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I smother a laugh when Kendall rips off the top of the container before dumping the entire bottle of garlic powder into the sauce, her gaze locked on my mother’s.
“You don’t have a clue,” Mom says, shaking her head. She purses her lips and looks around. “This place is a mess. Go get a mop and clean the floor while I fix the mess you made of dinner.”
Kendall spins around, the wooden spoon in her hand, dripping red sauce onto the white tile.
I sigh and pinch the bridge of my nose. Hopefully, Kendall doesn’t throw the spoon at my mother, but I wouldn’t blame her if she did.
“Mom, you do not get to come into my home and tell Kendall what to do.”
Mom rolls her eyes and crosses her arms. “If she is here to manage your house, then she can at least make herself useful. Instead, she’s making more of a mess.”
“The house isn’t clean becauseIdidn’t clean up last night. It has nothing to do with Kendall. But, since you insist on speaking to her like that, you can leave.”
I walk to the front door and open it, looking at them. Mom gasps and Dad crosses his arms.
“What part ofplease leavedid you miss?” I ask, my tone stern as I look at the two of them.
Mom sniffs and storms over to me. “You’re going to regret treating your family like this when this little whore takes your money and runs.”
“Get out now!” I look at Dad who is still standing in the kitchen and glaring at Kendall. “If you don’t leave, I swear I will call the police right now.”
My parents stare at me for a moment, looking at me as if I’m a stranger to them, before walking out the door. I slam it behind them before looking up at Kendall.
“Are you alright?”
She shrugs. “It wasn’t anything that they haven’t done before.”
Her mouth snaps shut as if she’s realized what she just said. Kendall turns off the stove and moves the pot of sauce to one of the empty burners.
“Kendall, has something like this happened before?”
When she looks at me, her lips pressed tight together, I sigh.
Of course. Why wouldn’t my mother and father try to run her out of my life?
“What happened?” I ask, needing to know what I’m up against so I can fix the problem.
“It’s nothing. They’ve just made it clear a couple times now that they want me out of your life.” She chuckles but I don’t miss the shine to her eyes. “Look, just leave it. I can handle some parents who don’t like me.”
I cross the room and pull her into my arms, kissing her forehead. “You don’t have to handle it. There’s no reason for them to treat you like this and I’m not going to sit by and let it happen.”
Her arms wrap around my waist as she melts into my embrace.
“You don’t need to fight with your parents over me. It’s not worth it.I’mnot worth it.”
I pull back slightly to look down at her. “Kendall, you are worth so much more than that.”
She rolls her eyes, the corner of her mouth tilting upward. “It’s not worth driving your parents away.”
“I’m not driving them away.” I reach up to tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear. “I’m setting healthy boundaries with them so they know that they can’t disrespect you.”
“What was my dad like?” she asks, pulling away from me and grabbing a pack of burgers out of the freezer.
I follow her to the back deck and try to think about the best way to describe Dave while she starts up the grill.
“Your dad was the kind of man who was friends with everybody. He made it a point to be friends with everybody, actually. There are very few people who would ever have anything bad to say about him.”
She nods as I bump her out of the way with my hip. “Did he love Mom?”
