Page 21 of Numbers Boy (Working Boys #2)

“I’ll do my best to run between the raindrops,” he teases, causing Lilly to giggle again.

Then he’s out the door, leaving me with his nieces.

Fortunately, they both seem content to keep puzzling.

I want to find a way to start up a conversation, but I also don’t want to push if they’re okay like this.

We’ve got the entire outline and a good chunk of the next few layers put together before anyone says anything.

“Can I ask you a question?” Isabella asks softly, not quite meeting my eye again.

“Always,” I reply. “What’s up?”

She exchanges a look with her sister, and all of a sudden, I’m wondering if I should’ve been more cautious in my agreement.

“What are the dresses in your spare bedroom closet?”

Oh.

If you had asked me to come up with fifty things I thought she might say, I doubt that would have made the list.

“Uh, those are my drag outfits. I wear them when I perform,” I say, deciding there’s no reason not to be truthful about it. But I am curious. “When did you see those?”

“When we had to come here because Mom had a work emergency when you were gone for the weekend. Stacy ran in there because the door was cracked open, so Lil and I went in after her. Sorry if we weren’t supposed to.” Isabella’s voice starts strong, but by the end, she’s speaking in a rush.

I try to decide how I feel about this. If the girls saw them, chances are Noah did, too.

Surprisingly, I’m not worried about it like I thought I would be.

Besides, I never said that room was off-limits, to either Stacy or anyone else.

But no matter how I feel about Noah knowing, I don’t want Isabella to think I’m mad at her.

“That’s okay, honey. It’s just a few dresses.”

“They’re really pretty,” Lilly says, her face split in a grin. “Just like you.”

My cheeks heat from the compliment, and I playfully nudge her with my shoulder. “Thanks, baby girl. I think you’re really pretty, too.” I look over at Isabella and smile softly. “Isabella, too.”

She rolls her eyes, her focus firmly on Stacy, but I see a small twitch of her lips.

“Do you girls want to go look at the dresses?” I offer, seizing the chance to finally break the ice for good. “I’m kinda bored of puzzles.”

“Really?” Lilly asks with wide eyes.

“Could we maybe do makeup, too?” Isabella adds with a tentatively hopeful look.

“We can for sure look at it, but I should text your mom before I go putting anything on your faces.”

Not waiting for me, the girls scamper off toward my bathroom.

Stacy follows eagerly, clearly sensing their excitement, and I bring up the rear at a more sedate pace.

A smile tugs at my lips when I hear them talking and giggling with each other as I pull out my phone and send a quick message to Amy.

I figure I can stall for time by doing hair first since she probably won’t be able to check her phone right away at work.

Me: Hey Amy, it’s Steve. Noah gave me your number just in case.

I’m surprised when she texts back only a few minutes later, just as I’m setting out all of my hair tools and accessories.

Amy: Hi Steve, you caught me right at my break time! How’s it going with my (hopefully) little cherubs? *angel emoji* *fingers crossed emoji*

Oh, I’m going to like this woman, I can already tell.

Me: Things are good! The girls are awesome *heart emoji*

Me: I just wanted to check in with you since they asked if we could do hair and makeup.

Amy: That sounds super fun!

Amy: But can you try to keep things light and positive? I get the feeling Isabella’s been hearing comments at school. Yay, middle school! *eye roll emoji*

Me: For sure!

Amy: Thanks! Let me know how it goes

Me: Will do. I hope work goes smooth

I lock my phone screen and set it down on the vanity before turning to the girls.

“Good news, girlies! Your mom is on board, so let’s get this party started!

” I grab my phone again to pull up Spotify and search “Let’s Get It Started.

” At the last second, the Kidz Bop version catches my eye, and I click on that instead of the original.

Just like before, I’m not sure exactly what is considered inappropriate.

Plus, sometimes the covers are so bad they’re funny.

Then I grab a brush and wave it around. “Who’s up first? ”

Both girls immediately raise their hands, making me laugh.

“Alright, ladies, let’s do this.” I position Lilly directly in front of the sink, facing the mirror, and steer Isabella behind her. I stand behind both of them. “Hair train. We can always switch in a little bit.”

As we get started, the girls are soon talking about school and friends and other random things.

For the most part, I just listen, trying to get a feel for what’s important to them.

At one point, I look up and see a perfect set of french braids in Lilly’s hair.

It’s adorable on her and highlights her sweet, open face.

“That’s awesome, Isabella. Do you girls do each other’s hair often?”

Isabella just shrugs, careful not to disrupt where I’m curling some of her own locks. “Usually, we play with Uncle Blake’s hair. He’s got longer hair than either of us, so it’s great to try different things on.”

“That’s awesome,” I reply, and I mean it. “Blake is really important to you and your uncle, huh?”

That gets them both going again, telling me all about Blake and sharing stories of him and Noah.

My heart warms at how they talk about the two guys with so much love I can practically see it radiating off them.

The closeness they describe between Noah and Blake reminds me a bit of me and Stu, and it gives me hope that Noah won’t be put off by our twinsies moments.

With everything I learned about Blake, I really hope to meet him soon.

I think, other than all the girls, he’ll be the biggest influence on whether Noah and I work out.

