“You don’t say. I hadn’t noticed.”
“I know,” Lainey said. “I hide it well.”She stood up. “I’m going for a walk. Maybe it will clear my head. You can finish my breakfast if you want. It would be a shame to let all of that food go to waste.”
“Don’t forget those earrings,” Marigold called after her. “I’ll meet you back at the house.”
Lainey didn’t answer. She walked outside, so distracted she almost walked into an elderly couple who were strolling into the diner hand in hand.
Watch out, I bet he wants to fingerprint you, Lainey wanted to say to the old woman, but she restrained herself.
She walked down the street, with no idea where she was going, until she heard children yelling coming from around the corner. She hurried towards the sound.
Felix was sitting on a second-story fire escape, peering down at the street. His brothers and sisters were gathered below, yelling at him to come down.
This looks familiar, Lainey thought to herself.
When Felix saw Lainey, his little round face lit up in a smile. “I’m stuck!” he called down happily.
“You sure are,” Lainey called back.
“Aren’t you going to shift, and save his life?” Schuyler asked. “It’s really high, and he could fall. He’s pretty stupid, and he’s also kind of clumsy.”
“Fine, I’ll go get him,” Lainey said. “I’m not going to shift, though. I don’t want to ruin another outfit, and he’s not in any danger.”
Schuyler sighed, and the rest of the kids looked disappointed.
“I wanted to pet her when she was a bobcat,” Ashley said, pouting. “I didn’t get to pet her before.”
“Me, too,” Richard said.
“Some other time,” Lainey promised.
“Tonight?” Robin asked. “You could come have dinner with us.”
“Want to see me be a wolf cub?” Richard asked. “I’m really fierce.”
Schuyler tipped her head back and yelled to up to Felix, “Come on down! She’s not turning into a bobcat.”
Felix promptly scrambled down the fire escape with no problem whatsoever. When he got to the bottom, he scrambled over the railing and dangled from the edge, and Lainey ran to catch him. He fell into her arms with a plop.
“You kids are really a handful,” Lainey said, laughing despite her dark mood. She set him down gently on the ground.
“Tate says that all the time, but he’s usually mad when he says it,” Felix said.
“He just gets mad because he loves you and worries about your safety.” It was true, she knew it. She didn’t doubt in the slightest that he would lay down his life for them. How could a man like that also be so deceitful?
“Want to see me do a magic trick?” Schuyler asked her.
Just then, Megan strolled up, hands shoved in the pockets of her jeans.
“Epic fail,” she said to Felix. “Come on, quit pestering her and let’s go get ice cream. The ice cream cart’s parked over by the general store.”
“Come with us.” Felix grabbed Lainey’s hand and dragged her along.
Megan leaned in to Lainey and whispered in her ear. “You know they totally staged that because they wanted you to rescue Felix again.”
“I kind of guessed, yeah,” Lainey said. “I don’t mind. They’re good kids. They’re just burning off a little energy.”
“Actually, they’re all spawns of the devil, but whatever. And Tate, forget it. He’s driving me crazy. I don’t think he’ll ever accept that I am a grown-up. Sometimes, I just want to run away from home.”
Lainey thought that when Megan said that, she sounded like a pouty two-year-old, especially the part about running away from home. However, it probably wouldn’t help to say that out loud.
“He’d be worried out of his mind if you did that,” Lainey said. “And he really needs your help with these kids. How would he make it on his own? How would he run his business? I’m sure that you’re what’s holding it all together.”
Megan looked pleased at that. “It’s true, even though he never recognizes it. Everything would fall apart without me.” Then she frowned. “So, I guess that means that I’m stuck there forever, or at least until Schuyler is eighteen and I can make her take over, but that’s eight more years. I’ll snap, I swear. I keep expecting him to put me in a chastity belt. He doesn’t know anything about love.”
Lainey had to fight not to laugh at that; the worldly-wise teenager, so sure that she knew everything and the grown-ups were just big, stupid meany-butts.
Megan looked at her hopefully. “Maybe you could start dating him? Then, I could dump all of the babysitting duties on you and run away without feeling guilty. I know that he’s crazy about you. How come you guys haven’t been out on a date yet?”