Page 106 of Delayed Penalty

“Small. She means small. I lived in the attic until I was fifteen.”

“Because youchoseto, Quinn Penelope.”

Hayes smirks at me. “Penelope?”

“What? It’s better than Adam Carlisle Hayes. I mean, you’re named after a vampire doctor.”

He rolls his eyes, and I stick my tongue out at him.

“This,” my mother says, stopping at the hall closet door, “is my favorite piece of the house. I wanted to bring a bit of the old into the new and made poor Chuck pull it off the hinges and bring it with us.”

She opens the door—also lilac—and proudly shows off the scratches on the inside, each one marking a different kid’s height over the years. I don’t miss his rough swallow as he takes it in. He hasn’t gone deepinto the particulars of what his home life was like, but I’ve surmised enough to know it wasn’t anything like mine, and he certainly didn’t have his parents marking his growth when he was younger.

“Can you guess which one was Quinn?”

“Well, considering it hasn’t moved in twelve years, I’m guessing that one.” He points at the line that is indeed mine.

“I swear I ate all my vegetables.”

“That’s a lie. I saw you put your Brussels sprouts in your napkin at our last family dinner.”

I shrug. “Not all of them. I ate…two.”

My mother shakes her head, waving us forward. “Come meet my other kids. They can’t believetheAdam Hayes is having dinner with us.”

I bet they can’t. I guarantee each of them has charged their cell phones to the max and are ready to take pictures to post all over social media. I bet we don’t even get the turkey carved before someone is asking for free tickets to a game. It’s the thing they do with Brody. I’m sure they’re proud of him in their own way, but they’re mostly worried about what Brody can do for them, not what they can do to show up for him.

I wish he were here. He’d get the biggest kick out of me bringing Hayes to dinner.

“Chuck!” Mom calls as we enter the kitchen that has more lilac items spread around it. From the mixerto the custom-painted fridge, the color is everywhere. “Get your dang fingers out of that pumpkin pudding!”

“Sorry, sorry.” My dad scoots away, holding his hands up as my mother swats at him. He catches sight of me, Hayes, and Flora and grins. “Quinnicorn!” He wraps me in his arms. “Good to see you, kid.”

“Hi, Dad.” I hug him tightly, then step back and point to Hayes. “This is Adam Hayes, myboss.”

Hayes coughs loudly, side-eyeing me because he’s certainly notjust my boss. He extends his hand to my father.

“Nice to meet you, sir.”

“Ah, no sirs. Just Chuck. I understand you prefer Hayes?”

“Please. I’ve never been a fan of Adam.”

That’s a lie. He likes Adam just fine when I’m screaming it.

I push that thought away. No sense in getting worked up with family around.

I point to Flora, who is trying to hide behind Hayes’s leg. “And this is Flora.”

“Flora. Oh, I’ve heard so much about you, little flower.”

Her eyes widen. “That’s what Just Quinn calls me.”

“She does? Well, ain’t that something. Say, is that a cat you’re holding?”

“This is Pickles. Do you want to hold her, Just Chuck?”

My dad laughs at the name. “You bet I do! Come on. Let’s go meet my grandkids. I think you’re going to like them.”

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