Signs Point to Yes

by Sandy Hall

  “No, please, feel free. He called you a whole slew of different things in these text messages.”

  Jane’s heart dropped. “I don’t think that makes me feel any better.”

  “Oh!” Teo exclaimed. “Yeah. That wasn’t very nice of me. But I meant, don’t feel bad. And don’t apologize again. I don’t really know what he was doing here. If my mom had been home, he wouldn’t have been hanging around the house.”

  Jane nodded. “I’ll be cooler from now on. I promise.”

  Teo tapped out a message and hit Send. “You shouldn’t have to be. Here, look.”

  Jane leaned over to read the text Teo had sent Ravi.

  Jane bit her lip to keep her smile from getting too wide. “I don’t even know what to say.”

  “No big deal.”

  “No way, it’s a huge deal. Thank you so much.” She felt lighter, like all her worries were dissolving.

  “You’re welcome. I should have said something to him a hundred years ago.”

  “What do you think he’s going to say back?”

  Teo’s phone buzzed. “‘Stop being such a fart nugget and take my side,’” Teo read.

  “Wow, a fart nugget. That’s. Wow. Inventive.” Jane giggled. “I really don’t want to start trouble between you guys.”

  “Nah, I can take it. And Ravi can, too. He’s blind to the idea that not everyone appreciates his charms.”

  Jane sighed. “I know he doesn’t appreciate my charms—hence, I avoid him.”

  “I think he wants to piss you off.”

  “Why, though? Why put out so much energy on someone he obviously can’t stand?”

  “Search me,” Teo said with a shrug.

  “What did you write back?”

  “I’m not a fart nugget, he needs to stop coming over while you’re here, blah blah blah.”

  “Any response?”

  They waited for the phone to buzz again, and when it did, Teo was fast to check it.

  “‘Stop being an asshole. Why are you defending Jane?’” Teo read. And then he typed his message back, saying it out loud as he typed. “‘You’re the asshole. I’m defending Jane because she’s doing a good job and I don’t want my mom to fire her for killing you.’”

  “Really, Teo. Thank you so much. I never could have done that.”

  “You hold your own with him.”

  “I do? I always feel like I’m just falling into his expectations for me.”

  “Nah, you do a good job.”

  “Thanks. But I really don’t think he would have listened to me.”

  “No worries, Jane. I got your back.”

  Jane hesitated, unsure how to respond to that, unsure of how to show her gratitude for what Teo had done for her. She settled on patting his hand, which was weird and made her feel like her grandmother, but it was the only thing she could think to do.

  “You have no idea how much that means to me,” Jane said after a few seconds. She pulled and folded her hands on the tabletop, hating that she felt like crying. “And for what it’s worth, I have your back, too, if you ever need me.”

  “For what it’s worth, I really appreciate that,” Teo said, his smile reaching his eyes this time.

  They made eye contact for a second too long before they both looked away, blushing and making up excuses to leave the kitchen that very second.

  Chapter 7

  This first thing that popped into Jane’s mind when she woke up was Teo. She hadn’t been able to stop thinking about him all weekend, so it was no wonder that he was waiting at the edge of her mind on Monday morning.

  With all the time he spent with Ravi, it was apparent that Teo idolized his friend. Jane would have never guessed that he would ever tell Ravi off on her behalf. It made her feel like she could deal with all of this. And like she had made a new friend.

  As kids, Teo and Jane had spent a lot of time together simply because their moms were friends. Jane never considered that they might actually be compatible people. Even if it was just friendship compatibility. It wasn’t like Jane had too many friends. She was doing okay, but she could always use more.

  Maybe Teo could, too.

  The whole time she got dressed and ate breakfast, Jane was distracted, thinking about Teo standing up for her. She barely even heard her mom’s words of caution about the stormy weather they’d be having all day.

  At the last second her mom thrust an umbrella into her hands, thankfully. Otherwise Jane would have had to run, unprotected, to the Buchanans’ in a downpour.

