This was . . . mostly true. Her moms loved and adored her, they’d never made any secret of that. They’d had her back whenever she’d needed them, except for the times that she’d managed to keep her need a secret. Such as her younger years when she’d been mercilessly bullied for having two moms . . .

She loved them madly but it was a lot of pressure to be their only child, especially given how long and hard they’d fought for the right to have a baby at all. They were both truly amazing, but she could admit it was sometimes hard to live up to their expectations. She could also admit that she often didn’t. She tended to skate through life. If she didn’t dig too deep into anything, if she kept her life surface-only it was safe there. Her glass house couldn’t fall down.

Cat jumped onto her lap and Brynn gave her a long look. “You going to play nice?”

Cat gave her a gentle head butt to the belly, and then tried to put her face in Brynn’s soup. The bowl amplified the raspy, old lady purr so that it sounded like a misfiring engine.

“Welcome home,” Olive said dryly, scooping up Catherine before she got any soup, gently depositing her onto the floor. “Now let’s hear it. Not that we’re not thrilled to see you, but what’s going on? You’ve brought a pretty big duffle bag for a weekend’s visit. Thought Long Beach was working out for you. You were substitute teaching and living with Darren—”

“Dirk,” Brynn said and managed a casual shrug while ignoring the tightness in her chest, the tightness that had been there the whole drive. The whole past week. Maybe months. She was hoping it was a warning sign of an incoming zombie apocalypse and not a panic attack. When she’d been younger, she’d had them a lot. Like every day at summer camp over the course of the twelve years she’d gone, something else she’d managed to keep from her moms. The attacks were infrequent now, but at the thought of the conversation she was going to have to have with her moms, she could feel it building. She’d rather face zombies than worry them. They’d been through enough in their lives. “Just thought I’d come home for a bit,” she finally said.

“And you know we love having you,” Raina said, putting her hand over Olive’s when her wife opened her mouth again. “But we also know that you’re a fierce protector of those you love. You’d keel over before worrying us. Something’s wrong.” She softened her voice. “Did . . . something happen?”

Brynn started shoveling in the soup, even though she hated vegan chickpea noodle soup. “Yum.”