Nanny Needed

by Cara Colter

  “She is cute. And five-year-olds’ lives are much less complicated than teenagers’. But she’s not my daughter. You are. And a daughter isn’t something a mother can just give up or trade in for another one. No one takes the place of your own daughter, and you’re mine. You always will be.”

  Andie took a breath. It came out like a long shudder. She had no bravado left and was as raw and vulnerable as a person could be.

  She’d hated seeing her mother with that man and his little girl, and it was even worse seeing her father with Barbie, having Barbie here in this house and now forcing Andie out of this house.

  This house!

  Her house!

  She’d known it would come down to this, eventually. Her father had to make a choice, and he chose Barbie.

  Which left Andie with no one.

  “You think about what you want now,” her mother said. “And if you want to stay and finish school here but not to be with me, we’ll … I don’t know what we’ll do, but we’ll work something out. Maybe one of your friends’ parents—someone I know and trust—will let you live with them for the year.”

  “Pawning me off on a friend’s parents now? That’s great!”

  “No, I am not trying to get rid of you. I would never do that. I just didn’t think you’d want to be with me—”

  “I didn’t say I would,” Andie insisted, and maybe it was still true.

  She didn’t know anymore.

  She’d never expected to walk into a conversation like that. Her mother defending her that way, giving her father hell about the way he was treating her and even telling him he needed to stay because that’s what Andie wanted. Even if it went against what Andie thought her mother wanted.

  “Okay, you just take some time and think about what you want. If it’s to stay with a friend, we’ll find someone. We’ll make it work so you can have this last year of school here,” her mother said, showing a patience and a kindness Andie hadn’t expected from her. “And if that doesn’t work out, there’s the little apartment I’ve been living in above Simon’s garage. You’d be close to all your friends here in this neighborhood. I don’t think you’re old enough to live on your own completely, but if you wanted to, you could live there and I’ll … go somewhere else.”

  Andie just looked at her, having trouble believing that offer.

  “We’d have to have rules, about a curfew and things like that,” her mother said. “And I’d be right there, working at least every day, and Simon has a live-in housekeeper who’s always there. So you wouldn’t be alone, but you wouldn’t exactly be living with me, either.”

  “You really live above his garage? I was sure you were living with him.”

  “No. I’m not. I’m …” Audrey sighed, trying to sort out her feelings. “I don’t know what’s going to happen with us. But he knows how important you are to me, and he’s already told me he’d do anything he could to help me get you back. If I asked him, I think he’d let you live there.”

  “But I thought you couldn’t wait to force me to live with you again,” Andie said, swiping away tears.

  “I want you to be with me, but I can’t force you to, just like I can’t force you to forgive me. Your forgiveness is something only you can give, Andie. I just wanted to be close and to have a chance with you again. And maybe be able to have a halfway peaceful conversation with you now and then.”

  Which didn’t sound nearly as awful as it had felt to Andie at first.

  Still, a chance?

  Could she give her mother another chance?

  “Now, don’t mistake me. If your father’s gone and I’m the one here with you, that doesn’t mean you can just do anything you want. I’m going to have to approve of where you are and what time you come home, make sure you’re in school and doing well. That’s a mother’s job, and I’m going to do that, whether you’re mad at me or not. But you don’t have to live with me. I think we can come up with some kind of compromise that we can both accept.”

  Andie had almost managed to stop crying, and her breathing wasn’t so ragged. She still felt so sad, so alone.

  She really couldn’t count on her father.

  She knew that now for certain.

  “So, I guess I’ll let you think about what you want,” her mother said. “And don’t you dare drive when you’re this upset. Promise me you won’t?”

  “Okay,” she said, hating the way her voice sounded, so lost and weak.

  “Would you like me to take you to one of your friends’ houses? Maybe to Jake’s? So you don’t have to be alone?”

  “Jake …” She thought. She needed Jake! He would listen, he’d let her cry and he’d be nice to her, no matter what. Then she remembered …. “I don’t think he wants to see me. We had a fight.”

  “Well, I don’t think he could stay mad at you for long.”

  “No. This was different. It was awful. I was awful to him.” Andie started to cry again.

  “Want to call him?” her mother offered.

  “I can’t. I’m scared of what he might say. I’ll … I have to think about it.”

  “All right,” Audrey said. “Then, if there’s nothing else …”

  She waited. For an invitation to stay?

  Andie wasn’t ready for that.

  “Okay, I’ll go, but when you decide what you want or if you just want to talk about things, you know where I’ll be. I love you, baby. I always will.”

  Andie stood there, mute.

  Always?

  Really?

  Did anything really last forever?

  She didn’t think so.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Simon didn’t get much of anything done that day, alternately remembering his night with Audrey and trying to figure out how to get her daughter to stay here so Audrey would stay, too.

  He had an awful thought of Audrey getting on a plane and following her daughter to Spain; then he tried to convince himself it would never happen.

  But hell, it might.

  He told one of the moms who worked for him, “I need to get a teenage girl to do something she doesn’t want to do.”

  “Good luck,” she said.