  “Guess there won’t be any swim class today,” Jane muttered as she picked her way through puddles and around the corner. She went over the schedule in her mind, thinking of what kind of moods the girls might be in that morning. Buck was away on business, so that might throw them off a little, but at least they had story time at the library to look forward to that afternoon. Jane could divert their attention until then.

  She ran around to the back of the house, not wanting to drag mud through the living room. And even though she knew it was ridiculous, there was no way she would bring an open umbrella into the house, so she stood under the awning to close the umbrella and lean it against the deck railing before slipping through the back door.

  Teo was in the kitchen making breakfast for all three girls.

  “Hi,” Jane said, surprised but not unpleasantly so. She rubbed her arms to warm them. It was the kind of weird summer morning when she could have used a sweatshirt.

  “Morning,” Teo said.

  “What’s up?” Jane asked.

  “My mom’s alarm didn’t go off, so no one woke up until my boss called to tell me that the pool would be closed for the morning.”

  “Am I late?”

  “Nah. It was one of those things where she was so frazzled she ended up being ready to go early, so she asked me to watch the girls for a few minutes until you got here. She was worried about traffic.”

  “Ah, okay,” Jane said. “Um, thanks for helping out. She could have called me to come over early. I feel bad if you have stuff to do.” She took the empty seat next to Teo and leaned her elbows on the table.

  “No, I’m cool.”

  “How about you guys?” she said to Keegan, Rory, and Piper. “You’re awfully quiet this morning.”

  “They’re not fully awake until they’ve had their Frosted Flakes,” Teo said to Jane in a stage whisper, bumping his shoulder against hers.

  Thunder rolled across the sky, and lightning crackled through the kitchen window. All five of them stared out the window. Every hair on Jane’s body stood on end. She could barely stop herself from running around the house, turning off all the electronics and unplugging anything that could possibly be unplugged.

  “You don’t like storms, right?” Teo asked, as if reading Jane’s mind.

  Jane made a face. “I kind of hate them.”

  “We’ll protect you,” Keegan said, getting out of her chair and coming over to pat Jane’s hand. Piper and Rory also stood up and hugged Jane from either side.

  “You guys aren’t scared?” Jane asked, trying not to outwardly quiver with each rumble of thunder.

  “Daddy said that the lightning is outside and can’t get us inside.”

  Jane didn’t tell them what a complete lie that was. She assumed Buck wasn’t trying to teach them proper lightning safety precautions and was probably just trying to calm their worries, but still. No wonder they weren’t freaked out. They had been lied to. Because what the lightning really wanted to do was fry their brains and burn their house down.

  Jane looked over at Teo, who rolled his eyes.

  “I miss Daddy,” Piper said.

  Rory stopped hugging Jane and went over to hug her twin. “He’ll be back soon, Pipe.”

  “I don’t want to break up this lovefest, but are you guys done eating?” Teo asked.

  “Yes,” Keegan said.

  “Lovefest,” Piper said, giggling, already cheered up from missing Buck.

  “I think you
all need to sit back down and take the same number of bites as your age,” Teo said.

  The girls listened obediently and took the required number of bites before leaving the table.

  The storm had passed for the time being, so Jane figured she should probably do her job and actually interact with the children in her care. “What are you guys going to do this morning?” Jane asked.

  “Play in the basement!” Piper said, throwing her fist in the air.

  “All right. I’ll be down after I help Teo clean up.”

  Keegan, Piper, and Rory marched downstairs, and Jane turned to Teo.

  “I’m really impressed with the bites thing. I’ll have to remember that one.”

  “Don’t be too impressed,” he said. “My mom does it with them. I have very little authority where they’re concerned.”

  “I wanted to thank you again for what happened with Ravi the other day. That was, like, the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me.” Jane winced. She hadn’t meant for that to come out quite so pathetically.

