Page 26 of Delayed Penalty

“What now?” he asks when he realizes I’m still watching him.

“It’s just… Why are you eating it like you’re diving into a turkey club instead of, I don’t know, like a bagel?”

“What? Eat each slice on its own?”

“I mean, is that not the correct way to eat a bagel?”I look to Flora to back me up, and she nods. “See? Even the little flower here agrees.”

He looks at his niece. “You’re taking her side instead of mine?”

She shrugs. “It’s weird.”

“It’s not weird. It’s efficient.”

“It’s weird,” Flora insists.

He sighs, setting his bagel down and pulling it apart like a normal human would. He takes an exaggerated bite. “Better?” he asks through a mouthful of food.

Then Flora does it again—she laughs. It’s such a beautiful sound, I don’t know how I missed it before. Hayes watches her with a grin on his face, and when he sees me looking, he tries to hide behind his to-go coffee. It’s no use. I saw it.

We finish our breakfast in silence, but there’s an obvious shift in the room. The tension has dissipated, Hayes looking more alert, and I think it has very little to do with my mother’s delicious coffee.

I rise from the table, collecting our plates, but when I reach for Hayes’s, he tries to stop me. I narrow my eyes at him and snatch it away anyway. I rinse them and then put them in the dishwasher, noting the plastic covering still clinging to the outside.

Man, they really don’t use this kitchen much, do they?

“May I go read my book?” Flora asks softly.

When I was her age, I was looking to do absolutely anything other than read,especiallyif I had a bonus day off from school. But not Flora, and somehow, I feel it makes perfect sense for her.

“Of course. Just remember what we talked about.”

“Turn the light on so I’m not squinting?”

“Yes, that.”

“Yes, Uncle Adam,” she says.

She rushes off toward her bedroom, leaving just a crack in the door, then flicks on her light.

“She reads in the dark?”

Hayes sighs, rising from his chair. “My brother, Aiden, was a fucking moron and would make her always keep her lights off so she wouldn’tdisturbhim. I caught her reading in there one night with the book pressed against her nose.”

“That’s…”

“The stupidest thing ever? I know.” He shakes his head with disgust. “But that’s Aiden for you. Stupid to his core.”

There’s no missing the contempt in his voice, and I want so badly to ask more, but I have a feeling he’d tell me it’s none of my business, and he’d be right.

Hayes finishes his coffee, then drops the cup in the trash before opening the fridge and grabbing a bottle of water. He shakes it at me, but I decline.

“I can’t stand the taste of plain water. I need flavor, or I’m not drinking it.”

“How do you stay hydrated?”

I lift my coffee. “Go-fast juice.”

“That’s unhealthy.”

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