“Oh my God. Thank you!” She skips over to us, which gives Sulli more time to decide her food choice.
“Just our names?” I wonder, feeling the two douchebag men smirking like we’re Hollywood trash. We’re all east coast natives, but it wouldn’t be the first time people act as though we’re not even from Philadelphia.
“Yes, that’d be amazing.” She has her hands to her mouth in shock.
I scrawl my name and then Ryke quickly signs his initials. Winona perks up like she wants to write her name out too—which would really be misshapen lines—but I clasp her fingers with mine and bounce her on my legs, distracting her in an instant.
I ask the waitress, “Do you guys do breakfast?”
“Not really, but I can ask the cook if he’ll try.”
The man coughs into his hand, “Princess.” Some people never grow up.
“That’s okay.” We can always stop at Lucky’s Diner and pick something up on the way home if she’s still hungry.
The waitress returns to Sullivan. “Do you know what you want?”
She shuts her menu. “I think I’m good with water.”
The “Bigfoot” douchebag mutters to his friend, “Good, maybe she’ll faint next meet.”
Ryke passes me his phone that buzzes, and he rises, all six-foot-three of him towering above. “I need to fucking talk to you. Outside.”
I try to focus on Sulli so she doesn’t see the hostile exchange between the men. “Did you see the back of the menu?”
Sulli flips the menu over. “Oh wait.” The waitress stops from moving onto the shorter blonde girl. “Can I get the strawberry milkshake, fries, and fudge brownie?”
I’d smile, but this idiot guy laughs, “Outside? Really?” He acts like he’s too cool for a conversation with Ryke.
His wife nudges him though. “Kenneth.”
Kenneth. He has a name.
“Fine. Let’s go outside,” he says like it’s a silly concept. Paparazzi are currently on the curb outside, about five or six cameramen, but it’s not like Ryke can speak to him privately anywhere else. The burger joint is pretty crowded, and he’d rather throw out curses and threats outside than in front of Sulli.
Maybe she’ll faint next meet.
I’m concerned about her safety, but we’ll just send Price to practices with her from now on. I know Ryke will want someone there when we can’t be.
Ryke leads the man outside, and his phone buzzes in my hand. A text conversation in full-blaze. Winona looks at the device with me.
I read the newest text.
Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do – Lo Lo would probably butcher him with insults, ones that’d be on every entertainment news site. Ryke doesn’t fight that way. The phone vibrates again.
Better advice, don’t punch him. – Connor “What can I get you?” The waitress jolts me for a second, and I blink a couple times, clearing cobwebs. I glance at the front window, street lamps and camera flashes the only light.
Ryke stands opposite Kenneth, and even though I can’t hear him speak, the threat is clear in his dark, dangerous features, practically ripping through his stone exterior.
“Daisy Calloway?” she asks. I’m too used to the first-name-and-last-name attachment to flinch—or even the casual use of my maiden name.
“Actually…” I see the shadowed road we’re all headed down. Ryke’s fists clench as he yells over this other guy. Ryke fights with his body, rarely words. “Can you cancel her order? We have to leave.”
“Huh?” Winona gawks up at me. I lift her on my side, and she tries to wiggle out.
“No, Nona,” I whisper. “Shhh.” I pick up Sulli’s bag and apologize to the parent who invited us. Sulli scrapes back her chair, knowing we need to go.
Price rises, and Ryke’s bodyguard, Quinn, suddenly appears from the kitchen door, nodding to Price. I slip Ryke’s phone in my short’s pocket, feeling the concentrated gazes of everyone in this diner. I pull Sulli closer to me, and she takes her swim bag off my arm.
“Can you help him?” I ask Price.
“He wanted me to stay with you and the girls.” Price takes out his car keys while we linger by his table. “We’re going to leave through the kitchen and out the back. Quinn is pulling the car around.” I swing my head, noticing that Quinn is gone again.
Okay then.
The camera flashes suddenly go off like fireworks. I make sure Sulli and Winona aren’t watching, faced towards the kitchen door.
Ryke and Kenneth fume much closer to one another. Kenneth points a finger and then he abruptly launches his fist towards Ryke’s jaw. Ryke ducks and then knees Kenneth in the gut. So hard that the man falls to the sidewalk.
Ryke never says another thing. He just leaves, storms back inside to us—and Price directs all of us towards the back. We slip into the busy kitchen, the cooks watching as we hurry through to the backdoor.
“What happened?” Sulli asks her dad over the sizzle of burgers.
“Stay away from that fucking man.” Ryke pulls Sulli very, very close, so protective that it almost scares me. What’d he say to him? Ryke sees my fear, and he sets his hand on my head like don’t worry.
My phone starts beeping while Ryke’s vibrates in my pocket again.
I don’t answer either of them yet. I wait until we’re all in Ryke’s Land Cruiser, Quinn behind the wheel, Price in the passenger’s seat, the four of us in the back.
As soon as the tires bump along the road, Winona falls asleep in her car seat.
“Sorry, Sul,” I tell her softly.
Just as quietly, she says, “I didn’t like it there anyway.” She slouches. “Can Dad make pancakes?” I smile at her request.
“Yeah,” Ryke says. “Anything else?”
“Captain Crunch cereal.” She’ll put it on the pancake like a topping.
I take out the phones. Ryke’s new texts stare back at me.
At least he punched first, bro. – Lo Small achievements. – Connor My sisters and Willow started a text thread with me.
OMG!!!!!!! Did you all see the video? Ryke called him a dirty motherfucker – Lily I’d stab his eyes out with my heels. Ryke should’ve taken a fork to his skull. – Rose What’s going on?? – Willow Check out Celebrity Crush and GBA Entertainment News. Do you want a link? – Lily Media is fast, but I knew it’d be online the minute Ryke stepped outside.
Found it. Omg. – Willow Daisy, did the man really wish that Sullivan would faint? – Poppy You think Ryke just concocted this for laughs? Why the hell would he say, ‘You wished my seven-year-old would faint—not to mention slip and fucking fall.’ Of course it’s real. – Rose I’m just looking at all sides. – Poppy Rose sent our sister devil and knife emojis. I relax at the exchange. What Ryke did was smart, even calculated. He aired threats that the man made in public, on record, almost as a safety net for our daughter. If someone tried to hurt her, Kenneth would be the first suspect.
He might even be banned from the Philly Aquatic Club after this.
I return Ryke’s phone to him, and he searches my gaze, as though wondering where my head lies. I whisper, “We’re okay.” We’re all okay.
He nods strongly. “We’re really fucking okay.”
{ 44 }
September 2025
Dalton Elementary
Philadelphia
LILY HALE
Luna has been in kindergarten for only two months, and the teacher asked us specifically to come in for a parent-teacher conference. While we wait for Ms. Jacobs in the little classroom, I begin to sweat.
I try to slyly sniff my armpit, just to confirm that I don’t stink.
“Lil,” Lo says. “You don’t smell. He lounges in the tiny plastic chair like he’s slacking off in fourth period biology. It’s not an accurate depiction of today. We’re in the front of the classroom, not the back. We’re at a round kindergarten table, not a desk. And we’re waiting for bad news, not for the bell to ring.
Why else would we be the only parents called for a conference?
“I’m sweating,” I mumble and tug at my T-shirt for ventilation.
“This whole thing is probably nothing.” His voice strains, so I know he doesn’t fully believe that. He wraps his arm along my shoulders, and my gangly arm slips around his waist.
The door creaks open, and Lo gives me a tight squeeze like we got this.