Page 52 of Joker

I lean back against the counter with my mug and take the first swallow while she adds creamer to hers. One sugar. Two small pours of creamer. Stirring slow, like she’s trying not to make noise.

I file it away before I can stop myself.

She glances at me over the rim of her mug. “Do you always wake up this early?”

“Do you?”

“No. Usually Lexi does that for me.”

The answer is dry enough to catch me off guard. “Fair.”

“I think she’s still out because the drive wore her out.”

“Probably.”

That truth sits heavy between us for a second.

Because the drive shouldn’t have worn her out the way it did. Not really. Kids get tired. Sure. But not like that. Not fromone truck ride unless there’s a whole lot more piled underneath it.

Raven must feel the shift too because she looks down into her coffee instead of meeting my eyes.

The silence stretches, but it doesn’t bite the way it did on the road before we found the rhythm of each other. It settles differently now, easier, though I still don’t entirely trust that.

I take another swallow and force my attention onto something safe. “You sleep at all?”

She lets out a quiet breath that might’ve been a laugh if she had more energy behind it. “More than usual.”

I look at her then. Really look. There are still shadows under her eyes, still strain in the way she’s holding herself together, but she doesn’t look wrecked the way she did last night. Her face is less tight. Her shoulders aren’t up around her ears. Whatever rest she got mattered.

That shouldn’t make me feel as relieved as it does.

Before I can answer, soft footsteps patter in the hallway.

Then Lexi appears in the doorway, Bunny clutched in one fist, hair sticking up in three different directions, eyes still half closed. She’s wearing the same little T-shirt she fell asleep in, and one tiny sock is twisted sideways on her foot like she pulled it on in the dark and didn’t care enough to fix it.

She blinks at the kitchen, at her mother, then at me. For one second she just stands there, sleepy and suspicious. Then she says, “Juice.”

Raven laughs softly under her breath. “Good morning to you too.”

Lexi doesn’t bother answering that. She drags herself toward the table on stubby little legs, Bunny trailing, then stops in front of Raven and lifts both arms without a word.

Clingy. Sleepy. Done with life.

Raven bends automatically to pick her up, but I’m already moving before I even realize it.

“Sit,” I tell Raven.

She blinks at me. “What?”

“You look like you’re about to fall over. Sit.”

That earns me a look. Not offended. Just confused enough that it almost slows her down. “I’m fine.”

“Sure.” I reach past her for the fridge. “Sit anyway.”

To my complete surprise, she does.

Not gracefully. More like she’s too tired to argue about it and half aware I might be right. She lowers herself into the nearest chair with Lexi settling bonelessly in her lap, Bunny mashed between them, and looks at me like she can’t decide whether I’m overstepping or rescuing her from standing up too long before breakfast.