Page 42 of Hot Shot

She looks up at me and lowers her phone. “So?”

“She’s learning how to wash dishes.”

“Huh. That’ll be something new for her.”

“What does that mean?” I lean my ass on the edge of the desk in front of her. “She’s spoiled?”

“Maybe a little. I think her parents try to make up for the lack of time they spend with her by letting her get away with too much.”

“Why don’t they spend time with her?”

“They have busy careers.”

I snort. “Fuck.”

“Yeah. Lauren’s my sister, but we’re really different. I tried to tell her she needs to spend more time with Julia, but she doesn’t take kindly to criticism. So I just spend as much time with Julia as I can.”

My heart bumps in my chest. “That’s nice of you.”

“Eh. I love her. It’s not just nice, it’s fun. Though she has been a little, uh, moody lately. Her parents splitting up sure didn’t help things.”

“That’s fucking sad,” I growl. Why do people have kids if they’re going to ignore them? That doesn’t even make sense and it’s just messed up and pisses me off, since my own parents, who loved their kids so damn much and would have done anything for us despite working multiple low-paying jobs to support the family, were forcibly taken away from their children because of screwed-up laws. Yeah, I’m still a little bitter.

Carrie eyes me, a small notch between her eyebrows. “It is,” she agrees. “But honestly, Julia’s turned out pretty good, all things considered.”

“She’s out vandalizing property!”

Carrie tilts her head. “She’s fourteen. Most kids go through some kind of rebellious phase. Don’t tell me you didn’t.”

I swallow. “Okay, I can’t tell you that.”

Her lips quirk. “I bet you were a little badass.”

“Ha. Not so little. I was six feet tall when I was fifteen.”

Her eyes widen, but she smirks. “You didn’t deny the badass part, though.”

One corner of my mouth lifts. “Nope. I had . . . issues.”

Her eyebrows slope downward and her smile fades. “That would be understandable.”

“Okay, I’ll take your word for it that Julia is basically a good kid.” I lift my chin. “Tell me the idea you have.”

“Idea?”

“Yeah. You told Julia you’d talk about it later.”

“Oh.” She nibbles her bottom lip. “Much later. It’s just a vague thing . . .”

“What?” I prompt more gently.

“Well . . . these kids she’s hanging around with, doing the graffiti . . . I expect they’re all kind of like her. Maybe not so well off, but probably shit happening in their lives, not much support, too much time on their hands and nowhere to go. And I guess they all must have some kind of artistic bent.”

“Yeah.”

“It would be good if there was a place they could go, maybe hang out, do some art. There might even be opportunity for them to do some murals, like legit art on walls.”

I purse my lips, nodding. “Yeah.”

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