Mommy for Hire

by Cathy Gillen Thacker

  Grady gave Alexis a look Savannah couldn’t see. This was not helping! Alexis ignored him.

  “But…” Savannah’s resolve began to waver, just a bit.

  Alexis shrugged. “Or you could apologize and say you were sorry you lost your temper, because I’m sure that is true. I’m sure you were not happy that you let someone push you into behaving that way. Because that’s not who you are, Savannah McCabe.” She looked meaningfully at Grady’s daughter. “You’re not the playground bully who shoves everyone else around and makes them feel bad. You’re the girl who is nice to everybody, the girl who just wants to be friends.”

  For once, Savannah didn’t disagree.

  “What did she say to you, anyway, to get you so mad?” Grady asked gently after a moment.

  Savannah’s lower lip shot back out. “Lisa Marie said I did not have a fairy godmother and that I was never going to have a mommy, ’cause my mommy was dead.”

  Whoa, Grady thought. That was cruel.

  Alexis looked as upset as he felt. “That wasn’t very nice, was it?” she said quietly.

  “No.” Savannah looked relieved to have emotional backup.

  “And it’s not true. Because—” Alexis smiled “—as we’ve already established, I am going to help your daddy find a new mommy for you. Now, it’s not going to be easy, because sometimes these things take awhile. But if you are persistent, you can make your dreams come true. The question is, how do we handle this?” Alexis asked as Savannah’s brow furrowed. “Do you want me to talk to Lisa Marie and tell her I am indeed your fairy godmother, so to speak?”

  “You’d really do that?” Grady found himself cutting in once again.

  Alexis grinned, the picture of maternal confidence. “I’ll even go with you and Savannah when she apologizes to Lisa Marie and anyone else who feels the need for an apology.”

  Savannah sat there on Alexis’s lap, clearly considering.

  “Of course, we can do this whenever you want, Savannah,” Alexis continued amiably, “but I have always found that when you don’t particularly want to do something, it’s better to just do it and get it over with.”

  “ALEXIS GRAHAM, you are a miracle worker,” Grady declared an hour later, as the two of them walked out of Miss Chilton’s Academy for Young Women.

  She waved away his praise. “Savannah just needed moral support.” And as Grady had already intuited, a mother figure’s loving presence in her life, to help her with some of her girl problems.

  Grady paused next to Alexis’s BMW. “Do you think Lisa Marie will leave her alone now?”

  Alexis hit the unlock button on the keypad and opened the door to let the searing summer heat out of the vehicle. “Knowing female bullies—probably not.” She tossed her purse onto the passenger seat, next to her briefcase, and turned back to Grady. Trying not to notice how his dark hair shone in the morning sunlight, she predicted, “It’ll just be more of a stealth operation than ever.”

  With the mean-girls-in-training in Savannah’s kindergarten class doing everything they could under the school administration’s radar to taunt the little girls they perceived as undeserving of kindness and respect.

  Grady leaned against his Escalade, which was parked next to her sedan. He pushed the edges of his suit coat back and braced his hands on his waist. “So what do we do?”

  Alexis gestured vaguely, wishing like heck she could do more to protect his little girl from even the potential of hurt. “You do what all parents do. Keep an eye out for trouble. Help Savannah learn to develop a thicker skin and rise above the petty manipulations, of which, sad to say, there will be plenty in the years ahead.”

  “You sound so cynical.”

  Maybe because, Alexis thought, in this one aspect, she was. “Your wife never had problems with female bullies?”

  “I don’t know. It’s not something we talked about. Did you?”

  “As a child, yes.” These days, she could take care of herself in the mean girl department.

  Grady favored her with an appreciative smile. “That’s no surprise, I guess. It’s usually the good-looking girls who get chased the most on the playground.”

  If the two of them had been children, Alexis figured Grady would be chasing her right now.

  “And that makes the other girls jealous,” he continued.

  And sometimes ridiculing and vindictive. Finding herself in no more of a hurry to get to the office than Grady appeared to be, Alexis fiddled with the car keys in her hand. “Which is why, I guess, you put Savannah in an all-girls school, to keep her away from little boys?”

