Page 125 of Myla: The Hawthornes

“Came home early.”

“I told him I could do it myself,” Noel announced, walking over to give Titus a kiss.

“She wanted to help me carry the cooler to the porch.”

Titus frowned. “Yeah, right.”

“That’s what I said.”

“I could do it,” Noel said in exasperation.

“That cooler weighs about half as much as you do,” Titus argued. “There’s no way in hell.”

“Let’s go to the garage,” Noel persisted. “I’ll show you.”

“Nope.” He grabbed her waist and yanked her toward him, wrapping his arms around her as he leaned down to whisper in her ear.

I took that as my cue to leave.

Upstairs, I quietly gathered some clothes and hopped in the shower. We’d decided to have Saoirse’s birthday party at my place since this house had a lot more room than Aunt Ashley’s. Aoife wasn’t happy about it, but Saoirse had been spending some time with Noel, and she’d mentioned inviting their little family to her birthday dinner. Since Saoirse had never been great at making friends, Aoife acted like it was the best idea ever.

I checked my phone as soon as I’d gotten dressed, but I didn’t have any missed calls. The sky-is-falling feeling had gone away while I was helping Noel, but it was back in full force as I made my way back downstairs.

“Uncle Cian,” Diana bellowed, climbing over the back of the couch to get to me.

“Princess,” I scolded as I jogged over to catch her. “You know you’re not supposed to be climbin’ on the couch.”

“I missed you,” Diana said, ignoring my scolding. She rubbed her chin against my beard.

“I just saw you yesterday,” I replied, carrying her into the kitchen.

“We’re having a party,” Diana told me excitedly. “Mama put up balloons.”

“I know.”

“Uncle Cian helped blow them up,” Noel informed her.

“Hey, you wanna help me grab that cooler before everyone gets here?” Titus asked me.

“Yeah.” I set Diana on her feet and kissed the top of Ariel’s head as I passed her.

“Hi,” she said, smiling up at me.

“Hey, Mermaid,” I greeted as I followed Titus.

I scanned the tree line as we walked over to the garage.

“You good?” Titus asked curiously.

“Got a feelin’,” I replied, looking around as he threw open the door.

“Yeah?” He followed my gaze. There was nothing there.

It didn’t feel stupid when I was talking to Titus.

“Somethin’ isn’t right.”

“No idea what it is?”

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