Playing the Player(29)

He’d stumbled too close to the truth. “What bet?”

He snorted. “You forgot already? Cool. That’s an easy fifty bucks for me.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “I remember the bet. But like I told you before, even I can’t turn the Bird Brain into a party animal.” I cringed a little, calling her that.

“No signs of life, there, huh? Even after a full week with you and your magic moves?” Alex grinned wickedly. “At least with Trina I don’t have to worry that she’ll come crying to me. She can’t stand you.”

I grabbed my burrito and stuffed it in my mouth so I didn’t have to answer him.

Alex watched me closely. “She’s giving you crap, isn’t she?” He laughed. “Man, I wish I could be a fly on the wall with you two. It’s gotta be better than a World Wrestling match.”

I snorted. “Yeah, you could say that.” Though the idea of actually wrestling with Trina made me reach for my soda.

“How’s that crazy schedule of hers working out for the kids? Does she carry a stopwatch?”

I laughed, but then I pictured her in tears, surrounded by the shredded guts of her binder. I crumpled my burrito wrapper and threw it at him. Hard. It bounced off his head and landed on the floor.

He stuffed another handful of chips in his mouth and chewed, still watching me. I hated it when he turned all psychoanalyst. He was worse than my parents.

Then he twirled the straw around in his cup. “Soo,” he drawled, “maybe I’m wrong about Trina ending up crying on my shoulder? Is that horrific event in my future?

I stood up abruptly, my chair screeching behind me. “No,” I snapped. “It’s not. We’re partners. That’s it.”

Partners. That’s all we could be, or should be.

Nothing more.





Chapter Fourteen


Trina


Sunday, June 9

Desi and I sat by the fountain, munching on free pretzels. Since it was a hot Sunday afternoon, the mall was packed with people in need of free air conditioning. Screaming kids crawled over the indoor playground equipment.

“This is like a work day for you, right?” Desi asked. “Surrounded by screaming kids?”

“Not really. I just have two kids to deal with.”

She raised an eyebrow. “You’re not counting Slade as kid number three anymore?”

“Um, I guess not. I think maybe he has…potential.”

“What type of potential? Are we talking personal or professional?”

I knew how I should answer. Strictly professional, of course. But a teeny voice in my mind whispered both.

Desi and I didn’t keep secrets from each other. It was our number one rule. But I’d been sitting on a giant secret, about the double salary and the secret mentoring. And now it felt like I was keeping another one, about my feelings for Slade.

“I think you just answered my question.” She beamed at me. “I knew it! I knew you didn’t have total immunity to the Slade spell.” Her smile morphed into a wide grin. “It’s perfectly understandable, you know. There’s not a girl alive who can resist him for long.”

I jerked upright in my chair. “It’s not like that. Just because I don’t totally hate him doesn’t mean I’m…” I took a deep breath. “I told you before. Slade and I have decided to alternate planning the days for the kids. So, to answer your question, the potential I see in him is strictly professional.”

Desi didn’t say anything. She worked on her pretzel, taking lots of small bites. Then she patted her lips with her napkin.

“Remember fifth grade?”

I blinked at her. It wasn’t like I had a highlight reel in mind.

“Remember Jack Wilson?”

Oh. That highlight reel. “What about him?”

Her lips quirked as she watched me squirm. “Just how you spent the whole year complaining about him and ragging on him, and then on the last day of school, I found you two smooching under the slide.”

“We weren’t smooching,” I protested. “He kissed me once. On the cheek.”

Her eyebrows shot up. “That’s not what I saw. I definitely saw a lip lock.”

I rolled my eyes. “I’d hardly call it a lip lock. It was more like a peck.”

“Anyway…” She strung out the word to at least five syllables. “I’m just saying.”

“Saying what?”

Desi stood up suddenly. “My break’s almost over. But we will continue this conversation later.”

“Or not,” I muttered, standing up and gathering our trash.

“Oh, we will.” She put her hands on her hips, looking down at me. “You should know by now that you can’t keep any secrets from me.”

I bit the inside of my lip and turned away.

If she only knew.





Chapter Fifteen


Slade


Monday, June 10

Gilly was playing with her action figures when Max and I arrived. She’d tied them to the banister with a tangle of yarn and was trying to force her dog to rescue them. Trina watched her, looking perplexed. Sometimes I wondered if she’d ever been a kid.

Trina gave me half-hearted wave, but she looked tired, and paler than usual. Maybe it was a good thing we weren’t going indoor skydiving today. I’d expected a lecture for arriving late, but she didn’t say anything.