  Grady shook his head. He took off his suit coat, opened the back door of his car and tossed it in. “She’s going there because that’s where Tabitha attended school, and I promised her before Savannah was born that any daughters of ours would go there, too.”

  So, it was a sentimental choice. That made more sense. Alexis nodded thoughtfully. “About those three profiles that I gave you last night…”

  “I looked through them,” he reported. “Twice, as a matter of fact. I couldn’t really see any of them being a good match.”

  Alexis sighed.

  “I might feel differently, meeting them in person, if there was some spark between them and Savannah, but…”

  Alexis wasn’t sure whether she was relieved he hadn’t been drawn to anyone else, or frustrated to the point she wanted to shout aloud in irritation. She had been so sure those three women were all his type. “I’ll keep looking,” she promised.

  “HOW COME WE’RE going shopping before I do my homework, Daddy?” Savannah asked.

  Because Alexis had called with a potential match she was very excited about, and wanted them both to meet. Having decided, however, that it probably wasn’t a good idea to have Savannah giving any future mothers the runaround before they even saw if there was any chemistry there, Alexis and Grady were taking a new approach. They were doing this one on the down-low.

  Did he feel good about it? No. Did he think the end justified the means? Yes.

  If Savannah’s meltdown yesterday afternoon and again this morning had shown him anything, it was that his little girl needed a woman’s presence in her life. And since Alexis had made it clear she wasn’t interested in being anything more than a temporary stand-in, he had no choice but to keep looking.

  “We’re going to the mall because it’s raining again, and you can’t play outside today,” Grady said. Another storm had blown in that afternoon, which wasn’t that uncommon for June. “Plus I figured, since you did a very grown-up thing this morning and apologized nicely to everyone, even though you still don’t think you did anything wrong—”

  “That’s ’cause I didn’t, Daddy,” Savannah interrupted.

  Figuring they’d leave the discussion about solving conflict in a peaceful manner for another day, Grady continued “—that we would take advantage of the fact that there is a covered parking deck as well as a very good ice cream shop in this mall, and take some time to smell the roses.”

  “There are flowers there, too?”

  Grady shook his head. “It’s an expression.”

  “Huh?” Savannah blinked.

  “I meant we should enjoy ourselves today,” he clarified.

  Savannah skipped along, holding his hand. He grinned down at her. This had been a good idea. One that might make the inevitable take-home work sheet a little easier to get completed before dinner this evening….

  “Hey, Daddy, look!” Savannah got so excited she jumped up and down.

  There, on the other side of the mall atrium, were two blondes standing side by side in front of a shoe store.

  “It’s Alexis! And some lady!” Savannah jumped again and clapped her hands together. “Can we say hi to them, Daddy? Please! Please! Please! Please!”

  “Calm down, honey, and yes we can.” Before he could say anything else, Savannah raced off across the floor. She skidded to a halt just short of Alexis, and taking a deep breath, looked up at her shyly.
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br />   Alexis turned away from the display of shoes she and her companion had been admiring. She dropped the shopping bag she was carrying and knelt down, arms open wide. The way, Grady figured, a mother would greet her child. “Well, hello there, sweetheart,” she said. “Fancy meeting you here!”

  Savannah barreled into Alexis’s embrace. Small arms wreathed around her neck and she held on tight for a long time. One would have thought, by his little girl’s reaction, she hadn’t seen Alexis in ages, instead of just seven hours ago….

  “What are you doing here?” Alexis asked at last, when they had stopped hugging each other and were face-to-face again.

  “Daddy and I are having ice cream! Want some?”

  Alexis looked up at Grady.

  A glimmer of apology shone in her eyes. This wasn’t going exactly the way she had hoped, but it was pretty much how Grady would like to see things evolve.

  “We’d love to have you join us,” he said cordially. He looked over at the pretty blonde next to Alexis. She was thirty something, with a trim, athletic figure, kind eyes and what appeared to be an abundance of energy. He held out his hand. “I’m Grady McCabe. My daughter, Savannah.”

