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and held up a finger toward Carly. “I’ll be right back.”
    “Okay …” Like Carly didn’t expect her to come back or something.
    Carly crossed her legs then her arms. Then she uncrossed her legs then her arms. She sat up and reached for the magazine again, but caught herself. Finally, she pulled out her cell phone. Her thumb hovered over Jake’s name. They still hadn’t hooked up. Every time he messaged her, she’d been working.  Bree told her when she began flirting with Jake, it was a bad idea and it would only lead to someone getting hurt. That was the whole point. She wanted Khloe to get hurt.
    Bailey’s cries stopped as soon as Bree’s voice spoke, soft and gentle through the monitor. Only a few weeks as a mom and Bree was already wonderful at it. Carly stared down at her hands. She scraped at the chipped polish on her nails.
    Bree’s words faded from the speaker and rose in the hallway as she made her way back to Carly.
    “Aunt Carly’s here.” Bree spoke low and squeaky as she talked down to her bundled baby when she stepped into the room.
    Without even asking Carly if she wanted to hold her, Bree handed her over. Carly stiffened and Bailey looked up at her with blue eyes and puckered lips.
    Carly’s heart warmed. Bailey didn’t look all scrunched up and pink like her picture. Her cheeks were chubby and her eyes bright—almost clear blue as she stared up at Carly. A tiny hand with itty fingers the size of a baby doll’s wrapped around Carly’s pinky. “She’s adorable.”
    Bree eased beside Carly and leaned over her shoulder. “I know right.”
    Bailey made a squeaking noise sounding like a mouse. This made Carly giggle, making Bailey’s arms shoot straight out and her eyes pop open before she belted out a cry.
    “I scared her,” Carly said with a quiet-squeak.
    Bree laughed and dipped her hands down, retrieving Bailey from Carly’s arms.
    “Shhh,” Bree said. She placed Bailey on her shoulder and patted her back. The cries turned into little whimpers. “I should feed her,” Bree spoke over her baby’s noises.
    “Oh,” Carly looked down at her nails again and stood up. “Um, I probably should go anyway.”
    “No, you don’t have to leave … I didn’t mean …”
    Carly looked toward the exit. “I have to go anyway … got a lot to do before summer school starts.”  She threw on her plastic smile.
    Bree bounced Bailey on her shoulder. “Call me and let me know how it goes for you.” The disappointment in Bree’s voice was not lost on Carly.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 8
    Parker
     
    The shade provided by the canopy was sufficient to cool them from the blaring sun. Parker sat between his mom and his sister, Kamberlee. His father was at the end of the table and his oldest brother, Owen, and Spencer were on the other side of them.
    Sunday morning brunch was awkward. Parker couldn’t figure out what exactly was off. The gentle breeze blew in the faint scent of his mother’s prize flower garden. Their backyard was high on a hill, overlooking acres of evergreen trees and a quiet pond sat secluded at the bottom of the ravine.
    Parker’s mother’s hair was growing back in quick and gray. She already had enough to style it in a trendy spike. The strange silence and avoidance of eye contact made something in Parker’s gut twist. She stared down at her plate, pushing her food around. His dad drank from his coffee mug and had little to say as well.
    It was like he was the only child that noticed, because Owen, Spencer, and Kamberlee continued to pick on one another. Owen was loud and jeering saying something about Spencer at the party last night.
    Parker stared at his dad. Nothing. He normally made a comment about how it isn’t the time to talk about their night life.  Kamberlee’s face was tilted down toward the phone in her hand, which wasn’t normally something he tolerated either.
    “Dad, I saw there’s an empty space on Green Street. It’d be a prime location