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“One hundred thousand percent sure.”
“Well, there’s a note here that’s got your name on it.”
I freeze in place. Slowly, slowly, I turn around to face her again. She’s plucked out a folded piece of paper. On the outside, sure enough, is my name.
Reese Dalton. Clear as day. Un-fucking-deniable.
Puck Bunny’s brow raises. “Want me to read it?—?”
I snatch it before she can even start to open the letter. Inside, there’s not much, but it’s more than enough to send my whole world spinning on an axis I didn’t know existed.
Reese,
She’s yours. I can’t handle her. You have money; you deal with it.
Her name is Violet.
No signature. No earthly idea of who it could be from, and the list of possibilities is long.
My ears buzz. I’ve never been floored by four sentences like this in my life, but here I am. It’s not even a properly mournful Hey, you have a long-lost child and I’m your lover from years ago type letter. It’s almost cold.
No, it is cold. Cold, just like leaving your baby on someone’s doorstep is cold.
What the fuck am I going to do?
3
OLIVIA
“… And second of all, who the hell does Judy think she is? Blaming you for what that nasty, limp-dicked trash can was trying to do! You were there to look after kids, not get some dick! I oughta fly to Dallas myself and give all those uppity shits a piece of my mind, just for you. I’ll do it, too, I swear I will.”
On my tablet screen, Quinn makes jabbing motions with her fists. Her face is screwed up in an expression of violent, deadly serious concentration.
It’s the first thing in days to make me laugh.
Quinn is my best friend. We’ve known each other since we were in high school. I was with her for her very first rebellious piercing (a naval ring that eventually got infected). She was with me for my first bad break-up (Brian Johnson, a top-tier asshole). We got our first jobs together.
She’s seen me through every dark corner of my life. I don’t know what I would do without my Q-Tip, loud personality and ever-changing hair colors and all. This week, it’s pink. Last week, it was cotton candy blue.
“It’s not Judy’s fault,” I mumble. “She has a business to run, and I never said anything?—”
“Because you didn’t think you could! See, this is the problem with modern corporations. Profits over people. It disgusts me.”
I raise my brow. “Quinn, you work for a corporation.”
“Yeah, and it’s the same shit here, too. You know they let go of a girl for sleeping with upper management, but didn’t let him go, too? Bullshit, I tell you. Absolute bullshit.” Quinn leans into the camera, her freckles crinkling along the bridge of her nose with the face she makes. “I’m just saying, you got the raw end of the deal on this one, Livvy. I know you really liked this job and really loved those kids. Don’t let ‘em run over you on the next one, okay? Promise me. That’s not the Olivia Carter I know.”
She holds up her pinky to the screen, deadly serious. I chuckle, holding up my own. “Promise.”
“Good. You got me worried, girl. With this new job, I’m gone all the time, too. I feel like I can’t look after you.”
Quinn recently landed a gig inspecting the facilities run by the pharmaceutical company she works for, ScienTEX. She used to stay in the Texas area, but she’s traipsing all over the country now. There’s even talk of expansions overseas.
Honestly, the idea of free trips to Europe makes me a little bit jealous. I’m still happy for her, obviously. Dallas just feels more claustrophobic than ever.
“You know you don’t have to look after me.” I smile. “I’m glad you do, though.”
I carry my tablet, the tub of ice cream I picked up on my way home, and my phone into the living room, where I plop down onto my couch. I’ve seen more of the Harrisons’ house than my own apartment in the last few years, so it almost feels like an alien space. I guess I’ll need to get used to it until I land another nannying assignment.
