Page 129 of When In Doubt

“Well, that’s the risk you run when you show up at midnight, not wanting to talk about whatever’s going on with you.”

“I just didn’t want to walk all the way home.” I reach up to rub the crick in my neck.

“Sure.”

“I’m sorry if I woke you guys.”

“You didn’t.” She sits on the other side of the sectional, pulling both legs up to face me. “Mack only got back a little before you, anyway.”

“He was dealing with Justin?” I ask sourly. I don’t know how the hell I’m going to look that guy in the face when we’re back at the station. Every time I think about him, I just hear his words replay, all the shit he was saying about Freya.

“I think he was smoothing things over with Turner.” She gives me a pointed look. “He wasn’t especially impressed with you making a scene at Megan’s trivia night.”

“Fuck.” I scrub a hand through my hair. “No, I guess not.”

Birdie comes charging back into the room, pop tart held high above her head like a Viking.

“Bird!” Mack calls after her. “I told you to sit at the table, young lady!”

“But I want to see Occa,” she whines, climbing onto the couch and placing herself in my lap.

“And did Oscar say it was alright for you to climb on him?” Mack asks, rounding the corner to take in the scene.

Birdie doesn’t answer, her mouth already full of the pop tart she’s managed to eat almost half of already. Mack sighs, admitting defeat. He drops down next to his wife and pulls her feet into his lap, starting to rub them absentmindedly.

“He doesn’t mind,” Birdie replies, spraying crumbs all across my legs.

“Did he say that?” Joni presses.

Birdie shrugs. “I can tell.”

I chuckle. “I don’t mind.”

“Why don’t you finish your breakfast, and then you can go play for a bit, yeah?” Mack asks his daughter.

“Can Occa come?”

“Not this time,” Joni says. She and Mack stare at me.

Fuck.

I know that look.

It’s the look they give me when they’re about to gang up and force me to spill my guts.

“Then I wanna stay,” Birdie protests through the last bite of her pastry.

Joni pulls out her phone. “You can watch some videos if you want?” she offers.

Birdie lights up and starts bouncing around. I have to grab her by the waist and plop her next to me, away from the edge of the couch before she takes herself off of it. “Can I watch the toady?”

“Sure, you can.” Joni laughs. I hear her scrolling until she finds what she’s looking for before passing the phone across to her toddler. Birdie squeals, snatching the device. I see a flash of someone in some kind of costume doing a backflip before Birdie slides off the couch and runs over to her play-tent, crawling inside.

“She’s going through a phase where she’s really into mascots.” Mack rolls his eyes.

“Could be worse.” I shrug. “You should have seen all the weird things I obsessed over as a kid.” Though none of my childhood obsessions could hold a candle to the way I fixated on Freya.

With Birdie gone, there’s no escaping the inquisition I know is coming. Surprisingly, it’s Mack who starts it off; usually Joni’s the one always trying to psychoanalyze me.