“What’s gotten him so wound up?” she whispered.
“He’s trying to get his brother to make the kids’ indefinite vacation a little more… definite,” I said with a shrug. “Spoiler alert: I don’t think he’s gonna get anywhere.”
“But they’re fine,” she said slowly, a flurry of thoughts clouding her usually bright green eyes. I was about to ask what was wrong, but she wasn’t finished. “They’ve finally settled into a routine. Emma’s been a little off, sure, but Will’s warming up. I don’t see why—”
She cut off abruptly, eyes widening just slightly, like something had dawned on her. I kinda guessed at it immediately, and scooched across the couch until I was next to her. She stiffenedwhen my knee brushed against hers, her gaze flashing over to Ethan for a second.
“I know what you’re thinking,” I said.
“You’re a mind-reader now?” she muttered, and moved further into the side of the couch to create more distance between us.
Like I would let her get away with that.
“Maren…”
“Can you not see I’m on the phone?” Ethan snapped, holding his phone away from his face as if that would save his brother from the spontaneous outburst. “Whatever this is… Can’t you do it somewhere else?”
He glared at Maren, and she kept eye contact, refusing to look away out of sheer stubbornness. Eventually, he was the one who caved when Gabe’s voice filtered through his phone.
“Yes, I’m still here.” And he started pacing again, but the endless back and forth faded into the background.
“Wait.” She shook her head, frowning at me. “This is… because of what happened, isn’t it?”
My easy smile faltered just a tad. I could see her mentally backtracking, and it surprised me how totally my body reacted to it. I didn’t want her feeling that way. Not when we’d barely scratched the surface of what this could be.
“What? No. Nothing like that,” I said, trying to keep it light, to thread my way through the minefield she was tiptoeing. But of course, she didn’t buy it.
She crossed her arms, looking at me like she’d figured out a particularly tricky puzzle. “I’m not stupid. All of this coming on after everything that’s happened… makes it kinda obvious.”
“Maren—”
“Don’t.” The tension snapped back like an elastic band, hitting me right in the gut. “I can’t exactly blame him. I mean, I haven’t been the best nanny. I lost Sadie, I… I crossed a line with— with all of you…”
I waved a hand, leaning forward, trying to grab hold of her misunderstanding before it tightened into something irreversible. “No, really, you’ve got it all wrong. He’s stressed about work, the holidays being so busy, and all. It’s temporary. You—this—you’re reading it wrong. Trust me.”
Her stony expression didn’t soften like I’d hoped. “You sound like you almost believe what you’re saying. It’s cute.”
I opened my mouth, tried to argue, to get her to see she was all wrong, but she was already moving. Long waves tossed over her shoulder, head high, she stalked over to Ethan’s desk where he’d gone back to sitting, massaging his temples.
“Call him back.”
Ethan looked up, brows knit tightly in confusion. He looked at me, then back to Maren. “What?”
She lunged across his desk and abruptly ended his Kenyan communique before slamming his phone face down.
“What the—? Do you have any idea how hard it is to get that man on the phone?”
“I know what you’re doing, Ethan, and I just wanted to say… you don’t have to.”
Even from all the way on the couch, I could tell how Maren was fuming. If this were a cartoon, there’d be steam billowing out of her ears. I moved as little as possible in case he noticed me and threw me out so he could have one of his loathed private têtes-à-têtes. Loathed by me, exclusively, but still.
“Care to fill me in on what it is that I’m doing?” That annoyance aimed at Gabe before didn’t go anywhere. He just directed it at her now. “Because according to me, I was having a conversation with my brother about his kids.”
Maren folded her arms across her chest in a huff. “You regret what happened. Between us. But you can’t fire me over it, because… I don’t know, maybe you don’t want to seem like a dick. So instead, you’re getting rid of the kids, because if the kids aren’t here, then I don’t have to be here.”
“Ha, that’s the fatal flaw in your argument.” I strode over, a little too excited to get my point across. “Ethan’s never cared about looking like a dick. Don’t feel bad, it’s a common misconception, but he actually enjoys it. So that proves all he’s doing is—”
“Adrian,” they said at the same time, and I shrunk back with my hands held up in surrender.
