The deadbolt clicked before I had a chance to respond. The front door started moving inward.
I stood up with Miles against my chest and the second phone in my hand, while Tessa stayed curled against the kitchen cabinets with a glass of water beside her.
Their mother stepped inside and stopped when she saw me.
She had no grocery bags.
That detail hit harder than it should have, because less than a minute earlier Tessa had told me exactly what she had been instructed to say if I came home early: Mom went to get groceries.
Her eyes moved from me to Miles, then to Tessa.
Then she saw the phone.
She froze.
Not confused. Not curious. Not even surprised that I was home.
She knew exactly what I was holding.
“Grant,” she said quietly. “Why do you have that?”
I had expected denial first.
Instead, she asked why I had found the thing she had hidden.
