Page 17 of Missed Sunrise
I headed over to the fridge and busied myself with pouring a glass of water and then drank it slowly over the kitchen sink, doing my best to not let my gaze take in the cottage’scharming interior and inevitably find even more signs that life had happened here without me.
I wasn’t even sure who—orwhat—I was most jealous of; I just knew I couldn’t deal with more of it in that moment.
“Hey.” Liem’s soft voice interrupted my spiral.
Whydid he have to sound like that? Unlike almost any other person on Earth, I could never snap at him. Could never take out my excessive negative feelings on him. It made my stomach hurt to even imagine it.
Setting the glass in the sink, I smiled tightly. “Hey.”
He crossed his arms and leaned casually against the doorjamb. “Would you like for me to finish your…?” He gestured to my head.
My eyes widened, and I reached up to feel the stripe of missing hair. “Shit, I’d almost forgotten.”
Liem’s eyes twinkled. “We wouldn’t let you.”
Bree and Vinh trailed inside then, and I didn’t miss the concerned look she shot my way.
Sighing loudly, I got ahead of it and offered her honesty again. “I was being a jealous bitch, but I’m good now.”
Well. Half of that was honest, at least.
“We’ll feel better after we have our fight,” Bree assured me.
Understanding passed between our gazes, and the storm passed.
Vinh leaned down and kissed Bree’s temple. “I’m going to go get some work done. Start thinking about what you want for lunch, and if you change your mind about going alone, tell me. I’ll be close by.”
Bree leaned into his embrace. “I will. Love you.”
“I love you too. See you soon,” he murmured quietly, then slung his laptop bag over his shoulder, nodded at me and Liem, and made his way out the front door before closing and locking it behind him.
Moving my gaze from the door, I met Bree’s eyes once more. “I’m a jealous bitch again. The most jealous bitch to ever bitch.”
She snorted, but before she could say anything else, I asked, “Where are you going?”
“To the nursing home to visit Grandmother. It has been a fiasco, dealing with everything. They’re set to demolish what’s left of her house sometime, maybe, I guess, and I’m still going back and forth with insurance about the fire and with the bank about the house and about paying for her care. It’s a mess.”
My heart sank. Bree’s grandmother had—maybe, allegedly, probably—set her own house on fire a few months back, but the investigation was ongoing and so far, inconclusive. And would probably remain so, as Miss Barb had a massive stroke on the same day. She’d since “woken up” but had yet to be lucid or coherent, so there would likely be no answers from her.
It was a horrible situation, and I knew it had to be stressing Bree more than she let on.
“I had no idea it was such a hassle still. How can I help?”
To my surprise, she actually thought it over for a few moments instead of outright dismissing the offer. “You can let me finish shaving your head. It’s giving me the creeps.”
I narrowed my eyes.
She served me a fond smile but traded it for a grimace as she took her phone from her back pocket. “Speak of the devil. It’s the bank.”
Liem, who’d been quietly watching our exchange, spoke up. “Don’t worry, Princess. I’ll take care of him.”
Inexplicable goose bumps trailed my spine at the words, and I had to steel myself to not show the reaction.
Bree glanced between us, but then her phone buzzed again, so with one last smile in thanks and agreement, she hurried out of the room to answer it.
Liem disappeared into the bathroom and returned with a pair of hair shears, then tilted his head toward the door. “Come on, let’s cure Princess of her ill feelings. Which, by the way, is the only cause that could prompt me to participate in this wretched endeavor.”
Following him back out to the patio chair, I sat heavily and asked, “You think it’ll look that bad?”
