Page 272 of Secret Shifters Next Door

He stepped out of the office to the right of the entryway. “Hey. How’d things go today?”

I shrugged. “Same as last time.”

Mike looked a little irritated and glanced up the stairs toward Dad’s room. “Well, the thing is, Gio doesn’t like talking about it. So…I have no idea how it went last time, either. Not really. I think since you’re the one taking him, you’ll have to be the one to keep the family updated.”

“Of course.”

Seeing the fatigue on my face, Mike stepped forward and put his hands on my shoulders. “Kiddo? You look like you got run over by a bus. I didn’t mean to put more on you. It’s okay, we’ll try to get the info out of Gio. No problem.”

I waved him off. “No, it’s fine. There’s just been a lot going on. I’ll let you know how things go.”

“You’re in no state to drive right now. Come have lunch with us. Take a load off.”

“I should really get back.”

Mike scoffed. “And do what? Sit in your house doing nothing? Come on, Sam and Luis are in the dining room. So are the boys. You haven’t seen them since you’ve been home.”

The boyswere my three cousins: LJ, Kyle, and Chris. They were each a year or two older than me and had always acted like older brothers to me. We’d been really close before I moved away. We still kept in touch on social media, but I hadn’t seen them in a while.

The thought of seeing them lifted my spirits. “Okay.”

“Good,” Mike said and put an arm around me, leading me down the hall to the dining room.

When my uncles and my cousins saw me walk in, they cheered like I was some long-lost war hero. LJ, massive with thick, curly black hair, strode over and lifted me up in a huge bear hug, spinning me around the room.

“God. Easy, LJ. You’re gonna make me puke.”

“Sorry,” he said with a goofy grin. “I haven’t seen you in forever.”

“For real,” Chris said, tossing a french fry at me. I caught it with my teeth, eliciting another surprised cheer.

Uncle Luis draped an arm around my waist and nudged me into a chair. “Sit, my little princess, sit. I’ll have Marissa bring you whatever you want.”

Marissa was the housekeeper-cum-personal chef and had been with our family for as long as I could remember. She made the best burgers in the entire world. Seeing that everyone already had burgers on their plates, my decision was basically made for me.

“A burger and fries? Like you guys?”

“Ha!” Sam said. “Marissa is gonna love you more than she already does. I’ll go tell her.”

“So, what have you been doing, cuz?” Kyle asked before taking a massive bite of his own burger.

“Working a lot. I took a bit of a sabbatical to come be with Dad.”

LJ snapped his fingers like he’d thought of something. “That’s right. Uncle Gio said you were like a famous makeup artist or something.”

I blushed. “I’m not famous, no. But some of my clients are.”

Chris leaned forward eagerly. “Who?”

Mike slapped his son on the arm. “She can’t go airing all her secrets. I’m sure a lot of it is confidential.” He looked at me. “Right?”

“Sorta. They’d probably prefer it if I didn’t spill the beans.”

Mike slapped him again. “See? Don’t be so uncultured.”

Chris rolled his eyes, and a laugh bubbled out of me. It was exactly what I needed—laughing with my family and telling stories. I hadn’t realized how much I’d missed it. Regardless of my family’s career choice, they had always loved me and protected me, and I loved them in return. If anything, on that afternoon, I loved them even more than I had before.

When Marissa brought out my burger, love flooded through me. She’d even remembered that I liked extra pickles and steak sauce. I hadn’t had that combination on a burger since I was a kid, and God almighty, was it good.

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