If they cared at all about us kids, they only cared that they were in charge.
“I think it’s, like,soawesome that you’re doing such a great thing for people,” Lola says to me. “Understanding pipes and stuff is, like, a gift. And you give your gift to theworld.”
“Ridhi!”Anya shrieks while the three customers start looking at all of us like we’re either aliens or way more fascinating than they expected when they walked into this little joint this morning. “Ridhi,look! Dylan hastwo million views. And Tavilifted a toilet.”
“She’s such a badass,” Lola says. She pokes me. “And it’s so sweet ofyouto be helping her with her secret project!”
Every alarm bell in my brain goes off at once. “Not really a secret that the family’s here to help Tickled Pink, is it?”
Ridhi bustles out from the kitchen.
Teague follows her with a mulish look on his face. Phoebe’s right behind him, and she gives an amused eye roll, though I don’t miss the look she shoots my way. “Once a grumpy troll, always a grumpy troll.”
He hooks an arm around her neck and presses a kiss to her hair. “Shush.”
The three people waiting for coffee look at him.
Then they look at Lola.
Then they look at me.
Then they look around like they’re looking for Teague’s brother, who’s not in town right now, which probably explains why Lola’s finally talking to me.
I’m the next-best thing.
And God help us if the three women in the café sizing me up decide the same.
They’re all around fifty, I’d guess. One’s shorter than the other two, who are both average height. All three are white, wearing grandma shirts that Hannah’s mother has probably already ordered for herself. The shortest of the group pulls her phone out of her purse.
The one in the blue grandma shirt whispers something to the one in the rhinestone grandma shirt.
“Impressive.” Phoebe’s leaning over Anya’s shoulder, watching the video. I can hear my own voice, then Estelle’s, and Tavi’s too.
And my ears are getting hot.
The unfamiliar ladies crowd around the shortest one’s phone, and then I hear it again.
Anya’s video is ahead, so it’s no surprise when I hear Estelle’s shout over the sound of my own voice telling Tavi how to unscrew the toilet.
Anya shrieks with laughter.
Ridhi snorts.
Phoebe’s eyes go round.
And Teague smiles. “That should be a regular thing.”
“This is even better than how Gigi described it,” Phoebe whispered. “Anya. Rewind it. Play that part again.”
“Did Tavi do it on purpose?” Lola slips a hand to my knee. “Did she throw that chicken breast at Gigi on purpose?”
“Chickenthigh,” Anya says.
“It was stuck in there real good. The bone got tangled in Estelle’s hair,” I tell her.
“I can’t believe Tavi’s still breathing,” Phoebe says. “Wow. I owe her a box of her favorite kale chips or something.”
I meet her eyes. Does she know?
