“What the hell are you studying? Rocket science?”
I snicker as Vin gives her a look. “Language.”
Ava looks over at him. “I’m a senior in high school. I have a solid three-point-five GPA and I’m not pregnant. So, I think I’m doing a lot better than you were at my age. Do you really want to worry about me using one of the tamest curse words?”
Vin clenches his jaw and looks away. “Point made.”
Ava winks at me and slides into the stool next to Harper. “Hey, when you’re done, do you think you could help me with my calculus homework?”
Harper looks away from her computer and smiles at Ava. She carefully closes her laptop. “This is next week’s work anyway. What do you need help with?”
Ava grins broadly at her and plops her book bag onto the counter. She pulls out a notebook, opens it, and slides it between her and Harper. Harper looks over the numbers written down in Ava’s notebook. After a few moments, Harper nods to herself.
“I see what you did here.” She points at one of the equations. “You’re doing this one out of order.”
She picks up Ava’s pencil and flips to a new page. She scribbles out the equation and then shows Ava how to solve it step by step. When she’s all done, Ava beams at her.
“Thank you so much! I can’t believe I did that. This problem has been driving me crazy.”
Harper gives her a soft smile. “No problem. I can check over your math homework if you want. You can even text me a photo when you’re at your mom’s if you want.”
Ava squeals. “You’re the best future stepmom ever!”
Harper’s face turns beet red, and Vin chokes on the sip of water he was drinking. Harper waves her hands like she’s trying to erase what Ava just said.
“I’m not… It’s not… I had sex with your uncle!” Harper blurts out, and then it’s my turn to turn red when Ava gapes at me.
Harper covers her mouth with a horrified expression on her face. Vin just looks at her, and then he starts to laugh. Ava looks at him like he’s lost his mind. I don’t even remember the last time he’s laughed like that. Ava turns to Harper and gives her a smile.
“Well, you’re the best future aunt then.”
Harper looks like she might explode in embarrassment. The oven dings, putting her out of her misery.
“Dinner’s done!”
“It sounds like a mugging,” Vin tells me after I’ve explained what happened at the coffee shop.
I frown. “I don’t know, I didn’t really see much, but something about it just seemed off. The guy was going after her like he wanted to hurt her, not steal from her.”
Vin shrugs. “Maybe he was just bad at being a criminal. I’ll have one of the guys look into it. It’s probably nothing.”
I relax at the thought. He does run a criminal organization, so we might as well use it to our advantage. It’s not like the numerous businesses that I oversee can do much for this kind of situation. I feel better knowing that someone will try to get to the bottom of this.
“What are we doing about next Wednesday?” I ask him to change the subject.
His brows furrow. “What about next Wednesday?”
I refrain from punching him in the face. “I have that meeting for the LLC shareholders in Cincinnati.”
His lips roll in. “I forgot about that. What is there to figure out? Just go like you usually do.”
He can be so fucking dense sometimes I’m surprised he hasn’t given me a stroke yet.
“What about Harper? I won’t be able to take her to class.”
Vin’s lips form a small ‘o.’ “We could just use this as an excuse to give her more freedom. It’ll help our plan.”
I frown, thinking about that douche that hit on her the first time I went to class with her. The idea of him or anyone else taking advantage of my absence to make a move on her drives me crazy. Maybe I can just reschedule a month or two out when Vin can clear his schedule.
