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I turned on him, too. “Everywhere? Are you serious? I didn’t sign up for potty pervs!”
Joe’s face darkened. “Not everywhere, okay!”
Forgetting everything else, I put my hands on my hips and felt a sting a second after hearing glass shatter at my feet. I’d even forgotten the dish I was supposedly washing. It was ruined and a piece of the glass must’ve flew up to scratch me because my calf was bleeding.
David gasped and magically had a broom in his hands right away. “Don’t move, Ada. Let me sweep this up before you hurt yourself even more.”
“Dad! You made Ada hurt herself!” Kendall leaned on the counter to try to look at my leg. “Are you okay?”
I pressed my hand to my mouth and gagged. Turning to face the sink, I leaned over and vomited all over the dishes David had already washed. I held up my hands to try not to let anyone see but I wasn’t much use while still dry-heaving every few seconds. “Blo- Blood. Can’t…see…blood.”
The twins started dry-heaving where they were across from me. Milo started crying at his top volume. Kendall was chastising her dad for trying to kill me, her word, not mine. David had switched to Italian as he swept up glass and I was pretty sure he was swearing at me for ruining his life.
“Goddammit.” Joe growled out the swear like he wanted to strangle me but the moment the glass was out of the way, he was next to me, scooping me into his arms. “If you throw up on me, I’m firing you.”
I glanced down and saw the blood oozing down my leg and threw up all over Joe’s chest. I expected him to toss me on the ground but instead he just groaned and carried me out of the kitchen.
Just before the chaos in the kitchen faded, I heard Jud’s rough voice. “She’s definitely livened shit up around here.”
19
***Joe***
IcarriedAdaintoone of the hallway bathrooms and put her down on the bathroom counter before ripping my ruined shirt over my head. I fought the urge to throw up myself and grabbed a few towels. One of them I shoved over Ada’s face. The idea of smothering her barely even crossed my mind. “Do not look at your fucking leg again.”
She tipped her head back and held the towel over her face like it was a lifeline. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to throw up on you. I can’t handle bl0-”
I growled as she gagged at even saying the word. “Don’t you dare, Ada. Don’t even say the word. Just sit there and think about what job you’re going to get after I fire your ass.”
My threat didn’t seem to faze her. “Thisisyour fault, a little bit, Joe.”
I froze as my fingers brushed over the first-aid kit tucked away under the sink. “Are you serious?”
“You said that stuff about the cameras and I panicked. I wouldn’t have dropped the glass if you hadn’t said that.” She sighed. “So, yeah, it’s your fault.”
I slammed open the kit and grabbed a handful of alcohol wipes. Ripping several of them open, I dragged them up her leg and over her cut, only softening my pressure when I got to the cut. She hissed and jerked away from me, but it only resulted in her smacking me across the face with the hand not holding the towel over her face. I growled and gripped her wrist, but she’d already gone still.
“I just hit you, didn’t I?”
“Yep.”
The towel didn’t cover her mouth and I watched as her lips turned down and stuck out in a pout. “Oopsie.”
I took a deep breath and counted to ten. “Do me a favor, Ada.”
“Yeah?”
“Sit still and don’t talk. I’m going to put a bandaid on this for you and then I’m going to get as far away from you as I can. Got it?” I waited a second for her answer and saw that pout turn up at the edges. She was laughing at me. “What?”
“You said don’t talk and then you asked me a question. Make up your mind.” She let out a little laugh and then smiled at me with the towel still over her face. “Sorry. I got it.”
I didn’t understand how she was the same woman who’d just vomited multiple times. Her smile was pure happiness. It made no sense. I’d been married to Kendall’s mother for almost fifteen years before we divorced and I’d never seen her smile like Ada was after the shitshow in the kitchen.
I didn’t like things I couldn’t make sense of. For the thousandth time since she’d shown up, I told myself that we needed to fire her. She was a loose cannon. Shehadmessed with my closet and she’d already rubbed off on Kendall. I’d been shocked to see my daughter sneaking around the kitchen while David stepped away for not even thirty seconds. She was messing with us, too. Ada was a bad influence and a nuisance.
Kneeling in front of her, I used a cotton swab to cover her cut with antibiotic cream before covering it with a Band-Aid. The fact that I’d had to make myself reach for the plain Band-Aids instead of the colorful ones Sara stocked for the kids annoyed me even more than Ada did. She wasn’t special. She didn’t need special Band-Aids.
“Go easy on Kendall.” Ada’s voice was oddly quiet. “If you do see anything on your creepy potty cams, I mean.”
