“Mom.” Brinley sighed heavily. “Before I got home from school yesterday.”
“Hmm.” Fallon suspected that as soon as she’d left the morning before, Savannah had gone on the cleaning spree. Especially since she wasn’t clueless as to what was happening that night. Pulling her hair back into a ponytail, Fallon stood at the sink and pointed at Brinley. “Wash your hands. This is going to take a bit.”
Brinley grabbed the stool from the corner of the kitchen and immediately scrubbed her hands with soap, singing the alphabet song loudly twice through as if to prove her point. Fallon gave her a curious glance as she pulled out all of the food she’d stashed in Savannah’s fridge.
Savannah leaned against the entryway and watched the two of them work. Fallon threw a smile over her shoulder before quickly making a drink and putting it into Savannah’s hand. “You aren’t supposed to be in here.”
“I’m not?” Savannah asked as she sipped the drink.
Brinley shook her head wildly. “Out!”
“Go relax a bit. I’ve got this under control.” Fallon led Savannah out of the kitchen and into the living room. She turned her around next to the couch and pushed her shoulders a little, encouraging her to sit down.
Savannah didn’t budge, though. With a mischievous look in her eyes, she strained around Fallon to look toward the kitchen and then faced Fallon again. Leaning up on her toes, she kissed Fallon swiftly before moving down to sit on the couch.
“Are we resorting to sneaking around?” Fallon asked.
“For now,” Savannah replied. “Maybe we can talk about that later.”
“I’d love to.” Fallon made her way back into the kitchen.
Brinley had every single thing unpackaged and lined up on the counter, but it was definitely out of order. Probably becauseshe had no idea what order it was supposed to go in. They hadn’t even really talked about what exactly they were making.
“I see you got started without me,” Fallon commented as she moved to the sink to wash her hands.
“This looks complicated.”
“It’s more complicated than the last dish I taught you to make.” Fallon grabbed the carrots and plopped them in front of Brinley with a cutting board and knife. She showed her quickly how to chop them before she started on the rest of the items.
“Do you think my mom’s mad?”
Fallon frowned. “Mad about what?”
“Because of what I said about Dad?”
Shaking her head, Fallon gave the only answer she could. “I don’t think she’s mad. Worried probably.”
“I hate worrying her.” Brinley sliced very carefully through the carrots one after the other while Fallon spread out the crust for the mini potpies they were making.
“I’m pretty sure it’s a parent’s job to worry.”
“I don’t like it when she worries about me,” Brinley confessed.
“I don’t think I’d like it either.” Fallon moved on to the next item.
They worked side by side, making conversation about school and work. Brinley avoided any other hard questions, thankfully. Fallon wasn’t sure she was ready for them. As the meal baked in the oven, they cleaned the kitchen again, top to bottom.
“What are we doing next?” Fallon asked, her hands on her hips.
Brinley shook her head. “I don’t know.”
“Do you want to sit at the table for dinner tonight?” Fallon glanced at it, really hoping that Brinley would say no. There was a ton of paperwork stacked on it, and she recognized the folders from Athena’s office as well as Kevin’s. Savannah probablyshouldn’t just leave that lying around where Brinley could read it all. Brinley was smart enough and old enough to be able to understand a lot of what was in there.
“Yeah! That sounds fun.” Brinley immediately started clearing all the papers, but Fallon stopped her with a gentle hand on her wrist.
“Let’s separate out what we know we need to keep, what we know we can throw out, and then what we have questions about.”
They worked together quickly, and Fallon could hear Savannah on the phone with Kevin, her voice mumbled, but she caught enough words to know that she’d finally made the phone call she should have. Peeking out into the living room, Fallon suggested they clean there first while Savannah was gone.
