Cynda and the City Doctor - Theodora Taylor Page 0,51

she snuck out of the house either. I’m going to kill her.”

Rhys gets out of my way but asks, “Isn’t she eighteen?”

“Yeah. And?” I grab the suitcase by the handle.

“So doesn’t that also mean she’s an adult now?” he asks. “Allowed to do as she wants?”

“Maybe in England,” I answer. “But in Missouri, living under my roof, she can’t go sneaking out to see boys just because she’s bored.”

“What if she’s not bored?” Rhys asks. “What if she truly likes this fellow?”

I hold up my suitcase-free hand. “Rhys, these are not your kids. You need to stay out of this.”

Rhys inclines his head. “They’re not your kids either. In fact, as I’ve previously asserted, they’re not kids at all. No wonder you’re so happy about not having my baby. You’re too busy infantilizing the only people you haven’t pushed away.”

I jerk back. Technically, he hasn’t hit me. But it feels like he has.

“Okay, those kids are my responsibility,” I say, pointing toward the door. Then I point at him. “And I’m not having this discussion with you.”

Then I leave before he can let me in on any more of his interesting theories about how I’m overparenting.

Speaking of which, I must be doing something right because A’s waiting exactly where I told him when I come outside. At least one guy in my life is easy to figure out.

“Where is she?” I demand, slamming the door of the back house behind me.

A stares at the ground and mumbles, so I can barely hear him when he answers, “I think maybe it’s August the Fifth.”

“August Brandt?” I repeat, not sure I’m hearing right.

From what E’s told me, he’s an asshole who everybody at the school worships because, “he’s really good at a game rich White people stole from First Americans.” She hates that he gets away with whatever he wants. His family pretty much owns our town and that means no one, not even teachers, dare to cross him.

For those reasons alone, I’m finding it hard to believe E would sneak out to meet up with August Brandt. Also, he’s definitely not E’s type. According to town gossip, August doesn’t do girlfriends, only hookups. And E demands complete and utter infatuation from the boys she steals away from other girls.

So there’s no way she’d sneak out to be with him. Is there?

Chapter Eighteen

Apparently there is. One car ride and a few minutes of pounding on the front door of Guadalajara’s only manor house later, a Black lady in a housekeeper uniform opens the door.

“Where’s Richie Rich’s room?”

“Who are you again?” the housekeeper asks.

Whatever.

“E!” I yell, charging up the grand staircase. “Where the hell are you?”

“E! E!”

Some might question my tactics, but I soon reaffirm something I learned early during my time in the Emergency Department. Crazy Black lady yelling at the top of her lungs gets the job done 100% of the time.

E appears on the landing in an inside out shift dress a few moments later, looking shame-faced. A tall and rangy sandy-haired boy emerges from the room right behind her. He only has on a pair of boxer briefs. August Brandt.

He looks exactly as E described. Smug from the top of his tousled chestnut brown locks to the bottom of his bare feet.

Which is why it’s such a surprise when he says, “Look, ma’am, this is all my fault. I convinced her to come over here—”

I stop him right there. “Not interested in talking to you about this. At all. You’ve already made me compromise myself and your staff member. So let’s end this unnecessary contact now.”

I jerk my head toward the front door, which the housekeeper is still standing at. “C’mon, E.”

E immediately follows me towards the stairs. Like she’s running away from a fire.

However, August Brandt does too.

To my surprise, he doesn’t just let me take E home. This bold boy has the nerve to follow us down the stairs, talking about how he meant no disrespect. And that if I’d allow, he’d like to have us over to dinner. Introduce himself properly.

I glance over at E. This is not how she described him. And he must not understand that E doesn’t operate that way.

She’s like I used to be. Catch and release. In fact, this is the closest I’ve ever come to formally meeting any of her acquisitions. And I doubt she was looking for anything more than a quick fling when she decided to violate the state’s stay-at-home order.

But I notice how she keeps on looking