Best Kind of Broken

28 Levi

I’m staring at the piping above me, almost finished with the sink, when I hear Ellen enter the kitchen.

“There you are,” she says to my legs. “The install guys just left, so it looks like our new fire alarms are up and running. But I’m going to schedule a drill tomorrow, just to make sure everything works properly. I’ll let the rest of the staff know, but I’ll need you to monitor the control box. Got it?”

“Fire drill. Got it.”

“Thanks, Levi.”

I hear her leave. As I finish tightening the last bolt, something thwacks my leg. Looking out from under the sink, I see Mable standing above me with a less-than-happy expression.

I sit up. “Did you just smack me with a spatula?”

“Yes. And I will do it again if I have to.” She’s dead serious.

I furrow my brow. “Is this about the whore thing? I know I was mean—”

She smacks me again.

“Jesus, Mable!”

“That boy was in the dining room talking to Pixie again,” she says.

I blink. “Who, Daren?” It’s all I can do not to say “douche bag.”

“Yes, Daren. And I don’t like him.” She puts a hand on her hip.

I exhale. “Get in line.”

She stares down at me expectantly.

I stare up at her, dumbfounded.

“Well?” she says. “Are you going to go get Pixie or what?”

“Why?” I stand up, immediately on alert with all these visions of Daren hurting Pixie and how I’m going to kill him when I find him. “Is Pixie in trouble?”

“Of course not.”

“Then what the—ow! Mable, quit hitting me.”

She points the spatula at me. “You are that girl’s whole life, Levi.” Her soft wrinkles bore into me. “Don’t you dare let her get distracted by some guy who doesn’t know how to love her.”

And whoa.

When did we start talking about love?

I narrow my eyes. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

She tosses the spatula into the sink I just fixed and makes her way to the exit. “You know exactly what it means.”