“You’re moping.”
Taylor looked up through locks of blond hair. Isaac stood in the doorway of his bedroom, looking at him softly.
“Am not,” he muttered. Isaac opened his mouth to say something in response, but Tay cut him off. “Ike, what do you want?”
Isaac held his hands up innocently and took a step into the bedroom. “I just wanted to see if you were all right. When Missy left, you seemed a little . . . I dunno. Upset. Off.” He paused. “Tay, are you all right?”
Taylor nodded. “Yeah, Ike. Fine,” he said curtly.
Ike opened his mouth to press the issue, but then quickly closed it. He nodded and started out of the bedroom. As he passed over the threshold, he looked back at his brother and said openly, “If you want to talk about it, Tay . . .” Taylor didn’t reply.
When his brother had left the room, Taylor took in a deep breath. “Dammit, Ally,” he breathed. “Missy; whoever you are. Why couldn’t I tell you? Maybe you wouldn’t’ve left if you knew . . .” He groaned and laid back on his bed.
“Check,” Tracy said, marking an “X” on the pad of paper Hallie had given her.
A slow smile crept across Hallie’s face. “That’s everything then,” she said happily. “Now we just wait till it gets dark and move into the next phase.”
Tracy managed to force a smile. “Yeah,” she muttered. “The next phase.”
