“I guess…” Logan trailed off. “Uh, how did I get here?”
“Your girlfriend dropped us off this morning. She didn’t want any people in the truck bed when she got back to the ranch since her mom is evil.”
“My…” Logan started. She scowled. “Hilarious. Where’s your buddy?”
“Nick got a ride with John and the others.”
“Climbing the social ladder. I thought he’d ride with Ashley considering he’s, you know, in love.”
Elexis shrugged and kept playing his video game.
Logan wandered to the open door between rooms and whispered, “Who lives in this one?”
Elexis cupped a hand over his mouth. “Nana, she’s awake.”
In the next room, a chair creaked. Logan followed the sound. The room attached to Elexis’s was slightly different from the others she’d seen at the Bates. Instead of a second bed, there was a slab of mint-green countertop, complete with a sink and stove. A twin bed was pushed against the back wall, surrounded by framed pictures of a dark-haired family. Logan recognized the toddler in one photo as a much younger, much cuter Elexis. In another photo was a teenage boy in high-waisted shorts ordering pizza from the stand in the parking lot, presumably before it closed down. It took her a moment longer than it should’ve to recognize the teen as Alejo. In front of the TV, a crocheted doily was draped over the back of a rust-orange recliner. Gracia sat in the recliner with her feet elevated, spectacled gaze laser-focused on the TV.
She turned in the recliner and beamed. “Are you feeling better?”
“Totally.” Logan patted sweat from her forehead. “I … thanks for letting me crash here. I really like the decorations.”
Gracia held up her deep green doily in progress. “You want one? This is for your dad.”
“I—”
“I think yours will be red.”
Logan smiled. “You don’t have to do that. But I’d love one.”
“Give me a week.” Gracia laughed. “I didn’t know you and Elexis were friends. You must be a miracle worker. I can never get him out of his room.”
“Happy to help,” Logan said. A familiar voice rang from the TV screen. Logan spotted her fathers’ faces, inverted by an infrared camera. She laughed under her breath. “You’re a fan?”
“I watch every week. Even the repeats. When your dad left, he promised he’d call, but he never did. Never told me what was going on with you guys. This is the only way I saw him.” Gracia motioned to a plate of cooked bacon on the counter. “Help yourself to some breakfast. You and me need to catch up.”
“I should get back to—”
“You only want to see Elexis, not me?” Gracia asked.
Logan shook her head. Gracia’s old-lady sympathy tactics were underhanded, but she had to respect them. She plucked a strip of bacon from the plate and sat at Gracia’s window-side table. She vaguely recognized this episode of ParaSpectors, though the details escaped her. Maybe it was the one where their camera operator was possessed by Satan. After a while, they began to blur.
The show went to commercial and Gracia turned.
“You were so sick when you got here,” she said. “Do you need anything? Juice? Water?”
“Sick,” Logan repeated. A piece of her hoped Gracia thought it was a stomach bug and not too much beer. “I must’ve had a fever or something.”
Gracia smiled.
She knew.
“Wait until her dads find out,” Elexis called from his room.