Page 55 of Situationship
The girl looked ready to cry. “Yeah, like Harley’s personal assistant? Your wife hired me to help out around the house and stuff? And there’s two kids who I sometimes watch?” she said, putting a question mark on every statement.
“She’s my sister.”
Her irresponsible, hammock-hanging sister! Teagan should have known the honeymoon phase was too good to last. It wasn’t just that her sister had hired a sitter without consulting her; she was mad at herself because she knew better than to put her trust in someone who hadn’t earned long-term trust in, well, ever.
Teagan had been taken in by Harley’s playful way with the girls and confused her connection to them with actually being reliable and responsible. And to think, just the other day, she’d laughed at Colin for not trusting his daughter. But there was a big difference between a high school student and a responsible adult. At least there should be.
Her sister was as reliable as a snowstorm in Vegas. Had Teagan gotten more than five hours’ sleep in any one stretch she would have remembered that. It was times like this she missed having a husband—or her co-parent—close by.
“Wait.” What exactly did “sometimes” mean? Because she was pretty sure that Maddison, who was denied phone use and anything outside of her doorless bedroom, wasn’t a Colin-approved PA. “Does your dad know you’re here?”
She shrugged a big N. O. “He’s at work and Harley was desperate. Her word not mine. She lets me join her beach yoga for free. She’s so cool.”
“She’s something,” Teagan mumbled. “Where is my sister?”
“Um, she’s with some guy named Ian.”
Of course she was. Like the seventeen-year-old across from her, Harley was, and always had been, boy crazy. She went through guys the way most people went through ice cream.
“But today’s my first day. So I haven’t seen him, and it really isn’t a big deal. Harley had me fold some pamphlets, then left me in charge so she could go to the Coffeekat.”
“She’s having coffee and left you here? In charge?” Teagan closed her eyes. “Please tell me are you first-aid certified?”
“It’s not current, but I was a junior lifeguard three summers in a row if that counts. Looks good on a college application, you know?” At least there was that. “Can I let my hands down?”
“Oh, of course.” Teagan realized she was still holding the bat. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“Are you still going to call the cops?”
“No. I just didn’t expect to find a stranger in my house.” Her heart was still pounding. “You startled me is all.”
The teen let out a whoosh of relieved air. “You okay?” Teagan asked.
“Yeah,” she said, but had the same woozy look Lily got when she was about to puke. “Can I go home now?”
“We’re not done talking about your dad.”
To Teagan’s surprise, the teen actually met her gaze. “Do we have to? I mean, it’s not like I’m out with a boy. I’m showing initiative by earning money.”
“How would your dad feel about you showing initiative?”
“If he found out, he’d ground me for life. Luckily, that’s anif, right?” Maddison gave a bright smile. Teagan’s reply was a long, serious mom expression that resulted in more kiddo confessions than a Supreme Court judge. “Please. You can’t tell him.”
“Oh, I’m not telling him, you are.”
“I can’t.” The girl sat down in the chair, her feet keeping it from swinging. “He’ll just freak, like he always does.”
“He doesn’t seem like the freak-out type to me,” Teagan said. “And you don’t want to spend your last few months fighting with him, do you?”
Maddison shrugged. “I want my door back.”
“And?”
“And maybe I should come clean.”
“You mean, ‘And I’m going to come clean, over dinner tonight. ’”
Maddison rolled her eyes, but Teagan had gotten through to her. “Can I go home now?”