  “It’s cool. He’s kind of pissed at me.” Teo wasn’t looking at Jane, instead studying the insides of the cereal bowls that he was rinsing out before putting them in the dishwasher.

  “I’m sorry,” Jane said.

  “I’m not very good at, like, well, fighting with people.”

  “Ha. Yeah. I was kind of thinking the same thing.”

  Teo looked at her questioningly.

  “About me. I’m the worst at that stuff. My palms get all sweaty, and I never say what I want to say.”

  Teo smiled. “Yes! I’m so freaking bad at confrontation. I feel like a wimp. I never walk away feeling satisfied.”

  “Well, if you can’t feel satisfied for yourself, feel satisfied on my behalf.”

  Teo leaned his hip against the counter and turned to look at Jane. “For the record, I hold about as much authority over Ravi as I do over my sisters. He could still come back.”

  Jane shook her head. “Why, though? It’s so weird.”

  “I don’t know. Maybe he doesn’t get enough attention at home.”

  Loud screams that Jane and Teo could no longer ignore were coming from the basement.

  “I’m terrified that they’re going to want to bake brownies this morning. They were so passionate about it when I was being interviewed that I didn’t want to tell them I don’t actually bake. Ever.”

  Teo scratched his ear and smiled. “Quite the conundrum.”

  “It is. How am I going to entertain them all morning?” Jane asked as Teo followed her down the steps. “Not to mention that if another storm comes through, I might actually become paralyzed with fear.”

  “What do you normally do in the morning?”

  “Usually swimming tires them out until lunchtime, and then my job is basically to make sure they don’t fall asleep standing up.”

  They walked into the main area of the basement and saw that the girls had made a mess. An unbelievable mess, considering they’d been down there for only about five minutes.

  “All right,” Teo said. “We need to come up with some way to focus their energy. I have an idea, but it will require you to keep them down here for another half hour.”

  “I think I can handle it,” Jane said. “I hope I can handle it.”

  Teo patted her shoulder and ran up the stairs two at time. Jane turned to the girls, trying to ignore how warm her shoulder felt from Teo’s simple, and completely friendly, touch.

  “Teo is making a surprise for you upstairs,” Jane said.

  “Is it brownies?”

  “No,” Jane said. “But you have to help me clean up down here before we’re allowed to go upstairs.”

  The girls turned into whirling dervishes, picking things up and putting them back into their proper places. In no time the basement had returned to its organized state and Teo was coming down the basement stairs.

  “You guys ready for some fun?” he asked.

  “Yes!” all three girls yelled, jumping up and down.

  “Then come upstairs so I can present you with the Brand-New, Beautiful Buchanan Mini Golf Course!”

  The girls galloped up the stairs and into the kitchen, where Teo had laid out the first hole. He handed each of them a small plastic golf club and a Ping-Pong ball.

  The course was laid out through the entire house: up the steps from the kitchen, all through the second floor, and then down the steps into the living room. Teo had used all sorts of household items, and the girls went bananas for it. They were off and playing before Jane could even blink.

  “This is incredible, Teo,” Jane said. “I have no idea how I’m going to make this up to you. You keep doing these awesome things.”

  He shrugged. “It seemed like something they would be into.”

  “It’s brilliant.”

  Thunder rumbled closer again and Jane flinched. The girls didn’t even seem to notice this time.

  “You would have come up with something on your own.”

  Before Jane could respond, lightning flashed close to the house.

  “I think the only game I could have come up with this morning was ‘stay under your bed to hide from the storm.’ And that wouldn’t have been fun for anyone.”

  Teo smiled and squeezed her arm again. “Then it’s a very good thing that I was here.”

  The girls were still giggling and trying to get their Ping-Pong balls up the steps.

  “That’s gonna be a really tough hole,” Jane noted, trying to distract herself from the storm.

  “I’ll let them walk the balls up the stairs once they get tired of it. I needed to make sure there were enough challenges to keep them busy.”

