Page 76 of Minted

When there’s a knock at my door, I peek to make sure it’s not Bentley again. When it’s Seren, I open it.

“Why does Bentley say you’re avoiding him?”

I sigh.

“Seriously? He proposes, and you say no, but you say you’ll date him. . .and then for a full week, you duck his calls and text him with lame excuses about being busy?”

“Work has—”

Seren snorts. “No way. Don’t even try.”

“Look, it’s been a bad year for me.”

“Yeah, yeah, your mom, your dad, your lousy ex. I’ve heard it. A lot.”

I drop into a chair, happy the girls are at tennis. “It’s all still true.”

“It’s an excuse.” Seren sits next to me. “A lame one.”

“But the thing is, Bentley’s so sure,” I say. “You didn’t see him. He meant it when he proposed, and I have the girls now, and by the way, I called Alice, and she said they found the girls’ dad.”

Seren lurches forward, her hands bracing on her knees. “Barbara.”

“I know.” I sigh. “But it seems like good news. He called the state agency in response to a letter that finally reached him. He’s been asking a lot of questions about how much money they’re making with their Insta account promos, but otherwise seems uninterested in even seeing them. Alice said he’s living in California now, and he told her that he can’t even afford to come to New York. Apparently he just wanted to confirm that they had a home.”

Seren closes her eyes. “That’s still bad. In my experience, people like that, once they see there may be money in something, will often not leave. Didn’t you say they have a national commercial filming soon?”

I groan. “Yes, but maybe we can buy him off before then.”

“You have a lot of money, then, do you?”

Not exactly. “But listen, at least he’s not here, demanding that I hand them over.”

“I guess.” But Seren’s unease makes mine flare. “Bentley does have a lot of money, you know.”

“Yeah, and if that loser knew I was dating him, how greedy do you think he’d get?”

“You’re just looking for reasons to back away from this, aren’t you?” Seren leans back with a heavy sigh. “Do you really not like him?”

“What’s not to like?” I groan. “Of course I like him. I think I might love him.”

“Then why—” Seren cuts off, her mouth closing with a small click. Then she looks around the family room. “You’re sitting in here with the blinds all closed and the curtains drawn.”

“Yeah, but that’s because at night, people can see right in the window, and the apartment complex’s breezeway is right there.” I point.

“There was a time,” Seren says slowly, “when I had to take things one day at a time. Sometimes I took things one hour at a time.” She taps her lip. “So I get it. The great thing about fostering is that it’s always one day at a time. I’ve been there, too. But Barbara, you can’t live your life like that forever.” She walks across the room and throws the curtain back. Then she pulls the blinds up.

A very startled man with a phone to his ear stares right at Seren and leaps away, fumbling and nearly dropping his phone.

“See?” I ask.

Seren laughs. “I get your reasoning, but listen to my point.” She gestures out the window, and at least the walkway’s clear now. “Believing in someone again, after another person has let you down, is scary. It’s terrifying, really. James was a real loser, and he’s worse because he mostly seems like a decent guy.”

“It’s not really all his fault,” I say. “When Mom died—”

“Save it,” Seren says. “He’s a selfish jerk.”

I chuckle. “Fine.”

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