Chapter 30

“Are you all right?” I demanded, looking at the stricken expression on Noah’s face.

I stepped forward to inspect him, slipped, tumbled over, and went down.

“What the hell is going on?” Jackson called.

“Daddy!” Noah moaned.

“Shit!” I said, putting a hand in the sauce to right myself.

“Daddy!”

“What are you doing?” Jackson demanded.

“Making dinner!” I snapped.

“They’re going to be here any minute! What a frikkin’ mess! I told you not to cook anything!”

I struggled to get to my feet while Jackson sent Noah to his room to change.

The doorbell rang.

“It’s not even noon yet!” Jackson exclaimed in annoyance.

I stared helplessly at the door.

The bell rang again. Impatient, these DHS people.

Although I had sauce on my shirt, pants, shoes and hands, I hurried to the door.

“Go change!” Jackson ordered. “I’ll handle this.”

“No, I’ll do it,” I said, thinking it would look odd if I didn’t answer the door. Like everything else that morning, it seemed the right thing to do.