Page 42 of Came the Closest

“Is there a fire?” Milo asks. He kneels on his stool at the kitchen island, and his face lights up like an alarm isn’t currently trying to split our ears. “Are there gonna be fire trucks?!”

“No,” Indi says, snapping a dish towel to try and clear the smoke. “Cheyenne just burned the pancakes a little.”

I wince, partially from the alarm Colton’s trying to disable and partially from Indi downplaying the situation. I didn’t just burn the pancakes a little. I burned them so badly that you could pick one up, tap it on the quartz countertop, and it would sound like a rock.

“That’s an understatement,” I tell her.

Indi only shrugs and continues waving the anchor-dotted dish towel. “Colton, what the heck is taking you so long to disable that alarm? You’re, like, ten feet tall standing on that chair. I’m beginning to lose hearing in my left eye.”

Colton keeps prodding the smoke detector with the meat thermometer I grabbed, his t-shirt riding up just enough to tease at the skin beneath its hem. He ignores his sister completely.

Eager to be part of the conversation, Milo claps his hands over his eyes. “I can’t hear out of my eyes anymore!”

Despite myself, I smile. And then, seconds later, blessed silence fills the kitchen.

“You try disabling a smoke alarm and then report back to me,” Colton tells Indi. “That wasn’t so bad though, was it?”

“If you consider premature deafness not so bad,” Indi says dryly, “then it was a breeze.”

My mouth twitches. “Sorry about that, guys. I’ll mix up another batch quick.”

“Inni doesn’t know how to cook either,” Milo offers unabashedly, grinning when his sister shoots him a look. “What? You don’t.”

“Then it looks like Milo’s in charge of meals,” Colton says lightly. He flips the chair back around to push under the table and taps the meat thermometer against his lips. “What do you think we should call it, ladies? Meals With Milo?”

Indi strokes her chin contemplatively. “What about Milo’s Meals?”

“Made by Milo?” I offer. On the outside I’m smiling, but inwardly, I feel like I’m two seconds away from a breakdown. I turn back to the griddle and scoop charred pancakes onto a plastic plate.

Milo laughs. “I’m only four!”

“But have you ever set off a smoke alarm?” Indi asks.

My grip tightens around the rubber spatula handle until my knuckles turn white.

“Well,” Milo says, and I know he’s grinning, “no.”

“There you have it,” Colton says in his best announcer’s voice. “You’re hired!”

Clearing my throat, I lighten my tone and say, “I’m gonna take these outside so the kitchen won’t smell. Then I’ll get new ones made.”

I make it to the trash can at the end of the driveway before my emotions get the best of me. I don’t know how to turn the waterworks off after the other day. Just like when I lost my baby, and when my marriage began failing, and when my career fell in shambles around me, I’m struggling to see where I fit.

Colton could have just asked Indi to be with Milo this summer. Why I thought I was the right person for this is astonishingly selfish. Colton didn’t ask me to insert myself back into his life when I called him after Dad’s accident last December, let alone when his life is up in the air. But that’s exactly what I did.

Indi is waiting for me when I turn back to the porch. She’s barefoot, she wears a matching satin pajama set, and she’s sitting in the middle of the stairs. I either have to talk to her or pretend I didn’t see her while I walk by (which is impossible).

“I know what you’re thinking,” she says crisply. Her eyes are just as perceptive as Colton’s when they meet mine. “That you messed up and you don’t think you deserve to be here and blah, blah, blah.”

I open my mouth, then close it again. How does she—

“You were muttering to yourself under your breath,” she explains, a little boredly.

Oh. I turn the now-empty plate in my hands, trying to think of what to say. Mentioning the weather probably wouldn’t do any good—especially because it’s an ideal morning following last night’s turbulence. Clear skies and balmy humidity, promising a perfect June day.

Indi pats the wooden step next to her. “Sit. Colton is mixing up another batch of pancakes with Milo as his sous chef.”

“I should—”

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