When Katie came out of her bathroom, Megan and Logan were huddled in front of one of her windows. “What are you doing in my room?”

“Julian’s here. I thought Dad was going to beat him up,” Logan said.

Katie crossed to the window to see her aunt and uncle standing beside Julian’s Jeep. “I wish he would.”

“She’s crying,” Megan said. “Dad picked her up in the middle of the night. They must have had a fight or something.”

“He left her at some party,” Katie said. “I heard them talking. He’s such a dick.”

“Gross.” Logan groaned, pulling his eyes from the window when they started to kiss.

“What does she see in him?” Megan asked. “It’s not like he’s rich or something, and he’s ugly.”

“So it would be okay if he was rich and good-looking?” Katie asked.

“No! I’m just saying he doesn’t have any redeeming qualities.”

“The way you look is just luck, and I don’t think being rich is a redeeming quality. That’s shallow.”

“Then ninety-nine percent of the population is shallow,” Megan said.

“If a guy treated either of you like that, I’d beat him up,” Logan said.

“You wouldn’t have to,” Katie said as she turned from the window, unable to stomach another second of their public display of affection. “I’d beat him up myself.”

Logan laughed. “You couldn’t even beat up a fourth grader.”

“Ha. Ha,” Katie said dryly. “Just because everyone else in this family is freakishly tall doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with me. I’m stronger than I look. I could probably beat you up.”

“You think?” Logan asked.

“Don’t.” Katie gave him her most stern expression as he approached. “Logan, I’m serious,” she said, but it was too late.

“You’re like a baby doll,” he announced right before he pounced on her.

“Logan, stop!” Katie cried, trying to sound serious, but unable to keep from laughing as he lifted her in the air. “Logan!” She pounded his back with her fists as he hoisted her over his shoulder, carrying her around her room like a sack of rice.

“Say ‘Logan is king’, and I’ll put you down.”

“Logan’s the king of dicks!” she yelled. “Stop!” she cried when he began to tickle her.

The door slammed open, and their parents rushed in the room. “What in the hell—” Phil stopped midsentence as his eyes took in the scene. “Put her down.”

“Not until she calls me king,” Logan said.

“Logan,” Phil warned as he reached for Katie. “You could drop her or knock her into something.” He effortlessly lifted Katie off Logan’s shoulder and set her on her feet.

“I could have gotten away,” Katie insisted, looking up at her dad.

“Yeah, I could see that,” Phil said dryly.

15

As soon as Lina emerged from her car after attending an evening yoga class, she heard the low timbre of Phil’s voice coming from somewhere in the back yard. She frowned as she left the garage and made her way around the side of the yard. He was on the back patio near the pool, and as she approached, she knew Kim was on the other end of the call. There was no other reason he would have traveled all the way to the back patio.