Page 86 of Late Nights & Love Lines
And he’s not wrong. I’ve never seen anything as jaw-dropping as this. White powder covers every square inch of the place. The only clean spots are where the nannies must have removed their stuff. Covertly, I take a picture of the scene before me for Instagram later.
Leo had all their items professionally cleaned and will send the bill to Sebastian.
Seren doesn’t say anything as she rolls in the vacuum behind her.
“How did you even get up there?” I ask, pointing to the rafters. For a camp cabin, the ceiling is remarkably high.
“I didn’t,” she grumbles, then crouches down, running her hands all over the vacuum cleaner.
Has she ever even used one of those things?
“What do you mean you didn’t? Who did?” Unease begins to crawl up my spine with spider-like tingles.
“Does it matter?”
Kade drops to the floor and starts drawing with his finger in the powder.
“Yeah, it does matter.”
Her gaze cuts to mine, and I read all the doubt, fear, and loneliness swimming in her irises.
“You didn’t do this, did you?” I ask.
Now that I’ve seen the mess myself, I’m sure she wouldn’t have had time to pull off this prank. She wasn’t alone long enough at any point in the day to have done it.
“No one’s going to believe me anyway, so can you please show me how to turn this thing on so I can get this over with?” The sadness in her voice makes my stomach twist painfully.
I cross the room and bend at the knees so we’re at eye level.
“I’ll believe you. Even though you’ve gone back on your word not to prank the nannies, if you tell me that you didn’t do this,Iwill believe you.”
“Why?” She grunts. Her gaze darts around the room frantically, attempting to avoid my eyes.
Why is a great question. But there’s only one answer, so I go with the truth.
“Because apparently trust is earned, but it goes both ways, and I need you to trust me even when I make mistakes too. And because I care about you. I’m not good at this part of things. I don’t know what to do when I care too much because I never let it happen, but here we are.”
“Are you going to leave?” she whispers. Her gut-wrenching gaze fills with unshed tears that she aggressively tries to wipe away.
“I—” The truth is, I don’t know. My answer has always been that I leave—it’s what I do. I don’t know how to stay past an end date. “I can’t make any promises, Ser.” Her entire body heaves, and Kade runs over to wrap his arms around his sister’s neck. “What I can promise is that I’ll stay until your dad finds someone that you all love. In September, I’ll have to…well, I’ll have to reevaluate my assignments.”
What if he never finds someone?
I push the thought from my head. I can only deal with today—my insides seize. I can only deal with the todays and tomorrows.
What if todays and tomorrows turn into months and years?
“That plan stinks,” Kade grumbles. “Just stay with us. Why won’t you stay?”
“I’m not sure I know how.” It’s a truth that has them both staring at me as if I told them I was an alien.
Kade’s face crumples in confusion, but Seren? She stares at me as if she understands something I don’t, and it’s unnerving that a twelve-year-old can have that type of insight.
“I didn’t do this,” she says quietly.
“Do you know who did?”
She shrugs and won’t look me in the eye. She doesn’t want to be a snitch.