  “Nice to meet you. I’m Tina Weinart.”

  “Tina’s a nurse at the Children’s Hospital,” Alexis said, getting slowly and gracefully back to her feet.

  “We’d love to have you join us, too, if you can,” Grady told Tina.

  “I’d love to.” She smiled, then looked at Savannah. “I heard you had a fall yesterday.”

  The little girl slipped her hand in Alexis’s and pressed in close as they walked to the ice cream store at the end of the aisle. She demonstrated by holding up first one knee, then the other. Beneath the tartan skirt of her school uniform, two Band-Aids were visible on each knee. Savannah then held up the heels of her hands. No Band-Aids there; the scrapes had been light enough to do without. “It hurt!” she declared. They entered the shop and took a horseshoe-shaped booth in the center. Savannah slid across the banquette seat and onto Alexis’s lap. She rested her head on Alexis’s chest and continued recounting her sad tale to Tina. “And that’s how come I’m not supposed to run in the rain. ’Cause,” she added for emphasis, “I might fall down.”

  Tina nodded, clearly as enthralled with Grady’s little girl as he was.

  Savannah, however, had affection only for Alexis. Forty-five minutes later, when they’d finished their sundaes, Alexis took her into the ladies’ room to wash her hands and face.

  Tina looked at Grady. “She’s adorable. I’d like to get to know her better—without Alexis around. Otherwise, I’m not sure she’ll even give me a chance to connect with her.”

  Grady knew Tina had a point. Alexis was a hard act to follow. Especially where his daughter was concerned.

  “SO? WHAT’D YOU THINK of Tina?” Alexis asked Grady over the phone later that evening, after Savannah was fast asleep.

  He tried not to think how lonely it was, with Alexis at her place and he at his, or how much he and Savannah had both missed having her there with them during the evening routine.

  “Tina was very nice. Personable,” Grady responded. “I’m a little concerned about the lack of chemistry between her and Savannah, though.” The affection and interest, while genuine, had seemed all on Tina’s side.

  “Tina mentioned she wanted to get together with the two of you, without me,” Alexis continued, with a cheerfulness that sounded slightly forced. “I think it’s a good idea. In this case, four probably is a crowd.”

  Grady agreed with that. He just wasn’t sure they were talking about the same three. Still, he knew Savannah needed a mommy, and Tina was happily volunteering to enlist…on his terms.

  Alexis was not….

  “I haven’t told Savannah yet, but Tina’s going to be stopping by tomorrow evening with a new puzzle she thought Savannah would enjoy. I’ll step out to make a phone call—and we’ll go from there.”

  There was a slight pause. “You’ll let me know how it goes?” Alexis’s voice was brisk.

  Grady reminded himself he was done wishing for the impossible, and adapted Alexis’s businesslike attitude. “You’ll get a call as soon as the ‘next date’ concludes,” he said.

  Chapter Five

  Grady’s visit from Tina was slated for five o’clock Friday evening. At four forty-five, Alexis received a call from him. “I’ve got a problem,” he said without preamble.

  Instinctively, she quipped back, “You seem to have a lot of those lately.”

  He sighed. “No joke, Sherlock.” The ding of a car door opening sounded in the foreground. “I don’t have much time to talk. I’m on my way into the school to pick up Savannah from her after-school program.”

  Alexis hoped he hadn’t changed his mind about Tina. On an intellectual level, anyway, she knew the two might be a good match. Certainly, Tina would be a good mother to Savannah…. Emotionally, well, Alexis couldn’t help but feel a little wistful that she and Grady were not looking for the same things in their future.

  “What can I do for you?” she said more seriously, pushing away the memory of their one fantastic kiss.

  “Run interference,” Grady stated.

  Alexis furrowed her brow in confusion. “How?”

  “Get ahold of Tina. Make some excuse. Tell her this evening is not a good time.”

  Alexis pushed the send button on the e-mail she had just written to another client, and rocked back in her desk chair. “May I ask why?”

