Tomorrow's Lies (Promises #1) (17 page)

“No,” I say, like I have no clue what she’s referring to. “I was just clearing my throat.”

“That better be all you were doing,” Allison warns as she turns away, smoothing the fabric of her skimpy baby-doll dress.

“As I was about to announce, before I was so rudely interrupted”—she sneers at me—“my mother is planning on attending a number of business conferences this summer. She’s looking for investors for her business. As you know, the Crafty Lo enterprise has been growing by leaps and bounds. Orders are up all over the country. Mom wants to bring in more money to expand internationally and really maximize profits.”

More child labor must be at the top of that list
.
Wonder if she’ll apply to foster more kids.
I shudder at the thought.

“Anyway,” Allison goes on, “she’s putting me in charge during her absences. And, as luck would have it, she left early this morning for trip number one. So, boys and girls”—another sickly, phony-sweet grin that makes me want to vomit is sent my way—“my stint as boss begins today.”

Flynn groans, but Allison ignores him.

“First off,” she continues, “
I
will be setting the quotas for today. There will be none of that slacky shit my mom lets you off with. Everything is doubled. You don’t leave tonight till
all
the work is done.”

No one groans this time, at least not outwardly. In fact, it’s like we bind together. The resulting collective silence is deafening. Not a single one of us wants Allison Lowry in charge. A bad situation is about to get worse, and we all know it. Even the twins sit quietly, heads down, their little hands clasped tightly in desperation. Mandy is staring straight ahead, her lips set in a straight line. And when I look over at Flynn, I catch him rubbing his hands down his troubled face.

Allison huffs. She wants a reaction. She slams a folding chair beneath the table and the metal leg hits my own soft limb, hard.

“Oops, sorry, didn’t mean to hit you,” Allison says to me. Her eyes tell a different story. Not a single thing she does is ever an accident.

I bite my tongue to remain quiet. Reaching down, I gingerly rub my ringing kneecap. I’m glad I wore jeans today, or I’d probably have a cut and be bleeding all over the floor.

Allison sniffs. “I really
didn’t
see your leg there, Jaynie.” She’s baiting me.

Flynn makes a scoffing noise, and under the table I nudge his foot. “No,” I whisper.

Like Mandy just reminded me, engaging Allison is not worth the grief. And that’s exactly what we’ll all be wallowing in if we fall into her trap.

No one says a word, and when Allison leaves we start with home-schooling. Home-schooling now involves teaching only the twins. Flynn, Mandy, and I finished our final exams last week. We all passed and are officially high school graduates.

There was no celebration, of course, no fanfare of any kind. Mrs. Lowry told us our diplomas would be sent to the county and placed in our files. I don’t know how much a high school education will benefit me, seeing as I’m already behind the eight ball. But the twins need a decent education, and it’s up to the three of us to make sure they stay on track.

So, I put on a happy face and get to work, alongside Mandy and Flynn.

The first lesson of the day is math. Cody is so far behind his sister he can’t even master basic addition. He really should be in a special class to address his needs. Callie is the complete opposite. The lessons are too easy for her. She should be in a special class, as well, something more advanced, as she needs more challenging work.

But it is what it is. There is nothing three teenagers, no matter how good their intentions, can change.

When Callie becomes frustrated with Cody’s slow learning pace, we have to separate the two.

“You’re stupid,” Callie says to her brother as we place her two seats away.

“Am not, dumb face,” Cody jabs back.

“Hey, hey, that’s enough name-calling.” Flynn sits down in the chair between the two siblings, who look ready to come to blows.

“Listen up.” The kids respect Flynn and give him their full attention as he looks from one to the other. “First of all, Callie… No one here is stupid, okay? Everyone learns at a pace that works for them.”

“But he can’t do
anything
,” she protests.

“At least I no have a dumb face,” Cody retorts.

Callie’s lip quivers and she starts to cry.

Flynn attempts to smooth over her hurt feelings, and Mandy soon joins him. Taking a seat on the other side of Callie, Mandy touches Callie’s forearm and says, “Don’t cry, sweetie. Your brother is just frustrated.”

