Page 76 of When Love Takes Root

“JJ.”

“What? I’m just observing.”

“You’re instigating.”

He shrugged. “Both can be true.”

Zuri looked between us. “I mean, if Mama did have a date, that’s okay, right?”

Maya lifted one shoulder. “As long as nobody tries to be weird at breakfast or call us a blended blessing.”

“Please don’t say blended blessing in my kitchen,” I said.

Skye kicked her feet under the table. “If Mama gets married again, can we have a baby brother?”

Every head turned toward her.

“What?” she asked. “I’m just saying. We got enough girls.”

Maya frowned. “I’m literally sitting right here.”

“I said what I said.”

JJ choked on his juice.

I pressed my fingers to my temple. “Nobody is having a baby brother. Nobody is getting married. Nobody is planning anything before school.”

Kayden’s jaw tightened. “That’s not funny.”

The laughter thinned around the edges.

I looked at him. My seventeen-year-old stood there in his uniform pants and white undershirt, shoulders broad, mouth hard, eyes carrying more alarm than the conversation deserved. It would’ve been easy to fuss at him for doing too much. He was doing too much, but beneath the attitude was fear wearing his father’s face.

“Kayden,” I said.

He shook his head. “No, I’m just saying. Y’all joking, but this is real.”

JJ lowered his glass. “Man, relax.”

“I am relaxed.”

“You standing by the pantry looking like you about to pat Mr. Brooks down for weapons and intentions.”

“I don’t know him.”

“You barely know half your teachers and still ask them for recommendation letters.”

Kayden glared at him. “That’s different.”

JJ pushed off the counter, still calm but no longer amused. “It’s different because you’re scared.”

Kayden’s face changed.

I stepped in before the kitchen became a battlefield. “Enough.”

Both of them looked at me.

I set the edge brush down and wiped my fingers on a towel. “I had dinner after work because I hadn’t eaten all day. That’s it.”