Page 60 of Haunting the Deep

Alice walks into her. “Dude. You gotta warn people if you’re gonna stop like that.” She steps around Mary and pulls out a chair. “Actually, I take that objection back. This is completely impressive. Do you eat like this every day?”

“Most, yeah,” Jaxon says.

I slide into the seat next to Susannah.

Mrs. Meriwether and my dad come through the swinging door between the dining room and the kitchen carrying a pot of coffee, a jug of hot chocolate with marshmallows melting on top, and freshly squeezed orange juice.

“Oh, good! You girls are perfectly in time. The strawberry-rhubarb cobbler just came out of the oven,” Mrs. Meriwether says as she offers everyone drinks.

“This isincredible,” Susannah says, pulling a waffle onto her plate.

Mrs. Meriwether pours me some coffee. “When I heard you girls were staying the night, I told Charlie that there was simply no way we weren’t eating together.”

“True story,” my dad says, smiling at Mrs. Meriwether. “She wouldn’t leave me alone about it.”

I steal a glance at Jaxon. He’s piling eggs, cobbler, and some of my dad’s hash browns onto his plate and looks completely relaxed.

Alice sips her hot chocolate. “Damn.” She examines her drink in awe.

Mrs. Meriwether beams. Very few people love anything more than Mrs. Meriwether loves feeding people. “I don’t know if Sam told you, but I’ve got an enormous garden. Lots of ingredients for, oh, any sort of thing.” She winks at us.

Oh no, what is she saying right now? I thought she was gonna let me broach this topic myself.

“Mom,” Jaxon scolds.

“Well, I’m just saying that you’re welcome anytime at all,” Mrs. Meriwether says.

Concern creeps into the corners of my dad’s eyes. If he doesn’t like her good-natured mild comment, how will he ever accept the things I need to tell him?

“I’m coming over for sure,” Mary says with a mouth full of cobbler. “I’m in total awe of you.”

“Mom, I’m gonna head out after this. I’m meeting Niki down by the harbor,” Jaxon says, and takes a big sip of orange juice.

The girls look at me and I look at Jaxon. How much time are those two spending together?

“No problem. Just be home by dinner.”

Alice narrows her eyes at him. “You’re hanging out with Niki?”

Jaxon grins like a puppy. “Yeah, we’ve been hanging out a lot lately.”

My dad looks at us all like he’s trying to work out a crossword puzzle.

“Why?” Alice asks, and I try to kick her under the table.

“Ow,” Mary says.

Crap.“Sorry.”

“I like her,” Jaxon says, like this is a normal conversation to be having at the breakfast table with our parents.

“But I thought you liked Sam,” Alice continues without pause. There’s an edge of defensiveness in her voice.

“Alice!” I choke on my coffee. “We’re just friends.”

Jaxon looks directly at me. “Sam likes some dead dude,” he says casually. “And Niki’s just a good fit for me.”

I stand up so fast that my chair scrapes against the floor as it slides backward. “What the hell are you saying?” How could he say that in front of my dad after we had that conversation about protecting our parents?