Chapter Eighteen
“Always remember that you’re a work in progress, just like everyone else is still a work in progress.”
—Lee Ann, New Jersey, United States
Jack
Right. So, it turned out, Jack wasn’t the best babysitter.
And Travis wasn’t the best co-babysitter. Even though Jack would point out, Travis had kids living at his houseandhad been doing this whole schtick longer than twenty-four hours.
Jack figured he deserved a little leeway as the newbie on board.
He shook his head as he gave Travis an assist with the butterfly bandage they’d found in Yelena’s laceration repair kit. The gash was deep, and they didn’t cover this type of thing in business school, but Jack was still pretty sure it didn’t need stitches. Notthatdeep. Mostly just ugly.
“Good as new.” Jack snapped the med kit closed.
“Eh.” Travis opened and closed his hand, apparently testing out the butterfly bandage. “We’ll just call it better than it was three minutes ago.”
“Works for me.” Jack stood, stepped around where Mayonnaise had flopped on the floor, and poked his head out into the backyard where the kids ran laps between the two yards. For some reason—and he couldn’t say exactly why—the kids had all agreed to this game when Harmony suggested it as an alternative to fighting over who got to pick the next show on the television. This was during the time Travis had hunted for a laceration repair kit and Jack had scrubbed the tile.
“They still running?” Travis asked, moving alongside him.
Jack nodded. “Harmony’s a better babysitter than we are.”
“I don’t think that was ever a question.” Travis lifted a shoulder, still holding his hand higher than his elbow as though hoping gravity would help with the intense amount of blood flow from earlier. “Next time, let’s just hire her first thing.”
Ha. Because—
“That would imply I’m going to be doing this again.” Yeah, no. Jack didn’t think he’d ever agree to supervise seven children again. Or any children again.
Hang drywall, sure.
Bungee jump, absolutely.
Become a makeshift Jack daycare? No.
Yes, he could actually say with confidence he wasn’t going to agree to that. But, thank fuck, it turned out Harmony was a better babysitter than either of the adults in the house.
“How much did you pay her?” Travis asked, as one of his stepkids finished yet another lap, giving Harmony a high five on the way past. She didn’t have a stopwatch, but she was holding a pine cone up like a stopwatch and shouting made-up numbers.
That twenty-dollar bill Jack had slipped her to keep the other kids busy outside was well worth it.
Actually, he’d offered ten. She’d negotiated up to twenty.
“I don’t think I want to admit how much she got out of me.” That got him a half grin from Travis. “Rachel always says that her kids are going to rule the universe when they’re older. But I think they’re gonna have to get past Harmony and her minions first.”
Jack nodded. “Maybe they’ll just team up and really do it right.”
“That’s probable.”
“How much money did she get fromyou?” Jack asked, now curious exactly how much of a shakedown Harmony had on the adults.
“I don’t think I want to admit how much,” he said, echoing Jack’s words. Travis gave a subtle head shake. “I’m a sucker. She saw me coming from a mile away.”
“You know…” Jack held up his hands. “Maybe it’s better if none of us knows the full details. Plausible deniability could be our friend.”
“Still worth it.” Travis stretched his arm, wiggling his fingers a bit more.
