charge, which was yet another new and unwelcome realization for a woman who had been wrapping people around her pinky finger since before she could even walk.
“I wanna swim,” Melissa said to her one afternoon in the second week.
Carlyne looked at the little girl, who’d stripped out of her clothes and was standing there naked as the day she was born, an angelic smile on her face. “How about a bath?”
“No bath,” Melissa said firmly. “Pool.”
“No pool. Bath.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“No,” Carly repeated after the petulant girl.
“Yes.” Melissa stopped short, then frowned.
Carlyne had no intention of getting in the water. Too dangerous. Sean had been gone every day, all day, in fact, but she couldn’t bank on it. With Sean, she could bank on nothing.
“But I swim good!” Melissa insisted, her chin jutting stubbornly into the air.
Well, actually, that made two of them. At home Carlyne had a case of gold medals and trophies. Big whoop- de-do. “Go get clean clothes, I’ll start the tub.”
Melissa just sent her that same angelic smile, which upon reflection should have been Carlyne’s warning. But happily clueless, she went into the bathroom to start the water.
The little girl didn’t appear. “Melissa?” She wasn’t in her bedroom. Or the kitchen. Or the living room.
“Oh, my God!” At a full run, Carlyne hit the back yard, and sure enough, there was that little blond head bobbing in the pool. Without another thought, Carlyne dove in.
By the time she reached Melissa, her heart was pumping so loud she couldn’t hear a thing over the roar of her blood. Scooping the little girl up, she clutched her close to her chest and swam for the side.
Melissa grinned. “See? Told you I could swim.” Struggling out of Carlyne’s arms, she slipped out of the pool and danced excitedly on the concrete. “I could have stayed under longer, but you swim fast.”
Carlyne, champion swimmer, could hardly pull herself out of the water because her knees were shaking so violently.
“Why is your hair crooked?” Melissa asked, staring at her with fascination. “And your face…it’s melting.” She tipped her head to the side. “How come?”
Because she had on thick foundation, which felt like papier-mache on her skin. She dragged herself up, held her wig on her head with one hand and pointed toward the house. “Go.”
“But-”
“Go. Dry. Off.”
At the unaccustomed sharpness of Carly’s voice, Melissa blinked in stunned surprise. Then, predictably, her bottom lip started the quiver. “You mad at me?”
Carlyne sighed. She’d lost her glasses in the pool. She’d have to go after them. Her clothes were clinging to her body, and if she wasn’t mistaken, one contact lens had slipped. But none of this was Melissa’s fault. She certainly hadn’t asked for her mother to leave the country or to be left with a commitment-challenged uncle. Or stuck in the care of a runaway princess pretending to be a nanny.
Melissa’s eyes filled. “Sorry.”
“Oh, honey.” Carlyne sagged with exhaustion. “
Not that he’d been home before ten o’clock at night all week, but that wasn’t Melissa’s fault, either.
Turning to usher Melissa in the house, she stopped short.
Over the fence appeared Mrs. Trykowski’s face. She was clearly standing on something, clinging to the wood, watching them. Spying. When she saw Carlyne’s horrified expression, the woman smiled and waved. “Hellooo!”
Carlyne held her wig and tried not to think about the makeup running in rivulets down her face. Had that been an I-know-who-you-are hello? Or a hey-I-just-love-to-spy-on-my-neighbor wave?
God only knew.
Heart in her throat, Carlyne managed a weak wave and vanished into the house, certain her cover was blown.
No matter. Her two weeks were nearly up, anyway. She’d known it would have to end.
She just hadn’t known how very much she wouldn’t want it to.
NOBODY WAS MORE surprised than Sean when Mrs. Trykowski called him at the office. He transferred the woman to the speakerphone because he and Nikki were hands deep in the piles behind his desk, looking for a missing blueprint.
“Just wanted to tell you everything is going great at the house,” Mrs. Trykowski said, as if she called him every day to check in.
Sean exchanged a puzzled look with Nikki and let out a little laugh. “Good. Okay. Well…thank you.”
“Aren’t you going to ask me details?”
“Details?”
“Sure, as in what Melissa is up to.”
“Well…”
“And let’s not forget your live-in.”
“The nanny,” Sean corrected.
“Whatever you kids call it these days,” she said with a secret smile in her voice.
Nikki looked at Sean speculatively.
Sean shook his head. “Listen, Mrs. Trykowski, I’m really busy here, and-”
“They’re having a ball, you know. Laughing, giggling, playing… So, when are you going to marry her?”
“Marry-” He nearly choked. “Now just back the truck up.”
Nikki, familiar with Sean’s past and his lack of inclination to go for another relationship, grinned widely.
“She’s really just the nanny,” Sean said weakly.
“Uh-huh,” Mrs. Trykowski said kindly. “And I just had mind-blowing, head-banging, screaming sex last night.”
“Mrs. Trykowski!”
“Well, honestly, Sean O’Mara. That woman you have in your house, she’s the one to make it shine for you, she could fill it with love and laughter-”
“That woman could really turn your place into a home. She’s no simple nanny, and you know it. Now what I want to know is, what are you going to do about it?”
“Well, I-”
“Oh for heaven’s sake.” A disgusted sigh came over the line. “Don’t tell me you’re going to be a male about this. Figures.” Another loud huff of breath. “Then don’t ask me to tell you what they’re up to again, you big, silly fool.” And she hung up on him.
“I didn’t ask you in the first place,” he muttered.
“Interesting.” Nikki was looking at him in a new light. “You and the nanny, huh?”
“Stop it.” But he had to admit, Mrs. T had spiked his curiosity. What were they doing? “Look, I’m going,” he said, picking up his keys.
Nikki’s mouth fell open. “As in…going to your house?”
“Where else?”
“But it’s the middle of the day.”
“Yep.” He grabbed his briefcase, then stopped, looking at it. “No work tonight,” he decided, tossing it onto his desk.
“You’ve never left in the middle of the day before.” She watched him walk to the door. “Don’t forget to invite me to the wedding.”
