Make a Wish (Spark House #3)(29)

“What kind of wardrobe malfunction? Did you pop a button or something?” Declan drops into his chair and shoves half of his chicken wrap into his mouth at once.

“Not exactly.” London’s cheeks flush.

“What happened? I feel like I missed out on something here.” Avery plunks down beside Declan and starts loading up her plate like she’s eating for four, not two.

“I sprung a leak. Can we drop it now? It’s not really lunchtime conversation.”

“A leak?” Declan asks through his mouthful of food.

Jackson doesn’t say a thing, just sits back and lets Declan try to figure it out.

“Oh man! But don’t you have those pad things?” Avery asks.

“Pad things?” Declan echoes.

“Yeah. I soaked right through them. This whole weaning business is not a lot of fun.”

“Oh. Oh!” Declan finally puts two and two together. “Well, that’s … more information than I expected.” He gives Jackson, who’s busy hiding a smile, an unimpressed look. “Why didn’t you help a guy out?”

“Because it was entertaining to watch you flounder. And you’ll be familiar with it soon enough.”

“As if it wasn’t embarrassing enough when it happened in real time,” London mutters.

“Anyway, I think that meeting went well, don’t you?” Avery changes the subject.

There’s a murmur of agreement, and London turns her attention to me, likely happy not to have to talk about leaky boobs anymore. “Are you okay with Selene hiring a professional team to film the centerpiece tutorials?”

I glance from her to Jackson, who suddenly looks concerned, and back to London. I don’t see the point in turning this into a point of conflict. “Oh yeah, of course. It makes more sense to have professionals film you, especially since it’s for more than just a thirty-second post on social or a ten-minute tutorial for staff.” I often spend an hour or two editing those videos. With a professional team coming in, I’m not sure there’s a point.

She regards me seriously for a moment. “It does, but it was something we’d planned to do together. I want to make sure you’re not feeling like every idea you’ve come up with is being taken away from you.”

“We can discuss this further with Selene if it’s something you want to handle, Harley,” Jackson adds.

I set half of a veggie and cheese wrap on my plate, my appetite disappearing. “Am I still taking pictures and videos to post on our social?”

“Of course. Selene still wants you to supplement. I think they’ll want individual social media accounts at every location, so it’s personalized to the unique hotel. But for the franchise, it makes more sense to have everything uniform, and that’s way too big for you to tackle. Am I right, Jackson? That’s the plan?”

“Yes, and we can make sure it’s all cleared with Selene so your toes aren’t being stepped on.”

“I wouldn’t even know where to begin with the franchise stuff anyway, so it’s better that Selene handles all of that,” I say, only half meaning it but wanting to erase the look of concern on London’s face.

My phone pings with a couple of messages, one from Gavin with a picture he took last week of Peyton, Ella, and me in front of the panda exhibit—they seemed to be the only animals not acting up. There’s also a new one from Chad asking what we should do for dinner—cook or go out.

Chad’s cooking is limited to spaghetti and sauce or boxed mac and cheese, so when we cook, it’s usually me giving him small, manageable tasks, like setting the table or spinning lettuce. He does the dishes, though.

I suggest we go out and see if Allen and Andrea want to join us if they don’t have plans. He gives me a thumbs-up.

“How are things with you and Chad?” London asks.

“Fine. I’m seeing him tonight. Why?” I set my phone down and focus on my lunch, which I’m no longer hungry for.

“I don’t know. You’ve been spending a lot of time with Gavin and Peyton. Is he okay with that?” She tosses a puffy star in her jar and starts another.

“We’re just friends, and I had Ella with me when we went to the zoo last week,” I remind London. I laughed off the whole family-of-four thing with the girl working the ticket booth at the time, but I hadn’t really considered how it might look from the outside. Not that it matters.

“Someone want to fill me in on this Gavin guy?” Declan asks, glancing between me and London.

The tension is clear, mostly because this isn’t the first time London has mentioned this.

“Harley used to nanny for him when his daughter, Peyton, was a baby. He lost his wife during childbirth and was on his own and needed help,” Avery explains then glances at me. “You were with the family for what, a year and a half?”

“About that. Then they moved upstate to Boulder.” I swirl a carrot stick in ranch dip. “They moved back to the area not long before we hosted the last birthday party. Peyton really needed some stability and a familiar face, so we went for lunch and to the zoo.”

“And you watched her for him when he had that meeting,” London says. Obviously she’s keeping a running tally of how often I see them.

“That was an emergency situation, though.” And now I sound defensive.