  “It can’t be that bad,” he insisted.

  “Peyton’s five, right? You tell me in ten years.”

  The only useful idea he got was that bribery was sometimes effective.

  Which made him wonder, what did Andie Graham want? Other than to punish Audrey some more?

  Which led him to Jake. He went to the kid’s house; then on a tip from a little girl playing in the yard, he tracked Jake down to the lake in the park. Jake was lying on the hood of car, staring at the water, looking as miserable as a guy could be.

  The Graham women could do that to a man—twist him into knots.

  Simon walked over to the kid, who sat up, looking puzzled.

  “Simon Collier.” He stuck out his hand. “I don’t think we were introduced a few nights ago or that day at my house. You must be Jake.”

  The kid shook his hand, looking a little scared.

  Simon remembered growling at him the last time they saw each other and smiled reassuringly. “Jake, I think you and I have a mutual interest—”

  “You mean, Andie?”

  Simon nodded. “I think it’s time we started working together to make sure she doesn’t end up in Spain. Help me out. Help me to understand this girl.”

  Jake looked skeptical. “My uncle says nobody really understands women.”

  Simon laughed. “He’s probably right. So … how about this? Tell me what Andie wants. Please tell me it’s not a year in Spain and that she’s just too stubborn to admit it.”

  “I thought so. I hoped so.” Jake shook his head, bewildered. “But if she does feel that way, she won’t tell me. She probably won’t even talk to me anymore, and I’m not even sure I want her to. We had this huge fight today at school, and I just walked out. They’re probably going to suspend me for it. But I was so mad I just kept walking.”

>   Poor Jake.

  Simon felt for the kid. He really did.

  And he was obviously crazy about Audrey’s daughter, and she either hadn’t noticed or wouldn’t admit she cared.

  Simon put a friendly arm around the boy. “We’re in this together now. You and me. We’re going to fix this.”

  “You think?” Jake asked.

  “I think we have to, because if Andie and her mom are miserable, you and I are going to be miserable, too.”

  Andie worked up her nerve and called Jake.

  He didn’t answer. His phone went straight to voice mail, so maybe it was just dead. She called his home, but his uncle didn’t know where he was; then she called three of his friends, and still nothing.

  What about the lake? He always took her to the lake when she was upset. Maybe he was at the lake.

  She dried her eyes completely, took a breath and then, before she got in the car, thought about what her mother had said, her own promise not to drive while she was upset.

  Odd to think of her mother still trying to take care of her, even now.

  Of her mother’s insistence that she still loved her, always would.

  That no one could take the place of a daughter.

  Andie pushed away every thought except the one about driving. She’d promised. So she walked to the lake. It wasn’t far. And sure enough, there was Jake’s car and Jake.

  And what looked like her mother’s boyfriend.

  Why would her mother’s boyfriend be talking to Jake?

  She hung back, trying to decide if it really was the two of them, trying to decide what she was going to do, but then they saw her and just stared at her. She was too stubborn to turn and run away, so she went over to them, even though Jake didn’t look very welcoming.

  Andie finally said, “What are you two doing together?”

  “Talking about you,” the man said, sticking out his hand. “Andie, I’m Simon Collier. I’m hoping we can start over with each other.”

  She shook his hand, puzzled. “Why are you two talking about me?”

  Simon studied her a moment, as if he was trying to figure out how to approach her. “I was hoping Jake could help me understand how to get you to stay here instead of going to Spain.”

  “So, you haven’t …” They hadn’t heard her father wasn’t willing to send her. “I mean, why would you want me to stay here? If you really want to be with my mother, your lives will be much easier if I’m gone.”

  The man shook his head. “Your mother will never be truly happy while you’re still this angry at her. No matter what I do or what happens between us. And I want her to be happy, which means there has to be some way to work this out. I asked Jake to help me figure out how.”

  “And I told him I was no good at making you happy,” Jake said, not giving an inch. “So there’s no way I can help him.”

  Andie winced. He’d never talked to her that way. No matter what she’d said or done, and she’d done a lot to him. He’d put up with so much from her, more than he should have.

  Simon glared at Jake, who stopped talking. Then Simon stepped in front of Jake, blocking Andie’s view of him.

  “I think what Jake means is that we’ve all had some tough times lately, and it’s time for everyone to try to make things better. Maybe you could think about that, Andie. What would make your life better? What would make you happy?”

  “Happy?” He had to be kidding.

  “Well, it beats thinking about how you can punish your mother or Jake or anyone else who cares about you. And, understand me, I’m not saying you don’t have reason to be mad, at least at your mother. I’m just saying that after a while anger gets really old. And the thing is, you can punish other people all you want, but you’re usually miserable while you’re doing it. So the longer you spend punishing them, the more miserable you are.”

  “You want me to forgive her for my sake?” Andie scoffed at that.

  “I’m saying maybe you could think about what you want, rather than who you’re mad at. I think you’d be a lot happier that way.”

  “Easy for you to say—”

  “Hey, if you’re happy with your life right now, you can go right on living this way. But I don’t think you’re happy. I think you’re miserable. When you’re ready to stop being miserable, call me.” He handed her one of his business cards. “I told you, I want your mother to be happy. I’ll do anything I can to help make that happen.”

