Tyler’s face became a scowl, and he muttered something under his breath as he stalked to the entryway. He pulled a packet of crinkled paper out of his backpack on the floor and stomped off. How the kid could turn from exuberantly happy to grumpy in less than a second was beyond Chase’s comprehension.
Chase checked on Gabby, who was putting a new load in the wash, and then knocked on Beth’s door. She wasn’t allowed to keep it locked, but she’d been testing that rule more and more.
“Coming,” she called out. A moment later, she swung the door open and stared at him expectantly. Her eyes were lined with purple, an interesting choice.
“Just making sure you’re alive in here.”
“I’m alive. Homework’s done.”
“Okay.” Chase was too tired to take her on in another argument, about how she should be helping the other two, or at the very least, being physically present. She dropped off and picked up Tyler and Gabby from school every day, and he was grateful for that. She didn’t sneak out, she didn’t lie. She was just unapologetically done with being a stand-in parent. And that, he could understand.
However, when Beth checked out, Gabby took over. And no ten-year-old should have to run a household.
“Come out in twenty minutes for dinner.”
Beth nodded and retreated to her bed where her latest book was face down, holding her place. She read about ten books a week, all of them with dragons or warlocks, or fierce-looking warrior chicks on the cover. She’d turned to eBooks when she’d read everything in the library, but she often reread the paperbacks from her small collection. Today it was one of those.
Chase tracked down Tyler, coached him through his homework while flipping quesadillas in a pan, and then called everyone for dinner. It wasn’t until Tyler and Gabby finally headed to bed that he had time to dwell on his day.
Yeah, going out for drinks was not happening anytime in the next, oh, five or six years. He was crazy to let himself consider someone like Ashley. No woman wanted to step into this crazy life with him. Not at age twenty-five. Ashley’s birthday was last week, and next month he’d be turning twenty-five too. He might as well be a hundred.
“You look like somebody peed in your soup.”
Chase looked up at Beth as she walked in the living room. It was the first time she’d voluntarily talked to him in a long time. He patted the spot on the couch next to him, and she sat down, immediately turning back to her book.
He should shield her from their troubles, but maybe what she needed right now was to be treated like an adult.
“If I tell you something, you can’t tell Gabby or Tyler.”
That got her attention. She sat up taller and put her book down.
He leaned over so he could whisper it and no one still awake would hear. “I’m about to lose my job.”
Her eyes widened. “I can get a job.”
“No, no. I need you here after school with Gabby and Tyler.”
Beth scowled. “I knew you’d say that.”
They’d been through this. Tyler was too much of a handful for Gabby to take on alone. Beth wasn’t much better, but at least if he broke an arm she’d be there to drive him to the hospital.
“Look. If you’re going to get all pouty like a nine-year-old, I’ll go back to treating you like one.”
Beth let out a deep breath. “Fine. Sorry.”
“You know your job is to get good enough grades to get a scholarship. Having some lame after-school job in the short term will not help you get out of here in two years. Mom and Dad would want you in college.”
She nodded, picking at a loose strand on their threadbare couch. “Maybe so. I don’t know how you do it, Chase. You could have dumped us off in foster care and had a great life.”
“How would dumping my sisters and little brother in foster care have led to a great life?”
She shrugged. “You’ve never even had a girlfriend.”
“Yes, I have.”
“Since Mom and Dad died?”
Well, she had him there. Dating hadn’t exactly been a priority. “We’re getting off topic.”