  Jane looked over at him and felt a funny little swoop in her stomach. Teo was trying to stick his hands into pockets that he didn’t have. She grinned when he noticed her watching his awkwardness.

  “Oops,” he said, shrugging it off and blushing.

  They followed the girls along the course, and by the time they finished, the sun had come out. Teo’s boss called from the pool, and he had to go in to help open up.

  “At least it’ll be a shorter day than usual,” he said, smiling.

  “I like how cheerful you are.” It was a compliment Jane might have felt embarrassed to give someone else, but something about Teo made her want to acknowledge everything she liked about him.

  “Thanks,” he said, blushing and shrugging again. It was like he couldn’t stop shrugging around Jane.

  “I should make the girls some lunch and get them ready for library time,” she said. “And thanks again for helping this morning. You basically rescued me.”

  “It really wasn’t anything.”

  “No, but it was,” Jane said, looking him in the eye.

  He turned away a little. “Anytime,” he said. He waved over his shoulder and slipped out the back door.

  Jane gazed after him for a second, thinking about how she could show him her appreciation.

  Piper came over and pulled on Jane’s hand. “We’re hungry,” she said.

  Jane knelt down. “I know, buddy. How about you guys clean up the golf course and I’ll get lunch ready so we can go to story time?”

  “Okay,” Piper said, skipping off. “You guys, it’s time to clean up!”

  In the middle of story time, as Jane was sitting in a child-size chair reading People magazine, it hit her. She knew exactly how she could help Teo—she would find his dad for him.

  She was practically an Internet expert, thanks to all her fandom experience. You learn a lot of tricks about searching when you’re desperate for your next fan fiction fix. Particularly when the fan fiction you read is a little off center. She wasn’t a SuperWhoLock or something.

  Jane wanted to give Teo a hand. It was the least she could do, considering how much he had already helped with the girls—and it was barely two weeks into summer.

  This would be a great way to thank him.

  Chapter 8

  Jane spent the next
week trying to find hints and clues about Teo’s parentage somewhere in the house. She felt weird about snooping, but she told herself she wouldn’t dig too deep. She would just look around, superficially.

  But after several days of glancing into drawers and peeking in photo albums, she had to give in and take a look through the filing cabinet in the family office in the hope of finding Teo’s birth certificate. She needed confirmation of his dad’s name. There was no other choice in the matter. She comforted herself with the idea that birth certificates were public record, even though she had no clue whether that was true.

  It so happened that on Wednesday afternoon, the twins were out on a playdate and Keegan was playing happily by herself in the basement. Jane took the opportunity as it was presented to her.

  She tiptoed into the study under the pretext of running upstairs to get drinks for Keegan and herself. There was a tall filing cabinet in there that Jane hoped would hold the answers she was looking for.

  She pulled open the top drawer and was relieved to find that the Garcia-Buchanans were the kind of family who labeled their files. Some of the folders were labeled in Buck’s handwriting and some in Connie’s. She focused on the latter but still ended up having to go through every drawer to find what she was looking for.

  Of course, the drawers were the loudest, squeakiest drawers on earth, and she was already imagining the made-for-TV movie that would be made about her: Telltale Filing Cabinet: The Jane Connelly Story. She needed to be quieter or Keegan would come to investigate.

  In the bottom drawer she hit the jackpot. There was Teo’s birth certificate.

  Jose Rodriguez, it read on the line for father’s name. Jane wondered for a second whether it was a fake name. She made sure to note the hospital where Teo was born, then slid the drawer closed. She ran back downstairs and was out of breath when she threw herself onto the sectional sofa.

  Keegan looked over at her from where she had set up a hair salon for all of the girls’ dolls. “Where are our drinks?” she asked.

  “Oh, duh,” Jane said, still breathless. “I forgot.”

  “What were you doing up there?”

  “I was texting my friend.”