Chapter 20
***Ada***
Sitting by the lake with the kids again the next morning, I stared across at the beach I’d gone to as a kid and thought of my parents.
I’d called them early that morning and updated them on everything except the sex with Collin.
I was going to carry that secret to my grave if I could.
They were so excited for me, even though what I was doing was crazy, but they were always that excited for me.
From the day I was born my parents had been showering me with attention and love.
We afforded the vacation to the other side of the lake while the kids I was watching lived and grew bored of their private beach and I felt sorry for them.
My parents poured love into me nonstop. They took time out of their day, every day, to talk to me and find out what I was thinking and feeling.
The kids living in the Carrington Mansion didn’t have a clue what that was like.
I hadn’t seen any of the Carrington brothers spend any significant time with their children.
Even Collin had managed to pay more attention to his phone than his kids when he’d joined us at the lake.
Kendall, sitting beside me on her phone, scrolling through social media, had opened up to me in a matter of days.
I wasn’t under the illusion that I was so amazing that I drew kids out of their shells that quickly.
They were all just starving for attention.
Kendall had come out to me while she believed her father would put even more distance in their relationship if she told him.
The twins had given me hugs the night before.
Milo was glued to my leg, even though his dad was out of hiding.
They were sad kids and it made me far angrier than getting fired had.
Alex and Avery went running by as they chased each other with the water guns I’d found in the garage and kicked up sand on Kendall.
She screamed threats at the boys and dusted herself off.
Milo mimicked her, his new favorite game, and then cackled as he fell back in the sand.
They were fun kids. They were good kids. They had shitty dads, though.
Kendall realized I was staring at her and raised her brows. “What?”
“Nothing. Just thinking.” I smiled and stretched out on my towel. The guys had no idea the storm heading their way.
“You’re doing an evil laugh. Should I be worried?” Kendall flicked sand over my legs. “Weirdo.”
I raised my sunglasses to the top of my head as I sat up. “Did you just kick sand at me?”
She shook her head. “No.”
“Give me one of those guns, boys! Kendall is about to get it!”
We played so much on the beach that we were all exhausted that night. We ate our dinner in the theater room while watching a silly kid’s movie and I interacted with the dads exactly zero times and it was great.
That night, while I showered and got ready for bed, I thought about how I was going to force the guys to step up as fathers.
I was an optimist til death but even I knew that my luck would run out at the Carrington Estate sooner or later.
I wanted to help the kids before I left.
I still wanted to torture the guys, but my priorities were shifting.
I had to get the guys to spend time with their kids before anything else. There was no way I could start to bridge the gap between them all if they were never together. Before I fell asleep that night, I came up with a few plans for how to make it happen.
Then I fell asleep and dreamt of my mystery guy from the fair but through the dream, his face started to come in and out of focus, only it was no longer my mystery guy.
Instead, it was the Carrington brothers.
I woke up multiple times, angry and needy, but I made myself go back to sleep and tried to pretend like it didn’t bother me that the Carringtons were somehow getting entwined with a memory I cherished.
After breakfast with the kids the next morning, I had the twins go up to their game room and told them to get their favorite games ready because we were going to spend the morning playing.
I’d already snuck snacks and drinks in before they woke up that morning.
I had Kendall take Milo into her room with his trucks under the promise that I’d be there to hang out after I used the bathroom.
Once everyone was where they were supposed to be I made sure I had the handful of quarters I needed in my pocket and then I violated the rule about not going into the guys’ work hallway again to burst into Collin’s office. He was glaring at his computer but it quickly turned on me when he saw me.
“What do you want, Ada?”
I twisted my hands together in front of my stomach. “The boys are in the game room and I think there’s something you need to see.”
It eased my anger at him slightly to see the way he stood up so quickly. “What is it? Are they okay?”
I silently cheered when he rushed around his desk without grabbing his phone. Just as he reached me at the door, though, he patted his pocket and turned to retrieve his forgotten phone. I grabbed his hand and tugged him out of his office. “They’re okay but you just have to see it.”
We hurried upstairs, still hand in hand, a fact that I ignored, and then I stopped just outside of the game room and pointed inside. “It’s on the other side of the room. I think it’s a mouse or something. Do the boys have pet mice?”
Collin’s face pinched. “What? No!”
The boys looked up as their dad came into the game room and looked confused to see him.
That look was why I was doing what I was doing.
Shutting the door silently, I shoved the quarters between the door and the frame the same way a high school friend had shown me when she wanted to trap her brother inside his room.
After the quarters were wedged in place, I knocked at the door and pretended to be confused.
“Hey, what happened? Let me in.” I wasn’t going to win any awards for my acting, but I thought it got the job done.
Collin called out from the other side of the door as he tried to open it. “What’s going on? Open the door, Ada.”
I pretended to tug at the door. “It’s not budging. Unlock it!”
“You don’t think I made sure it wasn’t locked, Ada? Really?”
I stuck my tongue out at the door. “It’s stuck! Does it do this? What’s wrong with your house, Collin?”
I could hear him getting more annoyed at me. “Nothing’s wrong with my house, Ada! Are you blocking the door?”
“You don’t think I thought to step out of the way before trying to pull it open, Collin? Really?” I covered my mouth with my hand to stifle a laugh as I listened to Collin grumbling and growling on the other side of the door. “Okay! You know what? Collin? Can you hear me? Collin?”
“Dammit, Ada! Yes, I can hear you!”
I had to turn away to keep him from hearing my laughter. Clearing my throat, I put on my best concerned voice. “I’m going to go call a handyman, okay? You and the boys just try to keep yourselves entertained while I find the number. Okay? You have the yellow pages, right?”
Collin sounded like he was tugging at his hair. “What? Are you kidding me, Ada? The yellow pages?”
“You’re right! I’ll google it. You guys just hang tight! I’ll get someone here in no time, probably.”
“Ada! Wait! Ada, just get Joe! Ada? Ada!”
I tiptoed away and set an alarm on my phone to let them out in a few hours. My next plan was easier and involved less loose change. I took Milo from Kendall, told her I’d be back in no time, and went to Jud’s secretive side of the house.
Milo sang swear words as I knocked on the door to Jud’s room and we waited for him to open the door. When he did, I didn’t allow myself to look at him and chance being put under his spell again. I handed Milo off to him and patted my stomach.
“I need you to watch him while I go to the bathroom. Sorry! Bad...shellfish...” I nearly broke into a run to get away from him and the embarrassing lie I’d told to force him to spend time with his son.
My final job wasn’t going to be anywhere near as easy and I almost talked myself out of it a dozen times on my way back to Kendall’s room. She deserved her father’s attention, though, so I forced myself to go through with it. It would probably be the end of my nanny career, but I didn’t care.