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“I don’t want to be nice to you. You’re mean. Smelly. And stupid.”
“Did your mum teach you to talk to adults like that?” Flynn knew damn well Abby wouldn’t tolerate Katy’s behaviour. Katy was nothing but respectful around adults—when she wasn’t running off at the mouth.
“You’re not an adult.”
And there was the answer. “You might be right, kid, but we need to get along this week. So what will it take to see some good behaviour from you? You need to be friendly too.” He thought about it. “And you can’t go telling everybody’s secrets to your mum’s sister. She’s not from around here; she won’t understand how things work.”
Katy stuck her nose in the air. “That’s a lot of work.” Her cheeks flushed as her eyes calculated. “It’s going to cost you lots.”
He folded his arms to mimic her. “Name your price. I came prepared. I have money in my pocket.”
She thought about it while tapping one finger to her chin. It would have been cute if she wasn’t a master manipulator. Hell, she could give his aunty Heather a run for her money—and she was the town’s current queen of manipulation.
Katy straightened her back and smiled sweetly. “I don’t want money. I want my own swimming pool. I want you to come to forty-seven tea parties with my dolls. You need to read me ten bedtime stories.” She thought about it. “No, eleven-teen stories. I want chocolate every day—and you can’t tell Muma about it. I want a puppy and a new Barbie house for all my new Barbies. And I want you to teach me how to play football so I can beat Jonathan.” She grinned in triumph. “I want to score my own goal. Jonathan scores own goals all the time. I want one too.”
Flynn groaned. What were they teaching kids these days? “Own goal means you scored against your own team, kid. It isn’t a good thing. It’s a bad thing. You don’t want one of those.”
She narrowed her eyes. “I want it all.”
Time was ticking, and they had to get back into the kitchen before someone came to find them and ruined negotiations.
“I can do the pool, the Barbie house and the chocolate. There’s no way I’m sitting through tea parties with your dolls, I can’t play football because of my leg and if I give you a puppy your mum will kill me.”
Katy stared at his leg. “When will it be fixed?”
Flynn bit back the urge to shout never. “Soon. Maybe. Who knows? But I can’t run after a ball right now.”
She nodded. “I want a pool and a Barbie house and chocolate and bedtime stories and ten tea parties.”
He shook his head. “No tea parties. No bedtime stories.”
She stamped her tiny foot. “Then I’m going to tell on you to Aunty Victoria. I watch you all the time when my Muma puts me to bed at night. She thinks I’m sleeping. I can tell Aunty Victoria all about your parties.”
“How old are you, kid? Because you act like a forty-year-old lawyer.”
She just smiled. It was scary.
“Katy? Flynn?” Abby shouted. She sounded brittle enough to snap.
“Coming,” Flynn shouted back. “Fine. Everything except the football and the puppy.” He figured seeing as she couldn’t count, she wouldn’t know if he kept his end of the bargain regarding how many times he endured a story or tea with the dolls.
“Deal.” She bounced on the spot. “And no more kissing my Muma.”
“That’s a deal breaker, kid. I’m going to kiss your mum. If it was so important to you, you should have mentioned it first on your list of demands.”
“Are you two coming?” Abby was near hysterics.
“Let’s go,” Flynn said. “And remember, you need to act like we’re friends. And keep other people’s business to yourself. Stop telling tales.”
“I’m going to tell Muma all about this,” she threatened, ignoring his order not to tell tales.
“That’s the one exception to keeping things to yourself. You should tell your mum. You shouldn’t keep secrets from your mum. It’s the other people I’m worried about. We need to keep secrets from them. And anyway, don’t you think your mum will figure out our deal when a pool turns up?”
She rolled her eyes as she ran from the room. “I want a really big pool. Not one of those baby ones.”
With a shake of his head, he followed her. He’d intended to help Abby, but he suspected his interference might be causing more harm than good.
10
