Page 46 of Can't Help Falling

Kylie jolted and Tyler considered it a minor miracle that the kid wasn’t rolling her eyes at the adult antics taking place. Was she actually buying this?

“A job at Mary’s shop?”

“It’s a really great space,” Fin said casually, apparently the only one among them who could actually pull off a ruse like this. “I think you’d like it. Great energy. Cute shop and in a nice part of town. Have you been to Cobble Hill yet?”

“You’d like it,” Mary prompted. Then she cocked her head to the side. “Well, actually, I don’t know you quite well enough to know what you’d like. But I like it.”

Kylie laughed at that, seemingly a little charmed by Mary. She turned to Tyler. “You think it would be all right? Legally?”

It made him sad that a fourteen-year-old thought to consider stuff like that. “Uh, we’d have to talk to your social worker.” Tyler had already done so this morning and gotten the okay. They would have to get her working papers and also the social worker was putting a strict fifteen-hour weekly cap on things in order to make sure Kylie didn’t fall behind on homework. “But the legal working age in New York is fourteen, so it should probably be fine as long as you can still get your schoolwork done.”

“I only need help maybe three days a week,” Mary rushed in, a little overhelpfully. “So, I wouldn’t be taking up all your time.”

As world-wise as Kylie sometimes seemed, this whole scheme seemed to be going straight over her head. Anyone a little older might have raised eyebrows at the fact that Mary, apparently drowning in work and in desperate need of help, would only be looking for someone to help out three days a week. The truth was, Mary was going to have to hire someone in addition to Kylie. This was a considerable favor to Tyler. Especially considering the fact that she’d already agreed to make Kylie’s work schedule line up with the Nets home game schedule and had already agreed to take Kylie home after work any night that Tyler couldn’t pick her up.

Basically, Mary had agreed to pay to be Kylie’s babysitter without Kylie having to feel condescended to. Tyler knew he should be buying Mary a diamond necklace for Christmas, a house in Vail, a car. She’d officially clawed her way to the top of the Best Friend of All Time list.

“I don’t think schoolwork would be a problem,” Kylie said slowly. “But... I’ve never worked in a shop before.”

“Maybe we could do a trial period, Mary? Try it for a day or two and see if it suits you two?” Tyler suggested.

“Perfect!” Mary chirped, a little too loud, a little too high. She looked deeply relieved that the whole thing had gone to plan. “How’s Monday?” she croaked, sagging back into her chair. Was that sweat on her brow?

Tyler bit the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing. “Works for me and my schedule. Ky?”

She blinked for a second. “Works for me too.”

“Great!”

“MARY, YOUSLYDOG,” Sebastian said a little while later, after dinner. The adults were reclining in the living room and Kylie, much to Tyler’s surprise, had volunteered to walk Matty and Crabby to an ice-cream shop down the block. Well, down the block by New York standards, which meant at least a twelve-minute walk.

“Oh my god. I’m still having heart palpitations.” She dramatically clutched at her heart and sagged back into the couch where she was nestled next to Fin.

“That was a pretty good idea you two had,” Via said, plopping herself down into Sebastian’s lap where he sat in an armchair.

Tyler, not having wanted to crowd the ladies on the couch, stretched out on the floor in front of the TV, his beer balanced on his chest and his head propped up by couch pillows. He watched the multicolored reflection of the blinking Christmas tree lights on the ceiling and tried hard not to think about all the ways he wasn’t prepared for a holiday of this magnitude with Kylie.

“Ty?” Seb said, nudging Tyler’s foot with his own.

“Hmm?” Tyler lifted his head and took a sip of his forgotten beer.

“Via asked if you knew that Kylie had wanted a job.”

“Oh.” He dropped his head back down and watched the red-and-green lights reflect on the ceiling again. “I wasn’t sure. But...I know she’s got some issues around money so I figured she’d jump at a chance to earn some on her own.”

He could feel Fin’s eyes on the side of his face. And it wasn’t the normal nudge of another person’s gaze. This? This was different. Her eyes were like fingertips of ice lightly tracing his profile.

She’d been the one to tell him that Kylie was sensitive about money.

“She’s got issues with money? The same kid who was pumping you for fifty bucks every single time you needed her to do anything?”

Tyler blinked. Right. He’d almost forgotten that Kylie used to do that. The extortion seemed so unlike her now.

“She hasn’t done that since...” He racked his brain. “Thanksgiving, I guess.”

Huh. Since they’d come to Brooklyn. She’d done it all the time in Columbus but here she’d pretty much cut it out immediately. He wondered why and came up empty.

“So, how are things going with her?” Via asked softly.

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