Page 57 of When You Got a Good Thing (Misfit Inn 1)

“It was obvious you two were nuts about each other.”

“We were.” Still are.

“If you loved him so much, why did you leave?”

Should’ve known she wouldn’t be satisfied with only part of the story. Dragging her brush along the last section of trim, Kennedy tried to decide what to tell her. It would be easy to blame Buck. And certainly he’d been the primary reason. But what she’d told Xander about feeling unworthy of the family hadn’t been a lie. If she hadn’t felt that, hadn’t been so terrified of being thrown away, she wouldn’t have been so susceptible to his father’s emotional blackmail. And given Ari’s tenuous position in the family, it was the part Kennedy most wanted to share.

“A lot of complicated reasons. Some of which I’m just not going to get into. But some of it was that I was really messed up. My parents threw me away. I could make excuses for them, but in the end, that was the reality. Joan wasn’t my first foster placement. I went through several before I ended up here, and I saw plenty of turnover in the system of other foster kids hitting eighteen and just getting dumped. Even after I came here, even after Mom adopted me, that stuck with me. And there was a part of me that never really felt like I belonged. A part that expected that I’d be booted out when I hit eighteen. So I was determined to go before anybody else had a chance to throw me away.” Before anyone could give Joan reason to.

She set her brush aside and pivoted to face Ari. The girl was frowning hard, a line marring the skin between her brows.

“I was wrong. It took me a long time to accept that. I was always a part of this family and nothing I ever did or said could ever have changed that. I say all this because you remind me so much of me. I know you’re worried about what’s going to happen to you. I know we don’t have the same legal protections we’d have if the adoption had gone through before Mom died. But whatever the hell it says on paper, you are part of this family. If you learned nothing else from your time with Joan, you should have learned that the family you make is a helluva lot stronger than the one you’re born into. You’re ours, and all of us are going to fight for you.”

Ari swiped an arm over glimmering eyes. “I’ve never met anybody like y’all.”

“Fellow misfits, one and all.” She wrapped her arms around the younger girl. “Now come on and help me finish this trim so we can go pick out lamps and accessories.”

~*~

“Careful, careful. Don’t let it touch the wall. The trim isn’t quite dry yet.” Under normal circumstances, Kennedy would have waited until tomorrow, but there simply wasn’t time. She bit her lip as Xander muscled the bed back another few inches. “There! That’s it!” She clapped her hands and did a little happy dance, complete with a hip bump for Ari.

The corner of Xander’s mouth turned up at that. “Anything else?”

He was trying to cover up his mood, but Kennedy knew him and knew that he was struggling with whatever had happened with his father.

“It still needs to be dressed and staged, but I so don’t have time to do all that before I go to work.” She wished she were off work entirely for the night so she could finish and so they could finally talk about his dad and about the email she’d gotten from Elena this afternoon about the book proposal. But beggars couldn’t be choosers. She was grateful Denver had given her as much time as he had.

Xander looked around at the rearranged furniture, the freshly painted walls and trim. “I can’t believe you got all this done today.”

“I helped!” Ari announced.

“You did, indeed.” Kennedy had enjoyed the hell out of spending time with the girl. “And you can help some more by running down to my room and hauling up the bedding I’ve got stashed there. Then it will be here and ready to go in the morning, and I don’t have to worry about sneaking it past anybody to maintain the surprise.”

“I can make the bed. Then you don’t have to.”

Oh, this kid. She’d embraced the idea and run with it, displaying a level of enthusiasm only teenagers could manage. Kennedy reached out to squeeze Ari’s shoulder. “That’d be awesome.

“Okay. I’ll walk really loud when I come back, so you’ll know when to stop making out.”

Xander choked on a half laugh as she left the room. “We’re never going to hear the end of this, are we?”

Given all the questions she’d asked about them today, Kennedy was banking on that being the literal truth. “She’s at an age where kissing is fascinating.”

He scowled. “So long as she’s just thinking and not doing.”

Kennedy looped her arms behind his neck and grinned up at him. “Are you going all protective big brother?”

“Someone has to.”

“That’s adorable.”

“That’s practical. I used to be a thirteen year old boy. They’re more fascinated with boobs. Maybe I should teach her some self-defense.”

“Never a bad thing,” Kennedy agreed. “Though I am reasonably sure she thinks the boys her age are morons.”

“The ones older than her are even worse. Self-defense,” he decided. “I’ll find some time to squeeze it in.”

“You’re so cute.” She rose on her toes and pressed her lips to his.

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