Chapter 81: Miranda

"Nope." She popped the P, yet it wasn't followed by a smug I-told-you-so expression. If I didn't know better, I'd think hope glittered in her expression. "Not one."

That I refused to believe. "You just don't know about it, then. No way Austin Burin has been celibate for six years." My eyes went wide to illustrate my point when I continued. "Trust me."

Her right shoulder lifted in a weak shrug. "Believe what you choose, Miranda. I was here. You weren't."

"Has he told you that?"

That question seemed to dash the hopeful gleam I'd just witnessed and replaced it with something akin to sorrow. "No." She pulled her lips between her teeth and chewed on them, briefly. When she released them, she took a deep breath before she spoke. "It's kind of unspoken that we don't talk about you in front of him...or Daddy."

Figured. Austin I got. Daddy, that was unjustified. "Of course." Sarcasm dripped from my response.