CHAPTER NINETEEN
Dalton
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I hear the front door open and close much sooner than it should. Craning my neck, I lean my body toward the living room doorway then shake my head when Kalen bursts in and heads straight for the closet.
Shrugging off his jacket, he puts it on a hanger, then closes the door before taking a seat on the opposite side of the room.
I look at him expectantly.
I know I should have thought of a better reason for him to leave the house, but I wanted those few moments with Luna to find out what Mom said.
And he’s too much of a hothead to have held his tongue and let her tell me.
“No milk?” I ask him with a grim smile.
“I didn’t make it to the store. I did, however, stop another one of your pet projects from walking in through the front door unannounced. Do you plan on taking that damn ad down now that we have someone here with Hailey?”
I grimace slightly at him calling Mom by her name in front of Luna. Something so disrespectful can obviously lead to more questions that I’ll end up having to dodge.
Remember, it’s only for two weeks.
“What are you talking about?” I inquire as politely as I can.
“Well, if you want strangers to stop showing up on our doorstep, you should probably take the ad down,” he replies with a shrug.
“I did. Before I went to bed last night.”
Kalen looks slightly confused as he leans back and pushes the curtain slightly to one side, and peeks outside again.
“Then who the hell was that?”
His tone is so soft and distant, I almost don’t make out what he says and almost decide to shrug it off, until Luna stiffens on the sofa next to me.
Getting to her feet, she moves toward the door and flings it open, sending a loud bang echoing throughout the house.
I exchange an odd glance with my brother as we both stand up and follow her out into the night.
She’s at the end of the walkway, glancing casually up and down the street, one hand on her hip, the other just above her brow.
She’s looking for something—someone and I find myself wondering if it’s whoever Kalen mentioned seeing.
“You okay?” I call out as we approach.
She drops the hand from her brow, looks at us and nods. But she’s not okay; I can tell just by the way she’s chewing her bottom lip.
Almost like she’ll gnaw the damn thing off if she doesn’t stop soon.
“Just... just didn’t want to get replaced so quickly is all,” she finally says, a nervous laugh punctuating her remark.
Hm.
“It could have been someone who was lost,” I state reasonably with a shrug. “That happens more often than you might think. Did this person say what they wanted?” I ask, turning my attention back to my brother.
His eyes are on Luna.
He’s studying her demeanor, watching her carefully, his eyes dissecting her to her core, trying to decide whether he should say anything else or not.