Chapter 40
Steph was halfway back from the kitchen with a mug full of hot tea for Venus when Jay waved her over. He stood just inside the sliding doors out to the deck, and she saw her father passing by on one of his pacing circuits outside.
She set the mug in front of Venus, catching her mother’s eye across the table. Steph jerked her chin toward the deck. When her mother nodded without a break in the quiet conversation, she walked away as fast as she could without drawing too much attention to herself.
Jay held his phone in one hand, turning it so she could see the display. With the way her head ached from stress and the aftereffects from hardly any sleep making her ability to read and comprehend marginal at best, she concentrated on his words instead.
“We may have just caught a brea