  She took the card, knowing he was right about one thing, at least. She was miserable, had been for months. And it only seemed to be getting worse.

  He turned and said something quietly to Jake that she couldn’t make out, and then he was gone.

  Andie stood there, waiting for Jake to say something, to give her some opening.

  He didn’t. He just sat there, looking as miserable as she felt.

  Come on, Jake. Something. Just say something.

  But he didn’t. Maybe she had pushed him too far.

  Maybe there was no forgiveness to be had from him.

  Audrey was so happy and so excited that she stayed outside on the porch so she’d hear Simon’s car as soon as he arrived. And in the meantime, she called Marion and told her the great news.

  “She talked to me! She really talked to me. Didn’t yell. Wasn’t mean. Just talked! I think there’s going to come a day when she actually forgives me for this!”

  “Oh, Audrey, I’m so glad. I knew you’d get there. I knew it.”

  She thanked Marion again, profusely, then heard Simon’s car, got off the phone and ran to meet him.

  He got out of the car, and she launched herself into his arms. He caught her close, laughing, and swung her around. She laughed, too, and when she was on her feet, reached up and framed his face in her hands and gave him a big kiss.

  “So?” he asked. “Andie called here?”

  “No, I saw her at my old house. Richard called and … You know, never mind about him. I’m too happy. The bottom line is that he’s too cheap to pay for her year in Spain, and I don’t think she wants to go, anyway. And when she was upset and needed someone to talk to about that, she talked to me! Really talked, Simon! It was like she needed me for the first time in … months. It was like I was her mother again.”

  He gave her a beautiful smile, pulled her close and kissed her cheek. Then he whispered, “I told you that you’d get her back. I knew it.”

  Audrey was smiling through her tears. “She’s not ready to live with me again, but I told her we’d work something out. If not her living with a neighbor … Well, I need to talk to you about that. I kind of … made her an offer.”

  “Of what?”

  “My apartment above your garage, maybe? If it’s all right with you? Just until she goes to college? If she’s not willing to live with me until then? Please?”

  He hesitated, not looking upset but as if he was thinking. “And if she’s there, where will you be living?”

  “I’m not sure. You have a lot of empty bedrooms in your house. Maybe … I could have one of them?”

  He considered. “You know I make my living by negotiating, right?”

  She nodded.

  “And that I’m very, very good at it?” He looked as smug and satisfied as could be.

  “I thought you must be. That you’re good at everything.”

  “I am, and I have to tell you, a room of your own in my house is not an option. But I would be more than happy to share my bedroom with you on a long-term basis.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes. There’s just one condition. I have a very young, very impressionable daughter and an ongoing custody issue with my ex-wife, whose Italian boyfriend wants to take her to Brazil. Which is fine because Peyton will be here with us. But I’m going to want to file for primary custody of her, and since I’ve been so willing to help you with your daughter in any way I could, I think it’s only fair that you do the same for me when it comes to my daughter. Don’t you agree?”

  “Of cour
se, I’ll help you with Peyton.”

  He looked incredibly pleased with himself. “So, to live in my house and share my bed on a long-term basis … I think you’d have to agree to be my wife.”

  “Oh, Simon.” He took her breath away.

  “You had to know that was coming,” he insisted.

  “One day. Probably. Not today. Not so fast. Just … because of Peyton?”

  “No, I’m using that as an excuse, using this whole thing as an opportunity to get what I want. A good negotiator is always looking for ways to get what he wants. And I want you, and I know you want me.” He kissed her hard. “And I know you’re scared. And I know this has all happened so fast.”

  “It did. All of it,” she told him, resting in his strong arms.

  “I know you had a really bad end to your first marriage, and you know that I did, too. And I know you weren’t looking for anything like this right now. Neither was I. But there you were. You just showed up at my house and seemed to fit here with me like nobody else ever has, in ways I didn’t think anyone ever would. And I can’t imagine my life without you. I don’t even want to try.”

  She kissed him, quickly, then told him, “And I can’t imagine my life without you, either. I’m just … I feel like my head is spinning. I can’t … You want an answer right now?”

  “I’d like one. But if I can’t have it, I can wait. I think I’ve already proven that. And I’m not opposed to taking some time to show you how very pleasant it could be to share a bedroom with me. And a bathroom. Don’t forget the bathroom. That great bathtub. I never will.”

  Audrey smiled. “You think you’re so good in bed you can make me forget every doubt I have?”

  “I’m saying that I’m a very determined man, and I’m willing to devote myself to trying to do just that. I love you, Audrey.” The look in his eyes said that, too. All teasing aside, the words came from deep in his soul. “I think you’ll find that I can be as stubborn as you and fight just as hard for you as you’ve fought for your daughter. It’s the first thing I loved about you—how fiercely you love her, how you wouldn’t let go of her. I’m not going to let go of you, either.”

  “So, you’re going to wait me out? Sure that eventually I’ll give you what you want?” she asked.