Page 54 of Tell Me When It's Over

Mia kicks me under the table, but I ignore her warning eyes. Brows arched, I turn to Lenny as if to ask, Well?

Confusion mars her face. “Um, no?” The statement doesn’t make me believe her. There has been more than one occasion when she’s come to Katherine’s defense when I question her parental role. Leighton is almost always home by herself, rarely goes with her mother when she’s meeting Harry somewhere, and rarely tells us about their lives before moving here, like there’s a lot she doesn’t want us knowing.

I want nothing more than for her to open up about their life before California. So I can help. So I can squash my curiosity. I want Lenny to be happy, and her mother is constantly taking that away from her. At the last dinner we had together, Leighton was telling us about her friend Nora, and Katherine felt the need to say, “Oh, you made a friend!” as if her daughter hadn’t mentioned the girl—Nora Jane Ashby, the girl Len saw get bullied on her first day, whose favorite color is yellow and apparently rivals Leighton’s academic standing at Saint Michael’s according to my little sister—a handful of times in the past fucking year.

“Kyler,” Mia warns under her breath.

“I’m just asking,” I tell the protective pain in the ass. If she knew half the shit I witnessed with Katherine, she’d be suspicious too. “It seems like Harry and her spend a lot of time together, that’s all.”

Mia’s eyes roll. “He also spends a lot of time with his two well-paid interns. Your point?”

I eye her, not wanting to talk about them with Leighton here. It’s not unusual to hear about his conquests, but that knowledge shouldn’t be passed on unless necessary. Nobody likes hearing that their parent is screwing someone young enough to be their kid, but that’s Harry’s favorite pastime. “You don’t think they’re together?”

Lenny blanches. “My mom and…?”

In the year she’s been here, she’s never referred to him as her father. She stopped calling him Mr. Bishop after he told her it was too formal for their relationship, so she started calling him Harry instead. Katherine scolded her, I grinned, and Mia rolled her eyes. I’ve asked Leighton what her honest opinion on Harry is without any previous bias she gathered from me and Mia. I knew when it took her a long time to answer, it wouldn’t be a gleaming review. She’d said, “I was taught not to say anything if it wasn’t nice” and made Mia laugh so hard water came out of her nose.

The thought makes my lips threaten to lift. Leighton will never have the mindset we do or feel the need to share her opinion on someone if it’s negative. I hope she never does, because if she chooses to, that’s when I know I’ve failed her. “It’s just a theory. Wouldn’t be the first time they were together, after all.”

Her cheeks pinken.

Mia kicks me again. This time, I flinch at the pain radiating up my shin. “Maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad thing,” she reasons, turning to Lenny with a shoulder rising. “They could try making things work for the sake of our family.”

I’m not sure I like the thought of that, mostly for Mom’s sake. She’s moved on already. Hell, she started dating some guy ten years younger than her two months after the divorce was final. As happy as I am for her, I don’t know how she’d react if she knew that Harry was seeing one of the women he not only cheated on her with but also fathered a child with.

Based on the twisted expression on Leighton’s face, I don’t think she’s okay with that either.

“It’s only a theory,” I repeat, trying to squelch any ideas Mia has. It’s her love for The Parent Trap that’s making her think this way, I’m sure of it.

Leighton readjusts, pushing her plate away. “I want my mom to be happy.” It’s all she offers in reply, so I don’t push. Shit, I respect her honesty, but I know what the price costs if her mother’s happiness is tied to Harry.

It’ll cost her everything.

“Enough of this,” Mia chimes in, clapping her hands. “We have presents. Before you tell us we shouldn’t have, we did. So, get over it.”

My sister, always the eloquent speaker. When there isn’t a protest, I help Mia grab the handful of presents that we brought up when Leighton was busy with her mom. As soon as we drop them in front of her, she gapes.

“These are for me?”

I laugh. “Who else would they be for?”

She stares at the wrapping which Mia did for all but one. You can tell the difference because mine is sloppier with a lot more tape than necessary, but whatever. What’s underneath the purple paper is hidden, so that’s all that matters.

I nudge her. “Go on.”

Shaking herself out of whatever thought she has, she reaches for the one closest to her and traces the edges. I know everything in front of her because Mia dragged me out shopping with her. Most of it is clothes—a shirt, dress, or some other piece of clothing I still don’t understand the need for. Mia didn’t choose anything too flashy, I made sure of it. I don’t know much about girl’s clothing, but I do know that Lenny doesn’t like to stand out. She prefers comfort, living in tees, leggings, and sweatshirts when she isn’t in her school uniform.

When she gets to mine, I’m watching with a strange nervousness prickling my chest. I could have taken up Mia’s offer and let her pick something out for me to sign my name to, but I wanted to get her something different. Not clothing or jewelry or a gift card somewhere. Since finding out she didn’t have any birthdays like this, which Mia dragged out of her during the talk we had the other week, I wanted her to have a special one this year.

“Kyler,” she whispers, grazing her fingers on the customized planner. It has her name on it in her favorite color, orange, and photos in each month’s pages. Even though I would have liked to get her something more, I know the idea of money being spent on her would only make her squirm. Plus, Mia spent plenty for the both of us. At least she could utilize mine in any way she wanted.

“You said you needed something to keep track of everything,” I tell her with a shrug. I know school keeps her busy, but she loves the challenge. Harry even seemed impressed when Leighton told us over dinner that she was put into an advanced math, science, and English classes this year. I made note of the assignments she kept written down on post-it notes in her bedroom when I’ve visited their condo and decided she needed a better way to organize.

Her tiny smile as she flips through the pages at the photos I selected has me smiling too. I lean back in my chair and watch as she stops on one of my favorites. Confusion pinches her brows when she asks, “When did this get taken?”

She isn’t looking at the camera, but she’s beaming at something Mia says as they walk down Hollywood Boulevard. Their arms are wrapped around each other, and Leighton looks genuinely happy. The first time I asked if she wanted to see the Boulevard, she told me she and Katherine planned to go together. When I learned sometime later that that was never the case from the she-devil herself, Lenny finally admitted she knew things were hectic when we went out and didn’t want to cause a stir. I’d stared at her, wondering how someone could be so selfless when I knew her mother was the total opposite. It wasn’t her she was worried about despite being uncomfortable with the attention. It was Mia and me.

“I love it,” she says, finally looking up at me. There’s a wet sheen to her gray eyes that she tries blinking away, but I see it.

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