Briar turned the burners of the stove off and cursed at her phone. Hadlee was supposed to have been home an hour ago. She had called five minutes ago and said they were having so much fun, she was going to stay longer with her dad, and they were going to eat out. She had sounded happy and carefree. Briar didn’t have the heart to insist she come back or to tell her she had dinner ready for her.
She looked at the beef stroganoff she had prepared and while part of her wanted to dump it all into the garbage out of spite, she grabbed containers and began dividing up the food for the week. Her phone ringing made her grimace, and she noted it was Dante. She answered it. “Hey.”
“Didn’t see any reports of bodies in the Chesapeake. You good?”
“Yeah. She’s out with him for the afternoon. He was su
