chapter three

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"You got a lot of stuff packed in here." Liam says as him, Cordell, and Janie walk into the farmhouse with some boxes. "Is this all from the old place?"

"Yeah. That was the last trip." Cordell says.

"Hey, dad?" Stella calls, getting off the couch.

"Hey." Cordell calls back, them putting the boxes on the counter.

"Can I paint my room?" Stella asks, walking over to them as Liam leaves.

"Paint your room?" Cordell asks.

"Benjamin Moore has this app that helps you choose colors." Stella says. "I like First Light." She shows the screen to her dad.

"First Light." He mumbles, holding the phone. "Uh, very calming. Which would be great for you." He turns the phone off and hands it back to his oldest. "Now, please help us unpack."

"Ooh, can I paint my room?" Janie asks.

"As long as I approve of the color." Cordell tells her and she nods, grinning.

"He added me on Insta, oh, my God." August dramatically says with a slight accent, walking in with sunglasses and a blue wig on.

"Knock it off. Give me that." Stella tells him, ripping the wig off his head.

"Okay, hey, hey. Once we get unpacked, we can grab pizza." Cordell tells them. "Okay?"

"Yeah." The twins grin, going upstairs.


+++


Janie gets home after dance class and before she can make it to her room, she's grabbed by her arm and pulled into August's room by him.

"What the heck, Augs?" Janie asks, pulling her arm out of his grip.

"Dad's hiding something." August states.

"What do you mean?" Janie asks.

"I brought one of dad's old work boxes in the other day since I didn't know what it was. But I kept the camera and phone from the box without him knowing and I got a picture from the camera." August informs.

"So, what, now you're snooping through stuff?" Janie asks. "That's very non-Augie of you, don't you think?"

"I just wanted to see what was on the camera. You know, figured it was just pictures of him. Maybe mom could've been in a couple. It's curiosity." August says.

"Curiosity killed the cat." Janie says.

"I get it, Jane." August rolls his eyes. "I found this on the camera." He says, holding up the picture. Janie looks at it, her eyebrows furrowing when she doesn't recognize the woman on her dad's lap.

"Who's that?" She asks, taking the picture from her brother.

"I don't know.  I found her contact on dad's phone and texted her." August says.

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