It was a little late, but she imagined everyone would be in the mess hall. Unless they had other plans, they usually ate there after a long workday. She figured they’d be finishing up, but she should be able to grab a plate and some company.

But by the time she got into the mess hall, all the lights were off, and it looked like everything had been cleaned up and put away.

Jamie let out a feral growl and stalked back out of the room, heading toward her brother’s house. When she arrived, she tromped up the front porch, and then knocked, feeling hungry and impatient. And unaccountably wounded that something else was not the way it should have been.

It took a few moments, but Wyatt finally appeared, looking freshly showered and overly happy.

Happy.

She wasn’t happy.

“Hey,” he said. “What brings you by?”

“I’m starving,” she said. “And everyone seems to have eaten without me.”

She sounded whiny as hell but she felt...off. Tender and maybe a little bit bruised and she had no idea why.

“It’s seven o’clock,” Wyatt said. “We finished eating a half hour ago.”

“Well, I didn’t,” she said. “Nobody thought to leave me anything in the kitchen?”

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I would have assumed that you have eaten already, on account of the fact that it was late.”

“Well,” she said, “I didn’t. And if you and everybody else feel so sorry for me, it seems to me that you could translate that into something useful, and feed me. Poor, motherless Jamie Dodge, who is incidentally starving to death because her asshole brother didn’t save any dinner for her.”

Why was she freaking out at Wyatt? She didn’t know. She’d never been like this. Never been...emotional. She’d always kept her feelings on lockdown, and when they did escape they took the form of anger. Right now her voice was shaking and it was perilously close to being on the line of something other than anger.

“Hey,” Wyatt said, “I thought you were covered. You didn’t tell me that you needed dinner.”

“Well, you’re useless,” Jamie said, turning on her heel and stalking down the stairs.

“Why don’t you come in the house and I’ll find you something to eat.”

“No,” she said, waving a hand. “I’m sure that I have an onion and a bottle of beer in my fridge.”

“Jamie, I don’t know what the hell your problem is, but if you want to be treated like an adult, maybe don’t slide into acting like a child whenever it suits you. Either I need to feed you every day, or you’re a strong, independent woman who can handle her own self. But you’re going to have to make up your mind on that.”

“It’s not about being strong or independent, jackass,” she said. “It’s about expectation. Which is that we would eat together, since we always eat together.”

“Not always,” Wyatt pointed out. “Anyway, Lindy and I just brought food back to the house tonight. Bennett and Kaylee never even came by today. Grant and McKenna worked their shift and then they went back to their house. We don’t live in each other’s pockets these days, and we don’t have to.”