Page 94 of Cause and Effect

“Back?” I furrowed my brows.

“Back in the land of love.” A smirk crossed his lips as he patted my back.

“Thanks, brother.” I fist-bumped him. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

When I arrived home, I quietly walked up the stairs and noticed the light was still on in Laurel’s bedroom. Carefully opening the door, she looked up at me from her laptop.

“Hi.” I smiled.

“Hi.”

“Just checking in to see if you need anything,” I said, walking into the room.

“Nope. I’m good.”

“What are you working on?” I casually climbed on the bed and looked at her laptop.

“The Grisley case,” she said, staring at me and giving me an odd look.

“What?” I asked.

“Is there anything else?” Her brow raised.

“No. Goodnight, Laurel.”

“Goodnight, Julian.”

I was up earlythe following morning to fix the girl’s breakfast before school. I was fine sleeping in my bed alone as long as I knew Laurel and the girls were safe upstairs.

“Morning, Julian.” The girls walked into the kitchen.

“Morning, lovely ladies. I’ve made pancakes for breakfast, complimented with strawberries and whipped cream.”

“Yay!” Stella clapped.

I told them to sit up at the island while I set their plates in front of them.

“Something smells good.” Laurel walked into the kitchen, looking as beautiful as ever.

“Good morning.” I smiled, pouring her a cup of coffee.

“Morning. Thanks.” Her smile already brightened my day. “You didn’t have to make them breakfast. I could have done it.”

“I wanted to.” I glanced at the girls and noticed Sara picking at her pancakes. “Sara, why aren’t you eating? Don’t you like pancakes, sweetheart?”

“Yeah. I like them. I’m not very hungry.”

“Well, you have to eat.” Laurel kissed the top of her head.

After dropping the kids off at school, we headed to the office. My phone started ringing, and when I saw it was Stefan, I switched to speaker mode.

“Stefan, my man.”

“Good morning, Julian. My team has boarded up the window. Plus, the wooden floor where the tree caused damage needs replacing. They also found a ceiling leak in the kitchen, and after checking the roof, it turns out it also needs to be repaired. Did Laurel contact the landlord?”

“She did yesterday after the storm.”

“Good. Tell her to text me their phone number, and I’ll contact them,” he said.

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