LITMIR.BIZ

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Three

      A while after dinner, Sam came back into the kitchen after settling Mindy and Xavier in the den with a movie.

      The room felt empty. “Where’s Susan?”

      “She left.” Daisy looked up from her phone. “Said something about packing.”

      “She’s going on a trip?” That figured. She seemed like a world traveler, much too sophisticated to spend her free summer in their small town. Applying for the job as Mindy’s nanny had probably been just a whim.

      Then again, she’d mentioned needing to help support her mother and brother...

      And why he was so interested in figuring out her motives and whereabouts, he didn’t have a clue.

      “No...” Daisy was back to texting, barely paying attention. “She’s gotta move back home for the summer.”

      “Move?”

      “Yeah, to California.”

      “What? Why?”

      Daisy was too engrossed in her phone to answer, and following a sudden urge, Sam turned and walked out into the warm evening. He caught up to Susan just as she opened her car door. “Weren’t you even going to say goodbye?”

      “Did I hurt your feelings?” she asked lightly, turning back to him, looking up.

      She was so beautiful it made him lose his breath. So he just stared down at her.

      It must be the way she’d helped Mindy that had changed her in his eyes, softened her sharp edges, made her not just cute but deeply appealing.

      And he obviously needed to get on with his dating project, because he was having a serious overreaction to Susan. “Daisy said you’re leaving town.”

      She wrinkled her nose. “Yeah, in a few days. Got to go back to California for the summer.”

      “You’re not driving that, are you?” Lightly, he kicked the tire of her rusty subcompact.

      “No! I’m taking the Mercedes.” She chuckled, a deep, husky sound at odds with her petite frame. “Of course I’m driving this, Sam. It’s my car.”

      “It’s not safe.”

      She just raised her eyebrows at him. As if to ask what right he had to make such a comment. And it was a good question: What right did he have?

      The moonlight spilled down on them and the sky was a black velvet canopy sprinkled with millions of diamond stars. He cleared his throat. “Does this mean you don’t want the job?”

      “Does this mean I’m still in the running?” There was a slightly breathy sound to her voice.

      They were standing close together.

      “You are,” he said slowly. “I liked... No. I was amazed at how you were able to calm Mindy.” He couldn’t stop looking at her.

      She stepped backward and gave an awkward smile. “Years of experience with my brother. And the coursework. All the grief stuff. You could call a local college, find someone with similar qualifications.”

      “I doubt that. I’d like to hire you.”

      “We don’t get along. I wouldn’t be good at this. I mean, nannying? Living in? Seriously, ask anyone, I’m not cut out for family life.”

      He cocked his head to one side, wondering suddenly about her past. “Oh?”

      She waved her hand rapidly. “I was engaged once. It...didn’t work out.”

      He nodded, inexplicably relieved. “Maybe you should come work for me on a trial basis, then.”

      “A...trial basis?” That breathy sound again.

      “Yes, since you’re not cut out for family life. It’s a live-in job, after all.”

      “I do need a place to stay,” she said, “but no. That wouldn’t look right, would it? Me living in your house.”

      Her eyes were wide and suddenly, Sam felt an urge to protect her. “Of course, I wouldn’t want to compromise your reputation. We have a mother-in-law’s suite over the garage. It has a separate entrance and plenty of privacy.”

      “Really? You’re offering me the job? Because remember, I can’t cook.”

      “You can learn.”

      “Maybe, maybe not. I... What made you change your mind? I thought you didn’t like me.” She was nibbling on her lower lip, and right now she looked miles from the confident, brash waitress who’d stood up to a businessman in front of a restaurant full of people.

      He smiled down at her. “My sister. My brother. And the way you handled Mindy.”

      “But she’s probably not going to have another trauma reaction for a long time. Whereas cooking’s every day. You really don’t want to hire me.”

      “Why are you trying to talk me out of it?” Her resistance was lighting a fire in him, making him feel as if he had to have her, and only her, for Mindy’s nanny. “I do want to. The sooner the better. When could you start?”

      “Well...” She was starting to cave, and triumph surged through him. “My room is going to be remodeled out from under me starting this weekend.”

      “Great,” he said, leaning in to close the deal. “I’ll have a truck sent round tomorrow. You can start setting up your apartment over the garage.”

      “You’re sure?”

      “I’m sure.”

      “Paying what you told me before?”

      He flashed a wide smile. “Of course.”

      She paused, her nose wrinkling. Looked up at the stars. Then a happy expression broke out on her face. “Thank you!” she said, and gave him a quick, firm handshake.

      Her smile and her touch sent a shot of joy through his entire body. He hadn’t felt anything like that before, ever. Not even when Marie was alive.

      Guilt overwhelmed him and he took a step back. “Remember, it’s just a trial,” he said.

      What had he gotten himself into?

      * * *

      Of course, everyone and his brother was in downtown Rescue River the next Saturday morning to comment on the moving truck in front of Susan’s boarding house. The truck carrying Susan to her absolute doom, if the scuttlebutt was to be believed.

      “So you’re the next victim,” said Miss Minnie Falcon, who’d hurried over from the Senior Towers, pushing her wheeled walker, to watch the moving activities. “Sam Hinton eats babysitters for lunch!”

      “It’s just on a trial basis,” Susan said, pausing in front of the guesthouse’s front porch. “If I don’t like the job, I can leave at any time. Don’t you want to sit down, Miss Minnie?”

      “Oh, no, I’d rather stand,” the gray-haired woman said, her eyes bright. “Don’t want to miss anything!”

      “Okay, if you’re sure.” That was small-town life: your activities were like reality TV to your neighbors, and truthfully, Susan found it sweet. At least everyone knew who you were and watched out for you.

      “I’m going to miss you so much,” her landlady, Lacey, said as she helped Susan carry her sole box of fragile items down the rickety porch steps. “I’m really sorry about making you move. It’s just that Buck seems to be serious about staying sober, and he’s looking to make money, and of course, he’s willing to work on this place for cheap because he’s my brother.”

      “It’s fine. You’ve got to remodel while you can,” Susan soothed her. “And we’ll still hang out, right?” She’d enjoyed her year at Lacey’s guesthouse, right

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