Just as Lilly is recounting the time that Noah and Blake dressed up as peanut butter and jelly for Halloween one year, the Kidz Bop version of Avril Lavigne’s “Complicated” comes on over the speaker. In the mirror, I catch Isabella rolling her eyes, a grin on her face.

“Problem with my DJ skills?” I joke, winking at her in our reflection.

“Just because we’re kids doesn’t mean we have to listen to this kind of music. We’ve both heard the real versions and worse songs than whatever this is.”

I just shrug and move on to pinning up the curls I’ve made, not wanting to make a big deal of it. “Well, when you can have fun without the swearing and all that other stuff, you can have fun with anything. You girls are fun enough on your own.”

“You sound like my mom,” Isabella whines, and I kind of love that she’s letting herself be sassy.

I hope that it means she’s comfortable with me.

She puts on what must be her mom voice. “ You’re wonderful just as you are, sweetie.

You don’t need to try and impress anyone, you’re impressive enough just being yourself. ”

“I mean, she’s not wrong.” I busy myself with cleaning up the hair stuff, thinking maybe she’ll be more likely to not tune me out or shut down if it feels like I’m not forcing it. “You are pretty great. Now, are we ready for makeup?”

The distraction seems to work, and I get to work on Lilly’s face since Isabella is already getting set up with things in her own little space on the vanity. Soon, Lilly’s got a light layer foundation on, pink lip gloss smeared on her lips, and plenty of glitter on her cheeks.

“Alright,” I say, brushing off my hands to clear some of the excess glitter.

“Now for eyeshadow. Let’s make those beautiful brown eyes pop!

” Lilly looks excited, just like she has for every other step in our makeovers, but Isabella rolls said eyes.

Ooo-kay, looks like this is a delicate situation.

Instead of addressing it outright, I decide to focus on Lilly.

“Are we going pinks and purples or gold, Lil?”

“Purple!” she says enthusiastically, and I get started.

“This looks gorgeous on you. I love how warm your eyes are, just like your sister’s.”

My stomach flutters as I think of another person with those Baxter brown eyes. But now isn’t the time to think about Noah. About his warm, whiskey eyes and how they make me feel intoxicated. From the corner of my vision, I see Isabella tilt her head as she looks at her eyes in the mirror.

“You really like them?” she asks dubiously.

“I really do.” I think of a way to describe them that she might understand. “They remind me a little bit of brown sugar. Or maybe gingerbread. Spicy and sweet all at once.”

“Huh,” is all she says to that. But when she catches my eye, there’s a spark of something fierce where there wasn’t before.

“I like gingerbread,” Lilly pipes up, and I turn my gaze to her.

“Me too, girly. Now, are you two ready to help me?”

They immediately take over, making me sit down on one of the chairs we dragged in here and telling me to turn away from the mirror so the end result is a surprise.

While they work, they pepper me with questions about how I started doing makeup and what my favorite dress is. I tell them all about using colors to make me feel pretty and how it’s hard to choose just one dress because they all have different memories in them.

“Why don’t you cover up your freckles more?

” Isabella asks when I say they can skip the foundation and concealer, pure curiosity in her voice.

I glance up to find her looking at her own reflection, eyes tracing over the darker spots dusted over the bridge of her nose.

Based on my own experience, I’m assuming this is one of the things she’s heard comments about from kids at school.

Unlike with her eyes, I can easily relate to this one.

Maybe I can help frame it in a different light for her.

“You mean my skin confetti?” I reply, keeping my tone light. “I used to. Back when I was around people who didn’t like how they looked. But then I realized that I like them. They’re unique to me and make my skin interesting.”

Isabella looks intrigued, and Lilly is now looking for the freckles on her face, too, leaning close to the mirror.

“I’ve never heard them called that before. I like that.” Bingo. Reframe for the win. Now for some empowerment through humor.

“Besides,” I continue, picking up a tube of bright pink lip gloss, “you know who else has spots? Mother flippin’ leopards. And don’t you dare tell me leopards aren’t baddies.”

Both girls giggle, and they get back to adding color to my face.

As they do, talk turns to school again and things they’re looking forward to.

Lilly is excited about the science fair being held in a few months, and Isabella mentions getting to choose whether to join choir next fall but is worried about what the other girls are going to do.

I know I’ve already put my two cents in multiple times over, but Amy did say she was worried about how Isabella’s doing at school.

I decide to have one more Life Lessons with Steve moment.

“It’s okay to like things, you know that, right?

If girls are going to be mean to you anyways, do you want them to be mean to you over something you don’t even enjoy or get to enjoy your life no matter what other people think?

” As I’m saying it, I realize I’ve been worried about the same thing when it comes to my drag.

Well, shit, I should probably take my own advice.

Even with all of the times Noah and I have hung out, and even fooled around, I still haven’t brought up Eve because I’ve been worried about what he might think.

I hold up a finger, mind reeling. “Hold on, girly pops. I think I’m having an epiphany. ”

“Uh… do we need to call an ambulance?” Isabella asks. When I glance at her in surprise, she gives me a wicked grin, all worries about school momentarily forgotten. “You know, for the epiphany you’re experiencing.”

“Alright, smart Alec.” I roll my eyes and make a shooing motion. I guess my grand personal revelations will have to wait. “Into the living room with you. It’s time for a dance party.”