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Jake studies Sandra, who hasn’t once looked our way. She’s just an ordinary woman with a pointy nose and bad perm, who happens to work for me. “Did you let the kid sign up?” he asks.
“Of course not.” Lennon squints at Jake like he’s lost his marbles. “Sandraknowsthings.”
More to the point,Iknow things.
Lennon and Desmond have worked their butts off building their adventure programs, but new businesses are tricky. Windfall is the Town of Wagging Tongues. One negative comment can sink you faster than theTitanic. So I asked Sandra to get the lay of the Kid Land. Suss out which little shits in Windfall and neighboring Ruby Grove are troublemakers.
I’m not privy to Sandra’s methods—whom she speaks with, the leads she follows—but I pay her to keep an eye on my brothers, sit nearby at Sugar and Sips, listen for problems they haven’t shared with me. When she heard them mention Mrs. Ward, or maybe she hacked into Lennon’s computer and saw the kid’s name—if I don’t know, it’s not my problem—she quickly told Lennon not to sign the kid up. Possible catastrophe averted.
“I think she’s clairvoyant,” E says, eyeing her with suspicion. “Her intel verges on creepy.”
Lennon nods, then his hipster smirk shifts to me. “If she’s clairvoyant, we should ask her why Jake and Cal are here to have a mysterious talk, when they should be working.”
“Weareworking,” I say, keeping my face relaxed. I am cool and collected. Not one of my feathers is ruffled. “Jake and I are here to talk about work, so you can all go back to painting your nails and gossiping about Sandra andThe Bachelorette.”
Lennon cracks a joke about Desmond loving reality TV, which he hates, but I don’t listen to his barked reply. I need an escape route before this conversation returns to me. I could sneak through Delilah’s kitchen, then out through the back door. Or go to the bathroom, slip out the window, then tell Jake I felt sick and left.
Yep. That’s the ticket.
Humming in time to the music playing, I retreat from our circle and head innocently toward the bathrooms.
A few feet from freedom, Lennon steps in front of me. “Going somewhere?”
I gesture to the bathrooms. “Is this high school? Do I need a hall pass to use the lavatory?”
“No. You need to explain why I had a surprise visit from a building inspector the other day.”
“You had a visit from an inspector?” I ask innocently, going for quietly concerned.
“I did,” he says, getting up in my face. “She showed up with Dean, and I’ve been wondering ever since how Dean suddenly had time to work on my wiring, when he’d already told me he couldn’t fit me in.”
Continuing with my dumb act, I say, “Huh. That’s odd.”
“You’re the only odd thing here,” Lennon says, not buying my naïve routine. “The only reason I can figure that Dean decided to help me and inadvertently alerted the inspector to my lack of permit, comes back to you since you two were friends back in the day. I also know you were a secret vigilante growing up, avenging us if we were wronged. So, I’ll ask again, did you do something covert to try to help me fix my wiring issue?”
I almost attempt another round of playing innocent, but my nerves are shot. This conversation is draining my fortitude and needs to end. “Yes, fine. I did it. I got Dean to work on your place.”
“By doing deeds with the devil?”
“By doing what needed to be done.”
“And now I owe extra cash and have to pause my renovations.”
I huff. “I’m not the one who didn’t apply for work permits.”
“Not my finest move,” he says, sounding annoyed with himself. “I’ve been busy, and it slipped my mind. But you need to quit it with the interfering. I know you mean well, but my life isn’t your responsibility. You made this worse for me, not better. I need you to promise you’ll quit meddling in our lives.”
Agreeing should be easy. I just have to give him my word, then I’m free to shimmy out the bathroom window. But I think back to the first week of witness protection, how utterly bewildered I was. Learning all the lies Dad told, clueless to the guillotine he’d rigged over our heads. Never once did I suspect he was laundering money, cozying up with a drug cartel, sending us on a collision course with disaster.
That’s when I vowed to protect my family at all costs. I would monitor their lives more closely. Never have to watch E sob into his knees again, begging to contact Delilah, heaving so hard he puked. I wouldn’t have to witness Desmond punch walls with bloody knuckles and scream himself raw, missing Sadie and the life that was torn from him. Lennon turned despondent during WITSEC. Jake shoved his wants and needs into a lockbox and hurt himself taking care of his messed-up family.
Nope. Never happening again. Not on my diligent watch.
So, I look at Lennon, give him my most serene expression, and say, “I won’t meddle in your lives again.”Unless I have to, I don’t add.
He folds his arms and taps his fingers on his elbow. “Such a liar, but back to Jolene.”
“We weren’t talking about Jolene.”