“That’s right,” Flynn adds, and then he says to Cody, “You don’t really think your sister has a dumb face, right?”

When he hesitates, Flynn reminds him, “You do realize you’re twins, right? That means she has the same face as you, little man.”

That makes Cody reconsider.

He reaches for Callie and Flynn scoots back to accommodate him. “I sorry, Callie,” he says. And then he crawls over Flynn and gives his sister a hug she reluctantly accepts.

Once all is forgiven, we resume teaching. Flynn and I take Cody, and Mandy works with Callie.

After we review simple addition with Cody, we give him a worksheet to complete. He stares down at it, face scrunched up, and pencil in hand.

“Two plus two…equals…”

I prompt, “What did we say earlier two plus two equals, Cody? Think about it for a minute.”

He shrugs his little shoulders. “I dunno,” he mumbles. “Five?”

“Close,” I say encouragingly.

Cody puts his pencil down and closes his eyes. “I can’t do it,” he whispers. “I
am
stupid.”

“You are not stupid,” Flynn interjects, his tone firm. “You
can
learn this.” To me, Flynn says, “I have an idea.”

“Okay.”

I watch as Flynn heads to the front of the barn. He stops at one of our work stations and returns with a handful of wooden dowels in varying colors and sizes. The dowels are supposed to be used in one of the craft projects, one which involves assembling stick-figure reindeer and stick-trees for Crafty Lo’s Country Christmas line. But right now the wooden sticks are about to be used to teach Cody addition. What a much better purpose.

I smile as Flynn places the dowels on the table. “Great idea,” I say with a smile.

He smiles back. “Thanks.”

Cody picks up two wooden sticks and starts drumming on the table. “Hey,” Flynn whispers to me. “The kid’s got rhythm.”

I laugh. ”Maybe music is more in his wheelhouse.”

“Maybe,” Flynn agrees. “But he has to get his addition down, regardless.”

“True.”

Cody is making a racket, but it does sound kind of good.

“I make drumming,” he says to Flynn, giggling. “I good at that, right, Flynnie?”

Flynn slips the sticks from his hands. “Yeah, you’re good, buddy. But let’s save it for later. We need to use these sticks for some learning first. Is that all right with you?”

“I guess,” Cody mutters. He’s clearly displeased and scrunches up his face accordingly.

“Only Flynn could get away with that,” Mandy whispers as she leans over to me, her lesson with Callie interrupted by the drumming.

Callie, addressing her twin, admonishes, “Be good, Cody. Listen to Flynn. He’s going to help you learn how to add.”

“Okay,” Cody mumbles. “Flynnie help teach me.”

“You got it, buddy.” Flynn hands me a bunch of the dowels. “Jaynie’s going to help, too.”

Wide eyes fall on me. “You help me learn to with sticks?”

“Yes, sweetie.” I nod. “And learning to add is really not that hard. Flynn and I are going to try to make it super easy for you.”

“Okay, I ready,” Cody says. He folds his hands in front of him on the table, making him look like a perfect student.

We spend the next hour using the colored dowels to teach Cody basic addition, and progress is made.

At one point, Flynn hands Cody two green dowels. “How many green sticks do you have there, buddy?” he asks.

“Two,” Cody says.

I hold two blue dowels out to Cody. “Take them,” Flynn urges.

Cody carefully slides the dowels from my grasp.

“Now how many do you have?” Flynn prompts our student.

“Two blue sticks and two green sticks!” Cody holds his bounty aloft proudly.

“Yes,” Flynn goes on. “And how many sticks do you have if you add them all together, Cody?”

Cody’s rosebud mouth moves silently as he counts. And then he says out loud, “One, two…three…four.”

Excitedly, Cody looks from Flynn to me, then back to Flynn. “Four. I have four sticks.”

Flynn is beaming as his eyes meet mine. “Yep, you sure do have four sticks, little man.”

