“It’s absolutely a live-in position,” I said. Unfortunately, that wasn’t negotiable. “I have to travel sometimes and have meetings at odd hours with international clients.”
She really did look like she might cry, and I had the overwhelming urge to reformulate my entire life to suit her. I kept my lips clamped shut because our time without a nanny had shown me how impossibly difficult it was.
“It’s just that I have Freddy,” she said. Freddy? Oh, right. That damn dog. That damn scruffy dog. “We’re kind of a package deal.”
Ava and Harrison tumbled in from the hallway where they’d been spying. “Take the package, Dad,” Harrison said, with a look of raw desperation on his face.
“Daddy, take the package,” Ava shouted, turning red.
Bailey waved her hands at them. “Kids, let your father think, okay?”
They stopped flapping and clawing at me. Ava let her breath out slowly, returning to a normal hue. They stood there, blinking at me hopefully. Well, damn. If this kind of good behavior was what I had to look forward to…
“As long as I never have to deal with it,” I said. “I don’t want to see it or hear it.”
“Of course,” she primly agreed, with a look that said she wouldn’t have it any other way. I almost felt unworthy of taking the little mop for a walk.
“Then it’s a deal,” I said.
The noise was deafening. I almost feared I’d need to call the pediatrician for a sedative, Ava was so worked up with excitement. “Get out,” I hollered. “We still have some things to discuss.” I still had to drop the vacation bomb. They hugged my legs and left, skipping and holding hands like children from a fairy tale. And not the gruesome kind, for once.
“Listen,” I said to her when they were gone. “There’s one more thing, and you’re not obligated, but I’d be so appreciative if you could arrange it at such short notice.” It was the only way we’d get to go, but I couldn’t lay that on her. One guilty person per household, maximum. She nodded warily for me to continue. “We were going to go to Mexico in a few days. One of my magazines is reviewing a new resort. Is that possible? The dog can go, too,” I added. There was a short burst of glee from out in the hall, and I rolled my eyes.
Bailey’s slow smile was like a punch in the gut, but in a good way, if that was even possible. “I’d love to go to Mexico,” she said. “I have a passport, but I’ve never had a chance to use it yet.”
It took all my willpower not to hug her. Fortunately, the kids ran in and did it for me, and I stood there watching them. My kids looked happy. Ava almost didn’t look like herself, and it shook me to the core that her little face normally carried so much stress, I barely recognized her when she was laughing and smiling.
I flatly refused the guilt when it tried to attack me. My kids were happy. We were going to get our vacation. There was absolutely nothing to feel bad about. I watched them dance around, trying my hardest not to notice how pretty Bailey was.
Chapter 4 - Bailey
“There’s no way you can do that,” Harrison said from his seat on his dad’s company plane.
I’d never been on a private jet before so had nothing to compare it to, but it seemed pretty luxurious. Maybe I shouldn’t have done it, but I Googled the family, and it turned out Will’s wife and father had died in a plane crash about two years before, leaving him and his two brothers in charge of their family publishing company. Now that I knew how he lost his wife, I kept a close eye on him during takeoff and kept sneaking peeks at him, but he had his face in his laptop the whole trip and, if he was stressed, he didn’t show it. I turned my attention to my two charges.
“I totally can,” I assured them. “I can do a handstand underwater, and I can do a cannonball.”
“Anyone can do a cannonball,” Harrison said. “But will you show me how to do the handstand?”
“Not everyone can do a cannonball,” Ava argued, looking pretty miffed. She frequently had little bursts of anger that she mostly took out on her brother, but I’ve been working on redirecting her.
“Ava’s a big scaredy baby about the water,” Harrison informed me.
I reached over and took Ava’s hand as she turned purple. “There’s nothing wrong with having a healthy fear of the water. That’s what floaties are for.”
“Yeah, Harrison.” She stuck out her tongue, but we were about to land, so I let it go, offering Harrison a commiserating look so he’d take the high road.
Besides some slight bickering, the last three days working for Will were a dream. I couldn’t have asked for a better place to live, and the kids were tightly scheduled so a good part of my day was just driving them to their activities then hanging around waiting until it was time to take them home. I really couldn’t believe my good luck when I learned about this trip. I was certain I’d seen one of Rick’s goons lurking around the shelter the morning I went to Will’s apartment for the final interview. Not only am I out of that place, but good luck to Rick and his cronies being able to find me in Mexico.
I put Freddy in his crate down by my feet when the steward came around to collect our glasses and tell us to buckle up. I glanced over at Will to make sure he was all right, and he smiled at me tiredly as he snapped his laptop shut and buckled in. If he had any trauma, he hid it well. What he didn’t hide that well was his sadness. There were family pictures in the playroom and their wedding photo was still on the mantel in the living room and, of course, he still wore his wedding ring. I rarely saw him because the minute I moved in, he went to work. Apparently, they’d been without a nanny for a while, and he was struggling to do everything himself. Even though he worked all hours of the day and night, he always came home every evening and had dinner with the kids, then played with them for about an hour before bed, then he’d leave the apartment again to go back to the office.
A limo picked us up at the airfield and I watched the scenery go by through the tinted windows, still not quite able to believe what a turn my life had taken. I was in Mexico, heading to a glamorous retreat, about to spend the next few days swimming and playing on the beach. How could this work? The kids were playing rock, paper, scissors to see who got to pick the first activity, and when Ava lost, I told her it hardly mattered, since we’d certainly have time to do everything we wanted.
“That’s right,” Will agreed, catching my eye over their heads.
The way he smiled at me made my heart skip a beat, especially as close as he was. I smiled back, about to tell him how grateful I was, but the way his eyes locked with mine stole my ability to say a word. The highly air conditioned car suddenly seemed much too warm, and I dragged my focus back to the passing scenery. He was my boss, and it was only going to end badly for me if I developed a huge, idiotic crush on him.
The resort Will would be reviewing for his magazine was breathtakingly gorgeous. There were flowers everywhere, white stone fountains, and lush greenery all along breezy walkways to the individual casas that lined the beach. The one we checked into had a massive common area, a patio with a little splash pool, and a spectacular view of the sea. The master bedroom was off to one side, and on the other side of the common area, there was a smaller bedroom for the kids that connected to my room. I couldn’t believe I had a private patio that led to a small garden, which would be perfect for Freddy’s needs. He was eager to be free of his travel crate, and Ava showed him around the garden while I brushed my hair and splashed some water on my face. I told her to make sure all the doors were closed when she was done playing with him, so he wouldn’t get out and annoy Will. I wandered out to the common area, still in a bit of a daze that I was even there.