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“Didn’t you learn the last time that I don’t need any help from your girlfriends? They don’t stick around, anyway.”
For just a breath, he was utterly paralyzed. The words were a dare, he knew, to admit things he’d tried to forget. But giving those things airtime now was pointless, and so was arguing with Bree.
As much as she hated it, he was all she had.
“That’s enough,” he said, putting enough frost on the words to catch her attention. “You can wait until tomorrow to start your classwork if you want, but Sloane’s in charge while I’m here at work. Are we clear?”
Bree shrugged and mumbled awhateverunder her breath, turning toward the front entrance. Gavin clenched his jaw hard enough that his muscles ticked, and he forced himself to meet Sloane’s eyes.
“Sorry about that. Like I said, things have been rough.” The last thing he wanted was to go into this now, with his nerves frayed and a late night ahead of him. He braced for a barrage of questions, but to his shock, only one came.
“You weren’t kidding about that warning, were you?” Sloane pulled her bright-red coat over her shoulders, flipping her keys into her palm with a jingle.
“No.” This had disaster written all over it. She didn’t have any experience with kids, and here he was, throwing her to a walking, talking pile of angry-girl hormones. He’d be shocked if Sloane didn’t end their deal right on the spot.
But to his relief, she just smiled. “It’s a good thing you hired me, boss. I love a challenge, and you need all the help you can get.”
4
It took less than five minutes of one-on-one for Sloane to realize she’d kicked a hornet’s nest of epic proportions when she impulsively signed on for this job.
“Just so you know, I don’t need a tutor in English, and I definitely don’t need a babysitter.” Bree slumped in the passenger seat of Sloane’s Fiat, fiddling with the iPod in her lap.
“Good. That makes two of us.” She eased the car onto the main road outside the grounds of the Pine Mountain Resort and tapped out an imaginary beat over the steering wheel with both index fingers. Maybe if she just played it cool, they’d get somewhere. After all, how hard could it be to have a casual conversation with this kid?
“Soooo, what’ve you got on there?” Sloane popped her chin toward Bree’s cell phone, and Bree promptly lowered another three inches in her seat.
“Just stuff. Spotify. Whatever.”
“Anything I might like?”
“Probably not.” Bree plugged her AirPods into place and looked out the window, flicking the app to life with the pad of her thumb.
Right. So much for casual conversation. With the exception of the GPS chirping out directions to the address Gavin had offered up just before they’d left, the rest of the ride passed in silence. Good thing Sloane didn’t have to rely on her sulky passenger to get them there. Not that she could blame the kid for being a little bit hacked off about her day. Having to hitch a ride with a school official might’ve been the only way for Gavin to get her to the restaurant safely, but that didn’t make it any less mortifying for Bree. Even Sloane, who didn’t know squat about kids, could figure that one out.
On the flip side, Breehadlit into him pretty hard over it. Not that it had put a dent in his chilly demeanor, but still. Sloane knew fighting words when she heard them. Her curiosity sparked to life as she tried to picture the ex-girlfriend in question. Pretty, no doubt. After all, what pretty woman wouldn’t be a sucker for those melty brown eyes and classically handsome face?
Well, besides her, of course. Chiseled jaw line or not, the Ice King was so not her type.
“Anyway,” she breathed, her cheeks flushing with too much warmth at the blast of heat cranking from the vent. She flipped it toward Bree in case she was cold, then pulled off of Rural Route Four to a winding residential road dotted with lakeside cottages, thinking all the way.
Although Sloane still wasn’t quite sure what had possessed her to agree to it, she was about to spend the better part of two weeks with this kid. She needed a plan of attack, especially for the tutoring. She’d never worked with a preteen before, but she hadn’t been bullshitting Gavin about those online creative writing classes she’d taught. In the grander scheme of things, this job couldn’t bethatdifferent than teaching adults. If anything, the challenge might kick-start her creative juices. At the very least, this gig would pad her anemic bank account, which put her that much closer to packing her bags and saving her career.
Ifthe kid would give her something more than the cold shoulder and a mountain of attitude.
“Well, here we are. Home sweet home.” By the time Sloane had the Fiat in Park, both of Bree’s black Converse All-Stars had hit the gravel drive in a blur of motion. She crunched her way to the single-story clapboard cottage, withdrawing a set of keys from the side pocket of her backpack without breaking stride. Only when she’d bumped the thick wooden door from its resting place in the frame did she turn back to look at Sloane.
“My home is in Philadelphia. This is just where I’m staying for now, because I don’t have any choice. But I’m never going to call this place home.” Her voice caught over the last word, making it softer than all the others.
Sloane’s exhale puffed around her in a visible cloud, scattered by a sudden gust of wind. “Okay.” She followed Bree’s footsteps up the porch, stopping short of where the girl still stood in the doorframe. “You going in? It’s pretty cold out here.”
Bree eyed Sloane with obvious distrust. “That’s it? You’re not going to give me some line about how things will get better eventually? Before I know it, I’ll love it here, and all that crap?” Bree’s knuckles blanched over the matte brass doorknob, which she still grasped even though the door was already wide open.
“Nope.”
Bree let go of the knob, but didn’t commit to going all the way inside. She traced the outer edge of the lock with one short, electric blue fingernail. “How come? Everybody else does.”
Sloane laughed, long and loud, making Bree jump. “Honey, we’re about to spend the next couple of weeks together, so let’s get something straight right now. If you’re expecting me to be like everybody else, then you’re gonna be sorely disappointed. And believe me when I tell you, you won’t be the first.”
