“Mr. and Mrs. Prage were not the last ones standing, by the way,” Vaughn interjected.
“Damn it,” Miller cursed. He got up from the table and walked over to the oven, pulling out the French toast he’d been keeping warm in there. He brought it back over and set it on the table.
“But they were second to last, so I say we give it to you,” he continued. Murmurs around the table agreed. “They were second to none other than that weird redhead couple. In fact, I think the Prages would have stayed longer, but they were trying to give them privacy for their argument.”
“But did chairs fly?” Grayson asked. He grabbed a plate as he glared at Simone. He grabbed a few slices of the French toast and started eating.
“YES!” Simone hollered, raising her arms in victory.
“Well, slow down, babe. It depends on your definition of chair.”
“Excuse you, no, it does not. Furniture flew, that is what matters!”
“What?!” Grayson said with his mouth full.
“She picked up a chaise lounge and tossed it in his direction. Since it’s so much bigger than her she had some trouble getting any air.” Vaughn grabbed two plates and served himself and Simone, before passing the serving utensils to Drea.
“Damn, I missed some good stuff,” Drea said, plating some food. “I think a chaise lounge counts, Uncle Gray. Sorry.”
“Yeah, so unless you can prove a staff hookup, you’re wearing the shirt!” Simone teased, pointing her finger straight at Grayson.
“Um, hello, am I the only one who remembers that we totally skipped over Vaughn here?”
“Well, the one blonde gave up on Dalton pretty quick and headed over to the group of gym rats, so I think that one is pretty much a given,” Miller stated. “Sorry man, you’re wearing the shirt.”
Just as Grayson was exhaling a sigh of resignation, Kyle walked into the kitchen. His head was down, like he was trying to keep a low profile, but Drea’s heart skipped a beat anyway. He looked up at the table as he neared, making eye contact with her right away. Her heart started to speed up. He was wearing his usual work attire, so he at least made a stop at home, she noticed. Maybe they didn’t hook up? She stopped eating and tried to catch her breath as he opened his mouth to say something.
“Sorry to interrupt family breakfast—”
He was cut off by Grayson. “Dude, you didn’t happen to hook up with anyone last night, did you?”
“What? No! No, no. I slept in my own bed, promise!” Kyle said, waving his hands back and forth, looking mortified. Drea let out a sigh of relief she hoped no one heard.
“Fuck,” Grayson said. “Where’s Dalton, he won’t let me down.”
“Um, no idea.”
“Sorry, son, Gray’s just upset he’s gonna have to wear the shirt,” Miller explained. “Please, sit, have some breakfast.”
“No, no, I don’t want to intrude.”
“You’re not intruding, you’re part of this family,” Vaughn added. “We should really get you in on the bets.”
Kyle stood there for another moment, awkwardly, not sure how to proceed. “Um, yeah, sure, sounds like fun. Anyway, I just wanted to grab Drea for a moment after you guys finish up.”
“Kyle, just sit,” Drea said, smiling. “If you don’t eat, you know Uncle Miller will hunt you down.”
“She’s right, son. Sit.”
He did as he was told, and took the plate that Drea made up for him. They all ate in companionable silence for awhile, and then made their way to do whatever it was that their mornings held for them.
“Got a sec?” Kyle asked as they moved their plates over to the dishwashing area.
“Sure,” Drea answered. “We can go hang in Leona’s office.”
Drea walked into the housekeeping office without bothering to check to see if it was occupied. At this time of morning she knew Leona would be down in the laundry catching up with the staff down there. She collapsed down onto the couch and pulled her legs up underneath her, wishing there was some kind of throw pillow to hold close to her body as a shield. Kyle followed her in and closed the door behind himself quietly. He sat down on the other end of the couch, sitting up ramrod straight for a second, before leaning back and twisting himself so one knee rested on the couch, his body facing her and his arm draped across the back.
“Hey,” he said, breaking the silence.
“Hey back.”
“You okay? I didn’t see you at the bonfire last night,” he said, trying to leave it open for her to share what she wanted. He didn’t want to come at her right away that he saw what went down with Dalton and how upset he could tell she was.
“I called it a night early. I wasn’t feeling a hundred percent,” she lied. He could tell it wasn’t the whole truth, not only by the look in her eyes, but by the slight little shrug in her left shoulder. He’d never told her that she had the tell, but every time she wasn’t being fully honest she made the slight movement.
“Something happen?” he tried to prompt her.
“Nope.”
“You sure? Drea, this is me. Your favorite person. If something happened, tell me so I can fix it.”
She let out a little laugh. “Kyle, there are just some things a girl needs to deal with herself. Am I making sense here?”
Kyle nodded, understanding exactly what she was trying to imply, but still knowing it wasn’t the truth. His Drea had never been coy about telling him she was “hanging out with Aunt Flo,” as she had so often put it. He started to do that math in his head, but stopped himself. He thought he’d gotten pretty good with her schedule, but he wasn’t about to admit he tried to know her cycle so that he could be ready with a hug, or chocolate, or whatever need her PMS brought on.
“So, nothing I need to know about?” he prodded.
“Is there something I need to know?” she lobbed back.
“No, I just wanna make sure my best girl is okay. I missed hanging with you last night. The bonfire is kinda our thing.” He reached out and took her hand from her lap. He squeezed it softly and she smiled in return.
“Well, you have nothing to worry about,” she told him. There was no missing the sadness in her eyes, though. Clouds seemed to hang there, where there was normally a sparkle, one that lit up Kyle’s insides. He wished he could see into that pretty little head of hers and understand exactly what was going on in there. He saw her and Dalton last night, knew that something had gone down. He couldn’t understand why she wouldn’t just let him in.
“Good.” He squeezed her hand and let go.
“Since we have that settled,” she said, pushing herself up off the couch. “I’m still sticky from my run, so I need to go home and shower and then get all the morning paperwork done before this afternoon’s excursion. Shipwreck day, right?”
He nodded. “Yup, shipwreck day.”
“Great, then I'll see you at the pier.”
She walked out of the office without looking back, and it made Kyle feel sick to his stomach. He slouched back against the couch and sighed, not having the slightest idea what just happened, and he couldn’t help but feel like the conversation he was so convinced was going to fix things had actually made them worse.