“No, you’re not,” agreed Rafe. “Don’t let her fool you, Doc. Camryn Paradise is no pitiful Little Orphan Annie. Vampira is closer to the mark.”
“What I am is a wild, in-your-face-brat with a bad attitude,” Camryn proclaimed. “Right, Rafe?”
“So we’ve been told.” Rafe sucked in his cheeks. “Some have claimed you’re the most monstrous brat ever to set foot in the city of Sioux Falls—or maybe the entire state of South Dakota.”
“That’s exactly what my history teacher said and the music teacher agreed!” Camryn was gleeful. “And how about my French teacher?”
“Let’s not get into that.” Rafe remembered the scene with the French teacher. It had gotten ugly; Camryn would not be taking French when she started her senior year the day after Labor Day, just a few weeks away.
“Aren’t you scared I live next door to you, Dr. Nutburger? You should be! You better not try to trick me into any stealth therapy because I’m capable of anything!” boasted Camryn.
Rafe tried to remember who’d made that last quote—“The little fiend is capable of anything!” The outraged home ec teacher? The hostile volleyball coach? Everybody in Riverview High had something to say about Camryn. None of it good.
“I’m not afraid of you and I wasn’t trying to trick you in any way, Camryn.” Holly remained unruffled. “But I am curious as to why both you and your brother are so opposed to the idea of any kind of—”
“Family therapy?” Camryn interjected. She made it sound as appealing as imbibing rat poison.
“So you’re familiar with the concept,” said Holly. “I wish it had been presented to you as a positive aid instead of a negative threat.”
“Forget it, Dr. Headshrinker. I won’t talk to you.”
“Nobody in the Paradise family has ever gone to a psychiatrist,” Rafe added.
“Watch out, Rafe, there are sooo many comebacks to that one!” Camryn was suddenly all smiles again. “She could really zing us good.”
Holly wondered if the duo realized they were both on the same side; she doubted that occurred very often. Unfortunately, they were allied against her and her profession. Still, she was accustomed to looking for strengths to work with and for the first time she saw a bond, however tenuous, between Rafe and his little sister. The insight cheered her.
“Too easy. I think I’ll pass.” Holly grinned.
Rafe found himself staring at her again. When Holly Casale turned on the full force of her smile, her whole face lit up and she was downright irresistible. He swallowed. Incredibly enough, he was starting to get turned on all over again, simply standing there gazing at her.
“Well, I’m not going to help you unpack your car, Dr. Head-case,” announced Camryn. “I have other plans.”
Rafe wondered if he should demand that she stay and help. He hadn’t heard of any plans she’d made for this afternoon—not that he was ever consulted first by either girl. Their modus operandi was to do what they pleased, hope they didn’t get caught, and show no remorse if they did.
His eyes met Holly’s, and he knew that she knew he was totally at a loss in dealing with his young half sisters. Part of him was angry, the other part relieved. He needed help but was loath to seek it, wasn’t sure how and where to look. He guessed that Holly probably knew all that, too.
They both watched Camryn stroll back into Rafe’s side of the condo.
“Don’t say a word,” warned Rafe.
“Who me? I wouldn’t dream of it I already promised I don’t troll for prospective patients.”
“Even though you think we’re a prime collection of basket cases.”
“I don’t think that at all, I just—”
“Uh-oh, this is awful heavy!” Kaylin called from the car. She had managed to get Holly’s television set out of the back seat and stood holding it—while tottering precariously.
“Kaylin, put that down!” commanded Rafe. “It’s too heavy for you to carry. I’ll get it.”
“Okay.” Kaylin panted. She swayed backward, rendered off balance by the television’s weight, then leaned forward in an attempt to put it down.
Holly and Rafe were both watching at the crucial split second when Kaylin’s arm strength completely gave out.
The television set crashed onto the cement driveway.
Three
Kaylin burst into tears. “I’m sorry! I didn’t do it on purpose! It just fell!”
Rafe picked up the set, which had hit at an angle and then bounced to a facedown landing. The double impact caused the screen to shatter and the back console to split open. Inside parts began to spill out.
“Looks like a gutted trout,” he observed grimly.
“Stupid piece of junk!” wailed Kaylin. When Rafe placed the wrecked set upright on the ground, she gave it a furious kick, inflicting even more damage, though it was already plainly irreparable. “It only fell a little way and it broke into a zillion pieces!” She kicked it again. “Crummy old trash!”
“I’m inclined to agree with you.” Holly calmly surveyed the wreckage. “They obviously don’t make these things good and sturdy like they used to.”
Kaylin stopped crying and caught her breath. “Yeah,” she agreed, her voice tremulous. “If it was good and sturdy, it wouldn’t be so smashed.”
“It wouldn’t be so smashed if you hadn’t dropped it,” Rafe noted pointedly. “For crying out loud, Kaylin, you—”
“You’re mad at me! You hate me!” Kaylin screamed. “You’re going to send me away!” She raced to her own front door and disappeared inside.
Rafe and Holly stood in silence.
“I’m going to take a wild guess that Trent co-opted those heartrending lines from Kaylin,” Holly said dryly. “Both seem to share a penchant for highly dramatic exits.”
“They all do. And I honestly don’t know what to say, Holly.” Rafe jammed his hands into his pockets and stared glumly from the smashed television set to the smashed window of her condo. “An apology is hardly adequate, but I am terribly sorry that the kids—”
“Rafe, you don’t have to apologize. It’s okay. The set was ancient, it was on its last legs, anyway. I have a better one, a newer model, that’ll be arriving on the moving truck. Really, it’s no big deal.”
“It is a big deal,” Rafe countered. “Don’t try to minimalize what’s happened, Holly. Things started going wrong from the moment you arrived here—thanks to us, your hellacious next-door neighbors.”
Silently, dispiritedly, he ran down the list: Trent and Kaylin breaking her things, Camryn insulting her and her taste in music. And of course, both he and Camryn had heartily disparaged her chosen profession. Mustn’t leave that out, he reminded himself.
He shook his head. “You must be ready to—”
“I’m not about to run away screaming,” Holly assured him. He looked miserable, and compassion swept through her. “But I am ready to take a break from unpacking and I would love something cold to drink.” She gave him her most winning smile, inviting him to make her an offer.
“I’d ask you over but you probably feel like you’d be taking your life in your hands if you dare to step inside my place.” Rafe was morose. “And if the possibility of something crashing down on you or into you doesn’t scare you, the threat of being in the company of an ogre like