“What did you want to talk to me about?” Margie asks me with a bright smile on her face as she takes a seat, and I take my own.
“I need you to reassign the Rhodes case.”
“What?” It’s clear she’s startled by my request and rightfully so, since we just had a progress report where everything was fine.
“I, um...” I hold my chin up high and look her in the eyes, not trying to get fired, but I can’t lie anymore. “I have a conflict of interest, and it’s important that we get their case assigned to someone else.”
“Conflict of interest?” Her right eyebrow lifts as she searches for what I’m not saying and what I’m not going to say. I don’t want to lose my job. I love it, and it gives me a sense of purpose, but I’ll lose it if I can’t have Kellan any other way. I can find another job, but I can’t find another him.
“Yes,” I say, but don’t offer any more information. I’m sure she can guess, but I don’t think she wants to.
“Okay. I can do that. Are you sure about this?”
I nod my head. “Please just put them in good hands. They deserve it.”
Her lips purse tightly, and she gives me a quick nod. “I’ll have more cases for you later today.”
“Great,” I say with a smile and head out of the office. I’ll be on probation with her for a while, I have no doubt about that. But I’m pretty sure at the end of the day, she knows I’m good at my job and doesn’t want to lose me.
It makes me feel a little sick, thinking about the Rhodes family in someone else’s hands, but I’ll still be by their side. Now to the really hard part of this whole thing...
Telling all the kids the truth.
* * *
“You ready for this?”I look over at Kellan, like he’s totally insane, and he just chuckles, kissing me on the temple. “It’s going to be fine. You already did the hard part today with your boss.”
I can’t help but laugh at that. “It’s hilarious you think Margie is anywhere near as scary as those four out there.” I nod toward the dining room, where the kids are waiting for dinner.
“Just remember two of them already know.”
“The two who are currently giving us the cold shoulder?” I ask, my brow cocked, but he just laughs and jerks his head toward the other room.
“Let’s do this.”
I grab the pasta I prepared and follow him in. The kids all immediately dig in, but my stomach is far too nervous to even scoop any on my plate.
Kellan doesn’t have that problem, putting plenty on his and then on mine before setting the dish down and clearing his throat. “So we have something we need to tell you all.”
“Wait! I’m here.” Tatum bursts through the front door, and I can’t help but roll my eyes, but I swear it’s with fondness. He’s really grown on me, and Kellan said it would be good to have backup tonight, so he invited his best friend.
Tatum sits on my other side and grabs for the dish, helping himself to a huge portion and grinning far too happily at me. “Go on.”
“What the hell is happening?” Cason says, clearly not amused. “You two get married?”
Braylen’s eyes widen. “Why would they get married?”
Cason doesn’t say anything, and Kellan intercepts the conversation. “We’re not married, but, um...”
“I’m not your caseworker anymore,” I cut in, hoping that leading with this will help ease them into it.
“What?” Braylen looks upset as he gazes over at me. “You don’t want us anymore?”
Okay, so I fucked that up, I realize immediately. “No. That’s not why I can’t be your caseworker. The opposite actually. I want to be in your lives more,” I try again.
Cason scoots back from the table, but he doesn’t get up. When I look over at him, I see his nostrils are flared, and it’s an indication he’s ready for a fight. “You want to get into my brother’s pants more, is what you mean.”
“Why would you want to wear Kellan’s pants?” Braylen asks. The poor kid is super confused now. “They’d be huge on you.”
