Chapter 64

“Yeah,” I mutter, sure, fine, whatever. Just leave,I add silently.

As if she hears the thought, Aunt Billy pats my leg and leans heavily on it to push herself up from the bed. “Help out around here,” she tells us, finally heading for the door. “Evie always said family helps family out, you heard it often enough growing up. When you boys get dressed, there’s a lot of stuff to do. The rooms upstairs need emptying out, the yard needs to be spruced up, get the leaves up and pull out the veggies, plenty to do. Sarah’s making pancakes to get us all started.” She pauses and I look up—she has one hand on the knob and the hint of a smile on her face. “I’ll give you two fifteen minutes until I send the kids in here to drag you out of bed, deal?”

Dan laughs. “We don’t really need—” he starts.

Sitting up, I cover his mouth with one hand and grin at my aunt. “You’re eating into our time.”