Page 11 of Hushed

He let out a short laugh and reached over to squeeze her hand. “You’re a terrible liar, Kenz.”

“Whatever. How do we do this?”

“Plan a funeral? It depends. Do you know if he had a will in addition to his living trust?”

Her stomach twisted, and she pushed the sandwich away, unable to handle the thought of swallowing another bite.

“I’m not sure. If he did, he didn’t tell me about it.”

Gage nodded. “I’ll check his safe deposit box.”

Kenzie’s mouth fell open. “You have the key? Did he just not trust me?”

He reached over and put a hand on hers. “It’s not like that. Reggie was protective of you. He didn’t want you to have to deal with anything stressful if he could prevent it.”

She wadded up a napkin and rolled it in her free hand. “That’s not exactly doing a good job of preparing me for the real world. The real world has been nothing but stress.”

Gage laughed. “He let you live on your own and make your own way. It was important to him to shield you from the things he could. He believed in you. And I’m not sure I’ve ever met anyone prouder of their little sister than Reggie was of you. The man had an entire folder on his phone dedicated to your art.”

Fuck. She threw the balled-up napkin at him and picked up another to wipe the tears that broke free. “Why’d you have to go and tell me that? I was doing good.”

He shoved his chair back and stood. “Come on, sweetheart. Let’s go home.”

He held his hand out for her, and she took it, letting its warmth flow through her entire system.

As they walked back to her apartment, her phone rang, and she looked at the screen. Fuck. It was her best friend, Maggie.

With a heavy sigh, she answered it and tried to sound cheery. “Hey, Mags.”

“Do you still need my help with the gig this weekend?”

She glanced at Gage, who was looking at her with concern. But she wasn’t ready to spill her guts to Maggie yet. She would want to come over and help, and right now Gage’s help was almost more than she could manage. So, she sucked in a deep breathand blew it out as they approached her building. “Yeah, that would be great. I’m walking back to my apartment right now, so it’s hard to hear you. I’ll call you in a couple of days to work out the details.”

Kenzie said goodbye as they approached her stairwell.

“Who was that?” Gage asked, pushing open the door.

“A friend who sometimes helps me at gigs. I just wasn’t ready to tell her the news. When I do, she’ll pull together an army of our mutual friends to take care of me. They’ll mean well, but that sounds overwhelming right now.”

Gage didn’t push, and they climbed to the third floor in silence. Once there, he gave her locks another dirty look, and it almost made her laugh. He was worse than Reggie.

“How long until you have to go back to D.C.?” she asked as they entered the apartment.

He pulled the dining room chair out and straddled it, watching her as she moved around the tiny space.

“I’m with you until we sort all this out. It might mean you coming back to D.C. with me for a couple of days.”

“I have a gig this weekend. It’s going to sound selfish, but I really don’t want to cancel it. I’m in a deep hole, and this is going to dig me out.”

Gage scowled. “Did Reggie know you were in financial trouble?”

She shook her head. “Nope. I was planning to talk with him about it next time he came home.” Her voice cracked again, and she flopped onto the bed, scattering the pile of clothes she’d been meaning to sort through for weeks.

“We’ll plan the services around your gig. But you should know I’ve been tasked with taking care of you, and that means financially, as well as anything else you might need.”

She sat up and glared at him. “You’re not giving me money, damn it. I’m a big girl. I can fix this myself.”

He shook his head. “Be stubborn if you want. At least tell me about the hole you’re in.”

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