Page 84 of Our Darkest Summer

“Finally.” Braxton sat up straight. “I was starting to think you got lost. I wouldn’t have guessed you drove like my grandpa.” He grinned, and Kinsley and Connor snorted beside me.

I leveled him with a flat stare. “You sound awfully confident for someone who hasZoinkswritten on his shirt.”

Braxton’s grin widened. “I was torn between this andIs this the Krusty Krab? No, this is Patrick.one, so I’m glad you like it.”

Connor chuckled. “Classic.”

The doorbell rang again, and Aaliyah walked in carrying a tray. “We bought lemon cookies! Cora made them,” she announced. The girl in question followed her into the room, with Kevin on her side.

Braxton immediately snatched one. “Don’t mind if I do.”

We all settled onto the couches, the room shifting into a strangely domestic scene despite the reason we were here.

“I don’t know if they’re any good?—”

“They’re delicious,” Kevin interrupted Cora with a sorrowful smile, stuffing the whole thing into his mouth. I sneered as the crumbs fell onto the floor.

“Thanks,” Cora replied.

“What’s going on with him?” Braxton asked, and Kevin mumbled something with his mouth still full.

“His parrot died,” Connor explained, as Kevin rested his head on his shoulder.

“What? Bob Marley?” Aaliyah shrieked, leaning forward, and Kinsley tensed beside me.

“The ostrich?” Braxton’s brows shot up, and Kevin spared him a glare. “That’s… rough, buddy,” he added, brushing through his dark hair, clearly attempting to sound sincere but failing. From the corner of my eye, I caught Connor’s expression shift, his gaze glistening just slightly.

“Was that a Zuko quote?” he mumbled, but had no idea what he meant.

Kevin opened his mouth to argue with Braxton, when footsteps creaked on the stairs, and a moment later, Samantha appeared, making her way down from the second floor. There was a slight hesitation in her steps when she saw us all gathered in the living room.

She stopped in front of us, looking straight at Kinsley. “Do you have a second?”

Kinsley blinked, looking up at her, surprise flickering across her face, but before she could respond, Ava strode into the room.

“So,” she sank onto the armchair, adjusting the hem of her pants, “what would you like to ask?”

Samantha hesitated before retreating to a seat, and Kinsley’s gaze lingered on her, narrowed slightly, before she turned back to Ava. The atmosphere in the room shifted. The quiet moment of normalcy faded, replaced by something heavier.

“We hoped you could tell us about the night you last saw our mother.” I played with my watch, glancing at my brother. Connor nodded along, his full attention on Ava. Braxton’s mother pursed her lips, leaning back in the chair and crossing her legs over each other.

“It was a long time ago, so I can’t promise I’ll remember every detail,” she admitted. “But I remember being surprised to see her.”

“Why?” Connor asked, and Ava’s brow furrowed.

She rubbed her hands together, her gaze distant. “We spent a lot of time together when we were both up here, but we never showed up unannounced. That night, she did.”

The silence stretched.

“Was there anything strange about her?” Kinsley asked.

“She… she was a little out of breath. Like she’d been in a rush,” Ava hesitated, brushing a finger over her mouth. “And shekept repeating that I called her. She was insistent, like she had just spoken to me.” She shook her head. “But I didn’t. So I told her she must have misremembered, but she got this… this look in her eye. Then she got a call and left.”

A call?My back straightened. We never heard about that before.

Before I could ask, Ava shook her head, as if she already knew what I was thinking. “Her phone disappeared with her. The police couldn’t retrace the call.”

My stomach clenched.