  When he answered, his tone was wry. “I just had a call from my parents. Surprise! They’re in town for the weekend and they want to stay with us.”

  Alexis had lost her own parents two years after she got married, so she no longer had to deal with what they would think about what she said and did. But she could still imagine all too well their reactions to things.

  “I can see where that would be complicated.”

  “You have no idea. Anyway, would you please call Tina and tell her we’ll have to reschedule for next week? I’ve been trying to reach her on her cell, and all I get is voice mail. And I can’t keep trying, because of course I don’t want Savannah to know….”

  Alexis reached for Tina’s contact numbers. “What if I can’t find her?”

  Grady groaned. “Let’s hope you can, because by the time I get to my place with Savannah, my parents will be there, too.”

  Alexis tried all the numbers she had for Tina—to no avail. Working quickly, she shut down her office computer, grabbed her briefcase, purse and keys, and headed for Grady’s home.

  By the time she got there, it was too late.

  There were three cars in the drive. Grady’s Escalade, a bright yellow pickup truck with WILDCAT on the license plate and a Wyatt Drilling Company logo on the side and a Toyota with a Children’s Hospital Staff parking sticker.

  Still trying to figure out how she was going to usher a disappointed Tina out of the house, Alexis walked up to the door and rang the bell. Grady opened it. The look on his face said Rescue Me.

  “It’s Alexis!” Savannah broke away from her grandparents and ran toward her. The little girl had on the athletic clothing she had worn for the after-school soccer practice, and her curls were more a mess than ever. She threw her arms around Alexis’s waist, then turned to her grandparents and said, “This is my fairy godmother!”

  GRADY WASN’T SURE what was worse—the coming together of all these people at exactly the wrong time, or the look on everyone’s faces. His parents were clearly amused—and perplexed—while Savannah was deliriously happy. Tina Weinart looked ticked off. He was doing his best to keep a poker face. Only Alexis looked pleasantly composed—but then she was clearly in her element. “Hello, everyone,” she said with a smile.

  “Are you going to play with me today and have dinner with us again?” Savannah asked.

  “Actually, I came over to see if Grady’s company was still interested in tickets for the cancer research fund-raiser tomorrow evening,” Al
exis said. She looked around the room. “I’m on the committee that’s hosting it.”

  Good save, Grady thought. “Absolutely. If a table is still available.”

  “I’m sure we can fit one in.”

  “Great. Let me get my checkbook.”

  “Can I go?” Savannah asked, when he had walked back out into the foyer.

  Grady shook his head. “It’s just for grown-ups, honey.”

  Her face fell.

  “Children’s Hospital has fund-raisers you can attend,” Tina Weinart interjected.

  Savannah brightened. “Really?”

  She nodded. “I think the next one is in July. But in the meantime, I can arrange a private tour of the hospital, if you like.”

  The little girl looked interested.

  Grady opened his checkbook and glanced at Alexis. “If you’ll tell me who to make it out to…”

  “I’d like to go, too,” Tina said, opening her purse.

  “We’ll babysit,” Grady’s mother offered. She extended her hand to Alexis. “By the way, I’m Josie Wyatt McCabe, Grady’s mother. This handsome guy next to me is my better half and Grady’s father, Wade McCabe.”

  Her husband chuckled.

  Alexis smiled. “I’m Alexis Graham.”

  “Do you know Tina?” his mother continued, obviously curious as to why he had two beautiful single women in his house at one time. Up to now, he had hardly been socializing, never mind actually dating.

  Before Grady could formulate a reply, Tina jumped in to explain, “Alexis is the matchmaker who introduced Grady and me to each other.”

  EVERYONE WAS SO STUNNED, the foyer so quiet, you could have heard a pin drop, Alexis noted. Fortunately, the implications of what Tina had just said had gone completely over Savannah’s head. The child frowned. “What’s a matchmaker?”

  Wade McCabe, a handsome man with silver threading his short dark hair, explained kindly, “That’s a person who helps like-minded people get to know each other.”