Page 132 of The Casualty of Us
“Yeah.” His eyes narrow on me with a clear reprimand, and I purse my lips before looking back at Talan with the explanation. “InHamlet, when Ophelia finally cracks, she gives flowers to the court, and each flower represents her innermost thoughts about that person.” I shrug uncomfortably at the whole thing before looking down at my dumplings, my mind starting to run away at the flaws in his logic. “He’s twisting it and bastardizing it, but the meaning is clear. The thing that I haven’t been able to figure out is if the rosemary for remembrance was the start or just a coincidence. The petunias threw me off today, because if he wasfollowing Ophelia’s order, it should have been pansies second, but obviously—”
“Breathe, Ophelia.”
I jerk my head up at Hayes’s soft rasp, seeing the worry in his eyes now too, and I look back at Talan to find the same thing there. “Sorry.”
He stares at me seriously while I suck down a slow breath. “You understand him.”
“I understand a lot of things.”
“No more of this tonight.” My mother cuts us off when Talan opens his mouth again. “If you want to pick my daughter’s brain, then do it another time.”
“I agree,” Mia chimes in, shooting Talan a dirty look before passing a small gift bag my way and making both boys let go of my various limbs. “Happy Birthday, Ophelia. That’s from all of us.”
“But…” I stare at the bag for a second before lifting my eyes back up to her. “I’ve been a bitch to you guys.”
Ollie snorts next to me while a puff of laughter floats through the air on my other side, and Mia gives me an amused look. “Yeah, well, we want you to be able to keep feeding us, so take the present.”
I take the bag hesitantly, setting it in front of me and swallowing while plucking the tissue paper out of the top of it. Unsure why it feels like so much more than it actually is, but going through the motions anyway. Reaching down into the bag, I pull out a small, black leather box that looks just like any other jewelry case and open it up to find a pretty gold bracelet with some kind of green stone set in the middle that I’ve never seen before.
I look up at Mia with a quiet, “Thank you.”
Feeling like the world’s literal worst employer when she smiles.
“In the name of full transparency, I do have to tell you that’s not just an ordinary bracelet.” I start to frown at that, and she hurries to add, “It doesn’t have any active tracking on it but if you press the stone in the middle, it sends an alert to all of our phones and we’ll be able to find you.”
I look back down at the bracelet again, barely resisting the urge to automatically shove it away, but I’ve made too many promises today to do so. “Thank you.”
“Three hundred miles, Ophelia.” I glance back up at Talan’s words and find him staring at me like he doesn’t trust me again, which…valid. “We have to be within three hundred miles of you to be able to track it.”
And after a second, I repeat back automatically, “Three hundred miles.”
Filing the information away.
“It matches the necklace.”
Hayes’s amused voice has me glancing up to see him staring down at the bracelet, and I flick my eyes back to it quickly with the same realization. “Yeah, it does.”
“What necklace?”
My mother’s innocent question has me shooting her a glare while muttering, “Hayes got me a necklace for my birthday.”
“Did he?” She turns to him with a wide grin. “So thoughtful of you.”
“Gag me.”
“It was from Italy.” Hayes feeds into her delusions happily, completely ignoring the scowl I shoot his way and the fact my father also seems to be drilling holes into the side of his head. “I saw it and knew that it wouldn’t look right on anyone else but O.”
“Suck up.” Ollie coughs none too inconspicuously, making a giggle bubble past my lips, and my mother shoots us a look promising retribution if we don’t start behaving.
“So tell me, Hayes.” She turns back to him with an expression that I know but can’t understand why she’s directing at him. “Should I expect more of these gifts at Christmas this year? Or will you be somewhere else again?”
She’s chiding him. The same way she does Ollie and me when we mess up and she wants to make a point without being too rough on us.
I flick my eyes up to Hayes and see him staring at her with a tense face, no trace of dimples but the same understanding in his eyes as she has in hers now.
What the fuck?
Her head snaps my way. “Ophelia Sage!”