We both lean in from either side of Cody to give him a hug. My arm brushes Flynn’s, and it feels like the most natural thing in the world. Cody is not the only one overcoming obstacles.

The lesson continues, and, with the continued help of visual aids, Cody starts to master addition. “Subtraction is up next,” Flynn announces.

Cody groans, but you can see he’s actually excited. If anyone can succeed in teaching Cody math, Flynn can. I’m beginning to think Flynn can do most anything.

After a few more minutes of watching Flynn and Cody interact, observing how infinitely patient Flynn is with the boy, and how completely committed he is, I know then that, without a doubt, Flynn is as beautiful inside as he is on the outside.

The burgeoning hold he has on my heart tightens. Despite all the odds against us, I have surpassed mere attraction and gone beyond friendship.

I never thought I’d say it, let alone
feel
it, but I think I’m falling in love with Flynn O’Neill.

Flynn

A
surprising thing occurs as summer begins. I actually feel happy. I know it’s because I have Jaynie in my life. She makes even the bad days bearable.

But there aren’t too many bad days.

Allison is in charge most of the time, but, shock upon shock, it’s not entirely awful. Sure, there are higher work quotas with which to contend, and the bitch never has a kind word to say to anyone, but the good thing is she’s easily bored with her role of supervisor. She’s young herself and wants to enjoy the summer. As a result, she begins to leave us alone more days than not. She takes off early for town—or wherever she goes—most mornings, leaving us alone for hours and hours.

“Something sure is keeping her preoccupied,” Mandy muses one late afternoon when Allison fails to come home at all.

Since Allison has almost completely stopped hitting on me, I suspect she’s found a boyfriend. Mandy agrees.

Jaynie does, too, when I mention my suspicions to her, only she adds in a heartfelt, “Thank God.”

So, most days when the work is done, our time is our own. After we log our numbers in a ledger Allison insists we keep up-to-date, we are done for the day. Allison fills the refrigerator with packages of wieners and an assortment of cold cuts for lunch sandwiches. She puts Mandy in charge of meals since she can’t be bothered to care. With the kitchen unlocked at all times, we can eat as much as we please. There’s not a wide selection, and we’re careful not to overindulge and deplete what’s available, but for the first time in a long time none of us feel hungry.

The twins thrive. They feel energized and want to play all the time. So, after work and dinner, Mandy, Jaynie, and I take them outside. We play Tag, Hide and Go Seek, and whatever else the twins want to do. By evening they’re usually worn out from fun times, which is much better than seeing them tired from too little food and too much work.

Once Mandy takes the kids in the house, my time is spent with Jaynie. We take long walks through the woods and talk until we’ve run out of words. Most of our free time is spent in our secret place at the cliff’s edge. We hang out under the ancient pines that have probably watched a thousand boys and girls fall in love.

And that’s what I think I’m doing—falling in love with Jaynie.

I can’t help but smile when I consider how much she has healed since that rainy April day when she first arrived. Jaynie is better in many, many ways. And really, all of us are. The five of us mesh well.

Hell, there are days I fear this is the calm before the proverbial storm, but that’s okay with me. I’m grabbing my bit of happiness by the balls while I can and running with it.

One warm, sultry evening, the type of night where the humidity soaks straight through your clothes to leave a sticky coating on your skin, I find Jaynie out by the water pump near the barn. She’s bent over, splashing water on her face. And she has on a dress. I’ve never seen Jaynie in a dress. And, God, she is gorgeous in this snowy white number with skinny straps at the shoulders.

One strap slips down Jaynie’s arm, and I suddenly want her. We are so far from anything like that, but my body doesn’t know. Parts begin to stir. Well, one part in particular.

I clear my throat to alert her to my presence.

“Oh,” she spins to me and hastily shoves the strap back into place. “Flynn. I didn’t see you there.”

“I didn’t mean to startle you.” I can’t keep my eyes off her as I tentatively step toward her. “I would’ve said something sooner, but you caught me off-guard. I’ve never seen you in a dress.”