Something Old - Dianne L. Christner [50]
“Probably up to something.”
“Just wants you to believe he’s really sorry…for everything.”
“He has done a good job with the place. Fast, too.”
“And cheap.”
“Cheap isn’t always good,” Katy quipped, thinking of the little outsider he’d dated and giving a different meaning to the word. “In our case it is. Shush. Here he comes.”
Jake trudged back through the room, sporting a gigantic grin and barely missing the upturned paint lid. Then he disappeared in the closet.
Out of sight was good, Katy thought, pulling the ladder next to the wall and balancing herself on the top rung to edge along the ceiling. “How’s work?”
Lil replied, “Anybody can boil pasta and stir sauce. But it’ll pay the rent. The way I figure it, I need to get a good reference and move up to a better restaurant at my first opportunity. Mark my words: I will someday be a top chef.”
Katy climbed down and moved the ladder. “David wants to take me out to dinner the next time we go out. I suggested your restaurant.”
“Tonight?”
“Nope. He’s helping at the church today and has to help his dad do chores afterward.”
“One more date, right?”
“Shh!” Katy hissed, nodding her head toward the closet. Jake appeared as if on cue, and Katy fought back a grin at the globs of paint on his hat and in his hair. His cell phone tight to his ear, he walked through the room.
“How’s babysitting going?” Lil asked.
Katy’s hand paused, unable to shoulder her problem alone any longer. “You’re never going to believe it. Tammy tricked me into accepting tickets to the ballet.”
“How’d she do that?”
Happy to vent for the next five minutes, Katy explained the details.
“I can’t believe she did that, knowing how you feel about dancing,” Lil muttered, wearing a mama-lion-protecting-her-cub expression—endearing to Katy that somebody was at last siding for her, and cute, too, given the turquoise freckles. Like her cousin, Lil was wearing the paint. Lil was much prettier than she realized. “It’s a test.” Lil pushed her hair back with her forearm and some wisps escaped from her ponytail. “She’s trying to break you.”
Then Katy noticed a clip had been holding her hair in place and not the ponytail rubber band. “You cut bangs!”
Lil grinned, pushed more paint into her hair. “Cute, huh?”
“Has your mom seen them?”
Laying down the roller, Lil clamped her hands on her hips, getting paint on her clothes, too. She faced Katy, directing that mother bear attitude to thwart her now. “When are you going to get it? We’ve the same as left home. We’re adults on our own. We can do whatever we please.”
Climbing down off the ladder, Katy felt a rush of fear that one more piece of life was crumbling away. “And what pleases you?” Was Lil going to go crazy wild on her?
“Cutting bangs.”
“What else?”
Jake strode back into the room and, noticing the tension, drew back a step.
Katy shook her head and turned away. “I’m done here. Is the closet ready?”
“Nope, wanna help me prep the kitchen?” Honestly, she didn’t know which cousin was more frustrating. She followed him into the other room, fretting that Lil was going to pull her further into the gray area or even the black.
Jake stepped close, a tape contraption in his hands. “This is a little tricky. Works like this.” As he demonstrated, and they bent over the dispenser, she wanted to reach up and pluck the globs of paint from his black curls. But at least her anger at Lil was easing away. His nearness commanded all of her attention. “Wanna try it?”
“Sure.” She took the contraption then mumbled sulkily, “I think you ruined your hat.”
“What’s a hat compared to a day spent with two lovely ladies?” Then he grinned and, referring to the dispenser, told her, “That’s backward.”
Katy tried to remove the tape that she now had stuck between her fingers. “Uh-oh.”
“No problem.” He took her hand, taking his time removing the twisted ruined tape. Their gazes locked.
“I see your hand has healed.”
She jerked it away. “It’s fine.”
“Here, try again.”
She nodded and leaned across the counter, running the contraption along the wall seam, amazed at how sweet the tape