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Lucy waves her off. “My brothers are just butting heads. It happens literally all the time. We’re staying though. Right?”
She looks at me and I nod. She wiggles her eyebrows and moves to the other side of the table.
“There. Now you have a little more space.”
I run my tongue over my teeth, looking out the plate glass window to the parking lot. I have a lot of emotions churning around in my brain right now. But unbidden, my mother’s voice filters through my head.
Go along to get along if you want to make and keep friends, Savannah.
Lucy is just trying to help. Plus, it’s not like she’s wrong. I do need money. I shut my mouth and give Lucy a bright smile.
“Thanks, Lucy.”
Lucy beams at me. “Of course. If you decide you can’t work for old Grumpy Guts, I’ll understand. But I think you should give it a week.”
A week? I gulp. Before I can say anything, my waffle arrives. I dig into the buttery, savory-sweet goodness, and let Lucy take the reins of the conversation.
But in the back of my head, two questions burn brightly.
How can I get out of working with Cole?
And what is this secret project that Rex is so excited about?
5
Cole
By the time I park my car in the gravel driveway and head into my parents’ house, it’s fair to say that I’m in a bad mood. As I bound up to the mansion, I try to focus on something that won’t make me frown. But it’s hard to know just what that could be.
I’ve only been back for a few hours, and Rex is already driving me crazy with his secretive demands. And as for Lucy and her friend Savannah… I love Lucy as much as anyone can love their little sister, but damn if she hasn’t put me in a tough position. Employing Savannah, who is so gorgeous that I can’t look at her without my tongue lolling out like a cartoon wolf, is going to be a problem with a capital P.
I shoulder open the heavy front door. Easing inside, I glance around. The house is the same as it has always been, all cool, wood floors and light, airy spaces in each room.
“Hello?” I call out.
I’m immediately greeted by the one sound that can always cheer me up.
“Daddy!” Charlie yells. He comes running in from the living room in his socks and slides a little on the hardwood floors.
I kneel down and catch him, hugging him. He feels solid and reminds me that there are definitely good reasons that I brought him home to visit my parents.
Because I know, without a doubt, that my parents love Charlie. And Charlie could use some extra people in his corner now.
“Hey, kiddo. What have you been up to?”
Charlie gives me the biggest grin. He shoves a sand dollar into my hands. “Look!”
Turning the graying sand dollar this way and that, I smile. “What do you call this?”
“Sandy!” Charlie yells.
“A sand dollar?” I prompt.
He nods vigorously. “Yeah.”
“Did Mimi show you the ocean?”
“I saw crabs!” Charlie pinches his fingers together and moves his arms in imitation of a crab.
