Desperation bled into Hayes’ words. The last time I’d heard him like this was when Everly had been missing. He didn’t ask for much in our friendship, but he was asking for this. “All I can do is try.”
“That’s all I need you to do.”
The front door pushed open, and Gabe poked his head out. “Everything okay?”
“What do you think?” Hayes answered.
Gabe’s shoulders slumped as he closed the door behind him. “Hadley left?”
It was a question, but it shouldn’t have been. Gabe should know by now that space was the first thing on his daughter’s agenda when things got tense as they had tonight.
“You talk to Mom?” Hayes asked.
Gabe leaned against the porch railing, his lips pressing into a thin line. “I talked. I’m not sure she heard me. She’s scouring the kitchen.”
“Hell,” Hayes muttered.
Julia in cleaning mode was never a good sign.
I pulled back a little more of the label on my beer. “Where’s Shy?”
“She took off for the barn.”
I hadn’t even heard her cut across the gravel drive to the structure that housed her prized horses and the loft she lived in above them, but Shiloh could sneak in and out of just about anywhere.
A muscle in Hayes’ jaw ticked. “She okay?”
“You know she’s not one to stick around through the tense times, but I think she’s fine.”
It was one of the few things the two sisters had in common. The desire to flee. Hell, Beckett had it, too. The only sibling who seemed to be determined to stick was Hayes.
My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I pulled it out. An alert to remind me that I needed to get Birdie and Sage home and in bed. I pushed to my feet. “I need to get going, the girls have school tomorrow.”
Gabe clapped a hand on my shoulder. “Of course. Don’t forget to read them a bedtime story now.”
“Never.”
Hayes gave me a chin lift. “Remember what we talked about.”
“I will.”
As I pulled open the front door, Birdie skidded to a stop in front of me. She peered around my broad frame. “Where’s Hadley?” Sage appeared behind her, nodding.
“She headed home.”
Sage shot a furtive glance at the kitchen where Julia was lost in her cleaning. “Because she’s mad at Mama Jules?”
I wrapped an arm around my daughter. Sage felt everything that anyone around her might feel, and it weighed on her tiny shoulders. “I think Hadley’s feelings got hurt. Families are complicated, and sometimes it’s hard for us to all get along.”
“We get along,” Birdie cut in.
“Most of the time. But you’ve slammed your door on me a time or two,” I reminded her.
Birdie’s cheeks flushed. “But I always say I’m sorry after, and we make up. I don’t think Mama Jules and Hads make up.”
She was right about that. I didn’t know if Hadley and Julia had taken the time to have a real conversation in years. Not one where they at least tried to understand each other. I looked down at my daughters. I couldn’t imagine having that kind of strife in my relationship with them. “You’re right. We do apologize. And it’s one of the most important things we can do. That and tell each other how much we love each other.”
Birdie burrowed into my other side. “Love you, Daddy.”