Page 14 of Rubber Duckie Shifter Next Door

“I need to prove that I’m a responsible adult.”

“It sounds more like you’re trying to prove you’re a boring adult when you’re perfect just the way you are.”

My shoulders slump. “You don’t understand.”

“I don’t, but it’s clearly important to you.” He takes a step back with a sad smile. “Whatever you need, Rachel.”

My heart sinks, even though this is exactly what I wanted. “I should join the kids. Assuming they want me around.”

“Of course they do.” Sig leads the way. When we reach the pool where the kids are throwing rubber ducks at each other, he claps his hands. “You three, out of the water and over here, now!”

To my surprise, they splash over without argument. And with huge grins on their faces, too.

Sig crosses his arms over his chest. “Okay, ducklings. Spill. Why are you giving Rachel a hard time?”

And just like that, they’re back to frowning.

“Sig, don’t,” I hiss. “It’s fine.”

All I want is for the kids to be happy. And I’m willing to do whatever it takes to earn a place in their lives.

Sig frowns. “Don’t you want to know what’s going on?”

What’s going on is that they hate me. They’re glaring at me like they think I’m a monster. If I admit I don’t know what I’m doing as a guardian, maybe they’ll give me a break. At the very least, I can figure out what I did wrong so I can do better. For Janey.

I touch her ring for courage and turn to the kids. “What happened, you guys? We were having so much fun when I first got here. What changed?”

Lisa crosses her arms in front of her chest. “You know what changed, Rachel.”

“Yeah, Rachel,” Noah says, copying her.

I glance at Sig, then back at the kids. I have no clue what they’re talking about, and he comes to my rescue.

“If you want to come back to Rubber Duckie World, you’re going to explain.”

I wait for them to tell him I’m a terrible godmother and I don’t know how to act around kids and that every word out of my mouth is wrong and they wish I’d just leave.

But then Anna clears her throat. Her voice shakes as she says, “We just want Nana back.”

My heart squeezes painfully in my chest. “She’ll be back before you know it.”

“No, she won’t,” Noah cries. “You’re lying!”

Lisa glares at me. “You made Nana leave, and you’re going to make sure she never comes back.”

“I would never do that!”

Noah stomps his foot and clenches his little hands into fists. “We heard you on the phone!”

Anna nods emphatically. “When she called on Monday, we heard everything.”

I shake my head as I wrack my brain to try to recall what I might have said. Finally I settle on, “I don’t know what you think you heard, but Nana is coming back.”

“You’re lying!” Lisa shouts. “You want to take us away from our nana, and we won’t let you!”

Noah whimpers.

Anna starts to cry.