She hands Dylan to Mallory pulls the keys from the front pocket of her jeans and punches the unlock button. Mallory heads to the passenger door to get Dylan into his car seat. I snatch the keys from Tenley's hand. "You have to Uber or pretzel yourself into the back seat with my son."
“Pretzel.” She sighs and walks toward the car. “You know this car is not meant for a man with a baby.”
“I know. I’ve already bought a G-Class but the dealer needed to order it because I wanted the model with all the extras, not just some. And in blue, which they didn’t have at the dealership.”
“You ordered a new car?” Mallory balks.
I nod and open the driver's side door, pushing my seat forward so Tenley can get in. "Yeah. Obviously, I need one that Dylan fits in. Also, it makes sense to have two cars. One for each of us."
Tenley twists even farther as she climbs in the back so that she can stare up at me with this what the fuck expression. I shoot her one back before pulling my gaze up to look at Mallory over the roof of the car. “You mean one for you and one for your nanny.”
Actually, I mean Mallory. I even ordered it in blue because I know it's her favorite color. But I can't say that right now. Tenley will think it means something and Mallory will get all weird about it. So I just nod. "Yeah. The nanny car. Whatever."
I slide into the driver’s seat as Tenley whines that her knees are at her ears and I need to move my seat up. Instead, I push it back a little bit more.
When we get to my townhouse, Mallory immediately grabs Dylan and rushes for the front door, mumbling something about checking his diaper, and then I’m stuck alone with Tenley in the parking lot.
“We need to talk,” my sister says.
“I don’t want to talk to you.” I know I sound like a belligerent teenager. I kind of feel like one, and it’s making me even more mad. “I should just go meet up with the guys.”
“It’s not even noon,” Tenley replies. “Where the fuck are the guys going?”
“Our local spot opens early when they know we’re home from a road trip. Nash, Crew, Collingwood, and a few others, including me, always want hot wings,” I reply. “It’s like a tradition.”
She laughs at that. “Nash Westwood? Only spicy thing about that dude is his taste buds, I guess.”
“He usually gets teriyaki.”
“That tracks.” Tenley rolls her eyes. I start toward the house but she blocks my path with her skinny, lanky body. “Just let me say what I have to say, okay?”
I sigh and stare at the gray cloud cover above us. “Fine.”
“Why have you been keeping this from us?”
When I finally bring my head down to lock eyes with her Tenley looks soft. No fight in her eyes, no stubborn set to her jaw. She just looks gentle, which is a bit unnerving. We stare at each other for a long moment and all you can hear is the rustle of palm fronds in the light breeze and the cars on Abbott Kinney. Her eyes, which are exact replicas of our dad's, get a little teary. "No one is going to be disappointed about this, Tate. Shocked. Confused. Worried. But no one is going to look at that perfect little boy and be disappointed he exists. Your lack of faith in our family is astounding, Tater Tot. Especially considering you're the Golden Boy."
Her words are comforting but I laugh them off because of that last comment. “Conner is the Golden Boy. I’m just Tater Tot.”
"Shut up," Tenley gives my shoulder a rough shove as I start walking towards my front door and she falls into step beside me. "You have always been the Golden Boy. Conner is special because he's the firstborn, and he lived through some shit when his parents divorced. But you… you are the firstborn of the favorites. You can do no wrong. They'll love Dylan without hesitation just the way they love you."
“Favorites?”
"Oh please, you don't see it? Gran and Gramps love Dad best," Tenley announces. "And Gran adores Mom because she's the one who kept her sisters safe and sound when our great-grandmother abandoned them. Gran was best friends with Mom's mom, remember?"
"Right." Of course I don't remember all that crap. It happened well before I was born. Our mother's mom died before our mom was a teenager and our great-grandmother who was supposed to raise them but didn't really, died when our mom was my age. Her funeral is the reason our parents found each other again. That part I remember. "But I'm still not the Golden Boy. And… Ten, it isn't just the fam. It's the team and the media. I have to make sure the legal stuff is in place and that I have Dylan well looked after before the world turns its judgy eyes on him."
“He seems well looked after with Mallory,” she states as I hold open the storm door for her. Something down the pathway catches my eye and I see Tara dressed in running clothes with her headphones in. She smiles and waves and I return the friendly gesture before stepping inside and getting slammed with an annoyed look my Tenley.
I lock the door behind us and nod. “Mallory is the best with Dylan. I wish I could keep her as his nanny forever. But she wants to go back to Silver Bay.”
“Does she?” Tenley asks, her left eyebrow raised. I just nod. “Well, maybe she’ll change her mind after her first date with Fisher.”
My brain stumbles over the words they have to absorb. Tenley walks through the house and into the kitchen. The back door to the patio is open and I assume Mallory went out with Dylan. I can hear him babble-talking out there. “Her what with who?”
Tenley smiles around the refrigerator door she just opened. I rake a hand through my hair again. “She met some of my crew—fellow students—when we were filming here. My hot camera guy asked her on a date.”
I’m still in my suit and I’m wildly uncomfortable suddenly so I start undoing some buttons on my shirt. Thankfully I didn’t wear a tie home. “And Mallory said yes?”
