Page 24 of Prickly Romance

CAGED SONG BIRD

DEJONAE

“Mama Moira’s in town.Do you want to swing by the farmhouse after school?” Vanya’s voice surges through my earbuds.

“Are you kidding?” I squeal. “I’ve been waiting ages for an invite.”

She chuckles, but there’s something off about it. “I’m glad you’re interested,” she says.

“What earned me the golden ticket?”

“No reason. It’s just… been a while since I’ve met up with everyone.”

“Is that why you want me there?” I swipe my ID card over the scanner and enter the library. “To take the heat off you?”

“No, of course not.”

I stop in the middle of the Greek Theology aisle. “I have one condition.”

“Name it.”

“I want fry jacks.”

“Can’t guarantee that. Mama Moira cooks when she feels like it. Or when the kids beg. Which is often—ah!” The sound of something shattering erupts on her end of the line.

I gasp and turn back to the exits, ready to charge over to Vanya and Hadyn’s place. “Are you okay, Van?”

“Damn it. I dropped something.”

Baby Ollie starts bawling in the background.

“Babe, what happened?” Hadyn’s voice leaks into my ear.“Be careful. Let me clean that up.”

“Let me. I made the mess,” Vanya insists.

“Baby, I got it. Why don’t you wait in the living room? I’ll calm Ollie and clean this up.”

The worry in Hadyn’s voice makes my heart tighten. As an aspiring songwriter, I’m sensitive to the way vocal tones convey feeling. Whatever’s going on seems more urgent than Vanya stepping on broken glass.

“Is everything good over there?” I ask.

“Yes,” Vanya says with a little more force than necessary.

“Like… in general?” I pass the memoir section of the library.

“In general? Life is different. I’m a new mom. My hormones are crazy and I don’t know what I’m doing half the time.” She laughs it off. “But what can I say? It’s… yeah, motherhood is a lot, but it’s great.”

The sound of her breathing changes and I assume she’s walking into another room.

“Enough about me,” Vanya says. “What happened with you and Sazuki yesterday?”

My muscles tighten on impact. “Don’t mention that man to me.”

“Nowthatsounds like a story.”

I stop in the music theory section and tuck my finger into the spine of a book. “He offered me a job, but in the mostPride and Prejudiceway ever.”

“Pride and Prejudice?”

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