Page 11 of Keeping Kaitlyn

Half convinced that Tess is psychic, I drop my phone into my lap.

Shit, my hands are shaking.

You can always tell them the truth. That you can’t go to a bachelorette party at Went’s shop because?—

Wait.

I reallycan’tgo.

It’s Friday. I babysit for Ryan and Grace on Friday nights because Ryan has class and Grace usually has a shift at the bar. Even if the bar is closed, Grace is still going to Henley’s bachelorette and Ryan still has class—which means I still have Molly, Henry, and Allison to look after.

I’m saved.

Retrieving my phone from my lap, I tap out a text.

Me: I’m going to have to sit this one out. Ryan has class which means I’m on babysitting duty.

Hitting send, I feel a wave of relief, closely followed by its usual companion, guilt.

Me: Sorry.

From his dog bed behind the desk, Mookie lets out a soft whine, a second before he scrambles to sit up, tail swishing across the floor behind him. A second after that, the center’s heavy back door slams shut and I hear the fast slap of sneakers echoing across its granite-tiled floor.

Mookie’s tail immediately picks up the pace, wagging so fast he’s having a hard time staying seated while he whines in joyous anticipation because his Molly’s home from school.

“I’m home!” Molly bursts around the corner, dropping her backpack on a dive that sends her crashing into the massive Pitbull whining and wiggling in his bed behind my desk. Giggling, Molly flops onto her back while Mookie dances and yips around her, licking her face while she lavishes him with pets and praise.

If you ask her, Molly will tell you that he’s her best friend. I’m sure if I could ask him, Mook would tell me the same thing.

Laughing at the scene they make every afternoon, I look up just in time to watch Ryan and Henry round the corner Molly just flew around. When he sees the pile of giggling five-year-old girl that is his daughter, happily trapped under my hundred-pound meathead dog, Ryan shakes his head on a laugh while Henry watches the two of them with a cross between big brotherly disdain and reluctant amusement. It’s a look I used to see on Luke’s face all the time, growing up.

Like always, when I think of him, I hold my breath and listen carefully, hoping to hear his voice in my head the way I used to and like always, all I hear is quiet.

My brother stopped talking to me a long time ago.

“Hi, Henry.” I always make a point of saying hello. Making sure he feels seen because I know what it’s like to feel invisible. Like the afterthought. The kid no one wants. “How’d your math test go?” We studied last Friday after Molly and Allison fell asleep. Whether he wanted to admit it or not, he’s been nervous about it.

“Mrs. Turner handed them back today.” He gives me a shrug, accompanied by the quick flash of a smile. “I got a B.”

I feel my own face break out into a wide grin. “Iknewyou could do it,” I tell him, holding out my closed hand for a fistbump. When he doesn’t oblige right away, I wiggle my clenched fist and give him a loud, exaggerated sigh. “Come on—you know you want to.”

“Lame.” Henry rolls his eyes and raises his own fist to halfheartedly bump it against mine while he tries to hide a grin of his own. He’s ten going on forty. The life he lived before coming to live with Ryan and Grace forced him to grow up hard and fast. Dropping his arm, he looks up at Ryan. “Can I?—”

“Yeah.” Ryan gives him a nod before he can even finish asking because it’s the same question every day, Monday through Friday.Can I go upstairs and see Allison?“Why don’t you take Moll upstairs and let Grace know we’re home from school.”

“Okay.” Henry bobs his head in agreement before giving me a smirk. “Later, Kait.”

“Later, Henry.” I sit back in my seat while he moves past me to drag Molly out from under a still wriggling Mookie before helping her to her feet.

Standing next to my chair, Moll pushes her tangled mop of pale blonde hair out of her face. “When you come over tonight, can Mook come too?”

“Don’t be dumb, Moll.” Henry grabs her hand and starts dragging her toward the bank of elevators on the other side of the lobby. Stopping to pick up her backpack, he shoulders it, along with his own, rather than give it back to her to carry on her own. “She brings him with her every freakin’ Friday.”

When he saysfreakin’Molly frowns. “That’s another swear,” she tells him while Henry pulls them both to a stop in front of the elevator. “That makeseightsince breakfast.”

“Freakin’is not a swear,” Henry huffs impatiently while he jabs the elevator button with this finger.

“You said it again.” Molly shakes her head, looking up at him like he’s a lost cause. “That’s nine.”

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