Page 29 of Mr. Wrong
“I barely know her.” I hate the way it sounds when I say it. Defensive. Like I’m trying to deny it.
“So?” Kill shakes his head at me like I’m stupid. “How long did Landon know Rach before he decided she was the one—five minutes? You McLeods fall fast and hard.” He jabs a finger at me. “It’s ridiculous and sloppy.”
I swat his finger out of my face and glare at him because, 1) he brought up Rachel and 2) how I feel about Ellenore is none of his business. “Aren’t you supposed to be doing something right now?”
“Yeah.” He takes another swipe at his face and gives me a stiff nod before reaching for the keypad to punch in his code. “But if Landon asks me, I’m going to have to tell him,” he warns me, pressing his thumb against the print reader.
“Whatever.” I fake indifference and follow him into the house.
It’s been almostan hour since I herded Cassie outside and down the sandstone path to the pool, leaving Ellenore and Killian in the kitchen. When we left, Kill was in the process ofexplaining to her why he had to take her cell phone and give her another one in its place.
“It’s policy, Ms. Pierce,” Killian said, impatience bleeding into his tone. “This is a clone of your cell phone.” He holds up a smartphone identical to the one I carry. “It’s exactly the same. Your number. Your contacts. Your apps—”
“Then why can’t I just keepmyphone?” she counters, that stubborn streak popping up again.
Killian’s mouth presses into a thin, straight line for a moment before he explains it to her again. “Because the camera in the clone has been deactivated and—”
“It’s so you can’t take pictures of me and sell them for a million dollars,” Cassie pipes up while I’m leading her through the kitchen on our way to the pool.
I pull Cassie out the back door before she can say anything else. “You’re going to scare her off,” I tell her once the back door is closed and we’re headed down the path.
“So?” Disgruntled, she shrugs, bare feet slapping against the sandstone on her march to the pool. “She’s not going to be my new mom anyway.”
“What?”
She looks up at me and rolls her eyes—six going on sixteen. “I asked her if Dad asked her on a date and she said no—that they talked about other stuff and that Dad was her boss and she wouldn’t date him so if she won’t even date him then how is she supposed to be my new mom?”
I don’t think she took a single breath during that entire speech and my brain scrambles to catch up, snatching at and processing bits of information. Like the fact that this is the second time today she’s mentioned the possibility of Ellenore being her new mom. “Cass, do youwanta new mom?” Maybe it’s the wrong thing to do, but I decided a long time ago that the best way to confront my niece is head-on, whether it be aboutwho smeared toothpaste all over the toilet seat or how she feels about not having a mother.
“Maybe.” She stops at the edge of the pool and tugs off her tutu and leotard to reveal aLittle Mermaidswimsuit. She gave up Disney a while ago because it’s forbabiesbut Ariel is still her favorite princess. “I dunno. I never had one before.”
I want to tell her that’s not true. That she has a mom. That what happened to Rachel is horrible and shitty but that her death doesn’t erase the fact that she existed. That she would’ve been a great mom—shewasa great mom.
The perfect mom for her.
Instead I clear my throat and toss my towel on one of the lounge chairs surrounding the pool. “I’m just trying to understand where all this mom talk is coming from all of a sudden.”
She plops down on the deck and sticks her feet in the pool. “I’m going to go to Kindergarten soon,” she says, dragging her feet, back and forth through the water.
“And?”
“Andall the other kids will have moms.” She looks up at me, her small shoulders hunched up to her ears. “Moms who pack them lunches and drive them to school. Maybe bake cookies for class parties or join PTA.”
I feel something very close to panic scramble up my spine. “Have you been watchingFull Houseagain?”
Her chin starts to wobble and she glares at me. “I’m trying to be serious here.”
“I know, I know.” Sitting down next to her, I stick my feet in the pool too, nudging her foot with my big toe under the water. “I can drive you to school.” I try to forget that I’m pretty sure it’s a lie. She assumes she’s going to get to go to school with other kids. Be normal. Landon hasn’t disputed it when she talks about it but I know my brother. He’s smooth when he wants to be.Charming. Persuasive. He lured Ellenore here with a glamorous summer job full of sunshine and the kind of cash she’ll have to haul away in a wheelbarrow at the end of it all but he’ll have her convinced to stay on to homeschool Cassie long before then. “And I make a mean PB&J.” When she doesn’t say anything, I put my arm around her and tuck her into my side. “I know I’m not a mom but I love you.”
“I know.” She lifts her feet from the water and drops them back in, trying to make a splash. “I love you too,” she says and even though she means it, I can hear it in her voice. Landon was right.
Cassie needs things I can’t give her.
Someone I can’t be.
Twenty-One
Ellenore
