Chapter 15
***Ada***
I waited until Joe was back in his office to hurry up to Kendall’s room. I knocked and waited for her to open the door impatiently. When she finally did, I was already practically wiggling where I stood. Her frown when she saw me was sobering, though.
“What is it?” I remembered accidentally blowing her off the day before and groaned. “I’m so sorry about yesterday, Kendall. Milo and I had a bad day, as you probably heard.”
She looked confused for a minute and then shook her head. “I don’t care about that. I’m just... Never mind. What do you need?”
I leaned in closer. “We’ll talk later about how suspicious you just were about what’s bothering you. As for right now, I just had a brilliant idea for our next act of warfare.”
Her eyes brightened and she straightened. “What is it?”
I held out my pinky. “Promise you’re on Team Make Joe and Collin Crazy?”
She rolled her eyes and linked her pinky with mine. “Anything to mess with Dad.”
We casually strolled down to the wing of the house where the brothers’ bedrooms were and Kendall, Milo, and I slipped inside Joe’s room. Kendall giggled as we rushed into his closet but she immediately straightened her face like she hadn’t.
I whistled at the sight of the walk-in closet. It was immaculately organized. Shirts, pants, jackets, running shorts, and even t-shirts all hung perfectly, separated by color. His shoes were all lined up on shelves perfectly, too. It was an act of anal retentiveness. “This is wild.”
“Yeah, he used to try to keep my closet like this.” She shrugged. “Now he avoids my room at all costs.”
I paused and turned to face her. “That sucks.”
She reached up and grabbed a pair of pants. “Whatever.”
We mixed everything together in silence and then stepped back to admire our work. Milo played at our feet with a tie that had fallen off its hook. Everything was mixed up and I had a fleeting feeling of guilt before I reminded myself that he’d gotten me fired and was an absolute jerk.
“Wow.” Kendall looked up at me. “You’re a bad influence.”
My eyes went wide. “Oh, god. I am. I’m a horrible nanny.”
She looked down at her shoes and shrugged. “You’re fine.”
It felt like a major compliment from a teenager. Satisfied that we’d ruined Joe’s day, the three of us got out of there. Instead of going straight back to her room, Kendall joined me and Milo in the library. She sat on her phone while I read a book to Milo and put him down for a nap.
I saw Collin walk by the library at some point but I kept my face in the book I was reading. I wasn’t ready to be a mature adult and face him. Kendall looked up at me every so often and frowned, not unlike her father, but then she’d look back at her phone and it was like it hadn’t happened.
Finally, I couldn’t take it. “What is it?”
She flinched at the sound of my voice. “Huh?”
“What’s going on? You keep looking at me and frowning. Do I have something on my face?” I stretched Milo out on the couch next to me and moved over to sit on Kendall’s couch with her. “You’re putting out some weird vibes.”
She sank back into the couch and groaned. “Can I ask you something? You’re not super old. Maybe you’ll get it.”
I nodded. “Of course.”
“I’m friends with this girl, Beck. She’s really cool, you know?” Her cheeks darkened and she chanced a look at me. “Like, really cool.”
My eyebrows climbed higher as I started to connect the dots. “And you think she’s really cool?”
She nodded. “Yeah.”
“Okay. So you think Beck is really cool. Got it.” I smiled and turned so we were facing each other. “Does she think you’re really cool?”
Kendall flopped back on the couch and sighed dramatically. “I don’t know. She followed me on Insta but she also follows this other girl, Frankie. Frankie goes to our school and came out when she was like ten. Everyone thinks she’s amazing.”
“Cool name.” I snorted when she shot me a dirty look. “It’s a horrible name, actually. Stupid, stupid name.”
She let a tiny smile touch her lips before sighing. “How do I find out if Beck likes me?”
I grinned because I couldn’t help being excited and happy at the idea of young love. It was beautiful and so full of hope and opportunity. “Okay, so are you the bold type?”
Her eyes widened. “What do you mean?”
“Would you approach her? Sometimes it’s best to just be bold and go for it.”
“Is that what you would do?”
I laughed and shook my head. “I’m a big coward. I’ve only made a move on one person in my entire life. Even then, he’d done most of the work already.”
She fiddled with her phone and shrugged. “I don’t know if I can. What if she doesn’t like me? Or laughs at me? Oh, god. I’d never survive that. Plus... No one really knows.”
“No one?”
“My best friends know but no one else. Dad doesn’t know. He’d probably avoid me even more if he knew.” Her face held so much grief that I wanted to hug her. “Courtney wants to message Beck for me to ask if she likes me...”
I scooted closer to her and gripped both of her shoulders.
“I don’t know anything about your dad, except the fact that he’s really weird about his closet, but if he treated you any differently for you being who you are he’d be the problem.
Not you. Either way, though, I don’t spill secrets.
Now. This Courtney character... Can we trust her to represent you in a good light? ”
Kendall’s face lit up for a nanosecond as she nodded. “Courtney’s been my best friend since we were three.”
“That’s amazing. Well, I think having Courtney sniff out the situation could be a good thing. And if Beck has even half a brain, she’ll think you’re really cool, too.” I hesitated. “Wait. Are you allowed to date? I’m realizing that I’m not a great nanny. Don’t tell anyone, okay?”
Her laugh was cut off by the sound of her father’s shouting coming from deep inside the house. Her eyes went comically wide and she gripped my arm. “We’re dead.”
A wave of satisfaction went through me. “Nah, we’re good. You just act clueless. We did nothing. We know nothing.”
She nodded. “If you get fired, add me on Insta so I can tell you what happens with Beck.”