Teresa Hill - The Nanny Solution

“Will you be doing something about that thing or ignoring him until he becomes your responsibility tomorrow?” Ms. Bee asked.

Audrey managed a slight smile and what she hoped was an even tone. “Actually, I thought I’d take him for a walk, that a little more exercise might help him quiet down for a while and…urn…make your day a little more pleasant.”

If it was possible for Ms. Bee to have a pleasant day.

Audrey wasn’t sure it was.

Ms. Bee looked puzzled by the idea of a pleasant day but simply gave another huff, shut the door and disappeared back into the house.

Audrey took a breath, went and got the dog’s leash from a peg on the inside of the garage, clipped it to the dog’s collar and then unlatched the collar holding his link to the electronic fence around the property. All the while Tink danced with excitement, no doubt knowing he was going somewhere and greatly complicating the entire process.

Audrey didn’t even try to correct his behavior at the moment. She just wanted to put some space between herself and Ms. Bee.

She and Tink set off at a brisk walk, which soon became a fast jog. It was that or let the dog pull her along, another bad precedent to set. So Audrey ran, again taking the path of least resistance, telling herself she’d do better tomorrow, when her job started for real.

They ran past the grand, old near-mansions of Simon Collier’s neighborhood and then took a turn down the sidewalk along the main road that led from his neighborhood to Audrey’s old one.

They ran past the entrance without slowing a bit, nerves pushing Audrey on, boundless energy and the allure of freedom pushing the dog. She sensed that Tink didn’t get to run often and that he really liked running.

They got to the ice cream store on the corner of Maple and Vine, a longtime favorite of Audrey’s daughter, and she couldn’t run anymore.

There were a lot of dogs in the neighborhood, and the owner kindly left a big container of water out for thirsty ones. Audrey stopped to catch her breath and let Tink have a drink.

He was so excited to be out and about in unfamiliar territory that he couldn’t quite decide what he wanted more—to satisfy his thirst or properly explore his surroundings.

He’d take a couple of huge, messy laps of water, then lift his head and dance a bit, checking out cars and pedestrians alike, grinning that silly grin of his and looking at Audrey as if he absolutely adored her for freeing him from the confines of the house and the people there who just didn’t understand or appreciate him.

“Aah, you’re just a big, sweet baby,” Audrey said, scratching his head and giving him another kiss.

He jumped up on her again, as if he just couldn’t get close enough to her, and before she could correct him again, an astonished voice to her right yelled, “Mom?”

She turned toward the voice, and there was Andie, holding a chocolate ice cream cone and looking as if she couldn’t believe what she was seeing, and Andie’s friend Jake Elliott, who’d been there to witness so many of Audrey’s sins.

“What are you doing here?” Andie asked accusingly.

“I…” Oh, she’d tried to figure out how to do this a thousand times, and the truth was that nothing would make it easier. Nothing would make this a welcome change to her daughter, Audrey feared. So she just looked her daughter in the eye and said it. “I’ve taken a job in Highland Park. I’m going to be living there.”

Andie looked horrified. Her pupils got big and round, suddenly swimming in tears, and she took a step back, as if even this distance was much too close.

“You can’t,” Andie whispered, Jake coming protectively to her side in a silent show of support Audrey was glad her daughter had, even if they stood together against her.

“It’s true. I did,” Audrey said, standing her ground.

“How could you do this to me?” Andie asked, shaking her head. “Haven’t you done enough already to ruin my life!”

Audrey didn’t know what she would have said to that, but then she didn’t have to respond, because Tink saved her. He must have felt the tension between her and Andie and decided to make it clear that he was on Audrey’s side.

He started growling at Andie and Jake.

“Tink, no,” Audrey said sternly.

He looked at her as if she might be too dumb to understand he was defending her.

“It’s all right,” Audrey told him. “I’ve got it.”

He quit growling but stood by her side bristling and ready to step in, if need be.

“So, you think you’re going to force yourself back into my life? Just like that?” Andie asked.

No, she simply thought she’d live nearby and hope eventually something would change. That Andie would need her.

“I just took the dog for a walk, Andie. I had no idea you were going to be here. How could I? I haven’t seen you in two months.”

“But here? You had to do it here? Where I live? Well, it’s not going to work,” Andie told her. “I don’t care what you do. It won’t work.”

And then she stalked away. Jake stood there for a moment, looking as though he wanted to say something, but in the end just shook his head and walked away without a word.

Tink pitched a fit, barking for all he was worth, chasing away the enemy.

“No,” Audrey tried to explain to him. “That’s my baby. My little girl.”

She stood there watching as Andie got into her car and drove away, and then she sank down onto a bench in front of the ice cream store, shaking, the dog practically in her lap and making that fussing, crying sound, not understanding what was wrong but wanting to help in any way he could.

Andie was still shaking when she pulled into the driveway at her family house, which she now shared with her father. Jake had tried to calm her down all the way home, but it didn’t work. He’d wanted to come home with her and talk some more, but she wouldn’t let him. Not that he could really do anything anyway.

She was too furious for that.

Plus, it was better to handle things like this on her own. It wasn’t as if she could really count on anybody to help, anyway.

Her life.

Her problems.

It was safer that way.

Still, after everything her mother had done last fall, everything the entire neighborhood was still talking about and probably would be for years, her mother dared show her face here?

And planned to live nearby?

Andie couldn’t believe it!

She got out of the car and slammed the door, then swiped away angry tears. Her father’s car wasn’t in the driveway, which meant he wasn’t home, as usual, but judging by the other car in the garage, his embarrassingly young, snotty, blond girlfriend was.

Great!

If only her parents had held things together for two more years, she’d have been gone to college, and it wouldn’t have really mattered. As it was, Andie couldn’t wait to escape from both of them. How she’d make it through another year and a half living with her father and Barbie—that’s what Andie called her because she was like a Barbie doll come to life—and her mother now living nearby…

Well, that just sounded like seven different kinds of torture.

Andie went inside through the garage door, not quite slamming it but shutting it none too gently, and stalked through the house.

She was nearly to her room before she came face-to-face with the new love of her father’s life. They nearly collided in the hallway, Barbie wearing a robe, slippers and some kind of green gunk on her face.

She gave a huff of displeasure, stopping short just before Andie plowed on by. “I thought you were Richard,” she said.

“At this hour? You’re kidding, right? When was the last time he made it home before dark? I mean, it’s not easy, making enough money for all the things you need. Your new car, and your home-spa days, Barbie.”