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“What care center?” I cut in. “You’ve mentioned it a few times.”
“Oh!” Her hands came together with excitement, and I knew I was in for a wild fucking ride just from the look on her face. “Okay, so! I’m rich.”
“Good God,” Cade scoffed. “Starting off strong.”
“Shush, you,” she chastised. “He needs all the facts. So, I’m rich—”
“You got yourself a sugar—ow!” I lurched in my seat when Declan’s steel-toed boot caught me in the fucking shin. Jesus fucking Christ that hurt. “What the fuck was that for?”
“Oops.” He smirked.
“Dick,” I growled.
“Language,” Mom said as she joined. I scowled. Oh, son of a fucking bitch. Of course, she’d fucking walk in now.
“Sorry,” I grumbled.
“Scooch, baby boy.” She made a small gesture with her hand for me to move over, and I did. The four of us crammed in the small booth with Cade taking up an extra chair at the end. It was all bumping elbows with minimal eating space and Declan’s boots were knocking into mine, but it was nice. “What were we talking about?”
“I’m rich,” Raven reiterated for the third time. “So, Michael came to me for some books while I was working. It turns out he was running an off-the-books operation—”
“You make it sound so sinister,” Cade interjected with a grin. “He sounds like a rogue secret agent the way you say it.”
“I like the way I say it!” She shot him a look, but it didn’t faze him. “Anyway, it turns out a lot of the kids at the school were getting dropped off early or picked up late because their parents had to work, but the school wasn’t letting them stay inside.”
“Why the fuck not?” I demanded.
“Language.”
“It’s a valid question! You can’t just let kids wait out in the rain or snow or cold,” I retorted.
“Exactly!” Raven replied. “They said it was a liability and made the kids wait outside. Anyway, it turns out Michael was taking care of these kids out of his own pocket. And a lot of the parents didn’t have the money to send the kids with food or whatnot.”
“At least half the kids are our kids,” Declan added. It took me a second to realize he meant they were pack kids.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” I snapped. I could feel the weight of Mom’s glare without ever looking at her. “I’m allowed to be mad about that. No kid should go hungry, but we have a responsibility to them—as a family.”
Fuck. And I wasn’t here to help with that shit.
“I know, baby boy.” Mom patted my knee. “But that doesn’t mean you need to swear.”
“So, what are we doing here? What did you do?” I asked Raven.
“I’m rich.” She shrugged, making Cade snort all over again.
“I got that part.”
“What I mean is, unlike other people in this town, I can do something about it. Michael was spending whatever he could out of pocket to take care of the kids, but he’s just a teacher. I offered up Nolan’s store for the kids to be picked up from and dropped off by the bus to give them somewhere warm to go. Now, I’ve bought out the storefront next to his. We put a door in the shop, so they can go back and forth between the care center and the bookstore if they want. Nolan lets them read whatever they want as long as it’s age-appropriate. I had to go through a bunch of legal shit with the state to become an actual center. I really don’t want to get sued. Not that I can’t afford it, but I just want the Baby Bird Care Center to be a place where parents can comfortably leave their kids and know they’re taken care of. So, now we have a whole center! We have food, activities, whatever. I teach art to a lot of the kids, and Nolan reads books. We split up helping with homework and whatnot. I’m hoping to incorporate music, but I need to find someone musical.”
“I teach guitar and singing,” I told her. “I also know how to play the piano if that helps.
“You teach?” Declan frowned. “Since when?”
“Good for you,” Mom chimed in, looking away from her conversation with Cade for all of five seconds. The look of pride on her face made the little kid in me happy.
“I started doing voice lessons a year and a half ago,” I said. “My only constant client is Violet. The girl can sing, but she can’t do it in front of people.”
“That’s sad,” Raven said. “But I’m totally going to use you.”
