We both have a bit of gray starting to creep into our hair, and I couldn’t give a shit about it. I’d rather be gray than bald. But I think because Flynn has the stubble and sometimes a short beard, it makes him look older. Our father went gray early and fully gray by the time he was fifty, so I’m heading there faster than I would like. Mum used to tell him she loved his hair like that and that he was her silver fox.

I sit at my desk in my home office, eating a meal I prepped early this week of curry chicken and vegetables with a small side of rice. I make sure I get the right amount of protein intake each meal, and I like being organized so I don’t have to waste time cooking during the week. I could hire a chef, but I have lived on my own for so long and done the same routine that it is just second nature now. Plus, as everyone likes to tell me, I’m a bit of a control freak, so preparing my own food makes me feel like I have control over what fuel I’m putting in my body. I never do a full seven days’ worth of meals because there are always at least one or two nights I’m out at a meeting over dinner or a social occasion.

My phone starts dancing on my desk with the vibration of an incoming call. I hate the annoyance of a loud ringtone, so it’s always on silent.

“Hi, Mum.” I put my earpiece in so I can keep working while I chat with her, because I know that once Harper arrives, I won’t get anything else done for the night.

“Hi, love, how are you doing?” She is always the one who calls to check on us. Dad is just not that sort of man. He cares and is glad to hear all the news Mum relays to him, but he does not like to use the phone much.

“Everything is fine with me, how about you and Dad?” I know I shouldn’t answer with an open-ended question like that, but I’m tired and wasn’t thinking.

“You know your father, he never says much, but I think he needs to go to the doctor because he seems to be getting constipated more often these days.”

And there it is. The reason I should not give Mum the opening to tell me things that I just don’t need to know about. I wonder if Flynn gets conversations like this. I doubt it because he wouldn’t bother to ask. To him, Mum and Dad will live forever, and I worry too much.