Page 186 of The Archer Brothers

“Morning. Nate took Deefur for a walk, and EJ is in the shower.”

“Thanks. How did the rest of the night go?”

“Perfect.”

Cara focuses on her laptop, and I can’t tell if she’s telling the truth or not. I suppose if something’s wrong, they’ll tell me after the wedding. I finish my cup of coffee and head upstairs, meeting EJ in the hallway. His hair is damp, and he’s dressed more for the beach than a wedding.

“Hey,” he says.

“Hey, good morning. How come you didn’t go with Uncle Nate to walk Deefur?”

EJ shrugs. “He didn’t wake me up.”

“Deefur?”

He nods. “When I woke up, he wasn’t in my room. Cara told me to jump in the shower.”

They’re definitely hiding something.

I place my hand on his shoulder. “Are you hungry?”

“Yeah. Is mom home?”

“No, she’s going to stay with grandma and papa today. I’ll shower, and then we’ll walk down to the food truck and pick up some burritos. Does that work?”

“Yes, sir.”

“All right, bud. I’ll be down in a minute.” EJ starts to walk away, and I call out to him. “Stay in the house, okay?”

He stares at me for a second, and his head drops. He knows I’m paranoid about something. “Okay,” he finally says and walks down the stairs.

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