Teresa Hill - The Nanny Solution

Barbie gave her one of those sickeningly sweet smiles that seemed to say, You won’t get rid of me that easily. Or maybe, I’ll outlast you. Just wait and see.

Andie told herself she didn’t care. She went on to her room, fell back onto her bed and pulled out her phone to call her father.

“Please, be there. Please,” she whispered. “Just this once.”

She got his secretary, of course, who was actually willing to grant Andie an audience with her own father. This time.

“Dad!” Andie groaned as he came on the line. “The most awful thing happened just now. I ran into mom at the ice cream place. She said she’s going to be living in Highland Park!”

He laughed. “Andie, there’s no way your mother could afford to live there. Unless…”

Unless she’d found another man to support her.

He didn’t have to say it.

Andie knew it better than he did.

Highland Park was as fancy a neighborhood as any in town.

“She claims she got a job,” Andie told him.

“Doing what? She’s not trained to do anything.”

“I know,” Andie said.

Which meant…what? That her mother had lied to her? That was nothing new. She’d told any number of lies last fall.

“I can’t have her back here,” Andie said. “Everything was finally starting to quiet down, and I just can’t go through all that again. Will you just call her and tell her to go away, please? Tell her if she really loves me to stay away.”

“I…Hang on, Andie. I’ve got a call on the other line I’ve been waiting for. I have to take this—”

“Dad, please!”

“I’m sorry—”

“No. Just call her. Promise me, you will. Please—”

And then he was gone.

Andie clicked off her phone, barely managing to resist the urge to throw it across the room.

Of course, he had an important call.

This was only her life, her mother about to ruin it once again, and he had a call. No big surprise there. She was lucky if she could get five minutes of his time in a day, maybe even a week. He’d come back to live in the house these past few months, but he wasn’t really here. Not any more than he had been before her parents separated, she realized.

He breezed in, breezed out, did his own thing, and now he had Barbie to entertain in what little time he did spend here.

She really was all alone.

Audrey didn’t have many things of her own to pack.

She’d left her own home three months ago with nothing but the contents of one suitcase and an overnight bag and arrived at Marion’s two months ago with the same things. In her time here, she’d accumulated no more than what would fit in two boxes, and they were already in her car. She zipped up the suitcase and looked longingly around the tiny guest cottage of Marion’s feeling something akin to sheer panic.

“Now, now,” Marion said, coming up to her and putting an arm around her waist. “None of that. It’s time, and you’re going to be fine.”

“I’m glad someone thinks so.” Audrey leaned her head down on top of Marion’s.

The woman was maybe five feet tall but a dynamo nonetheless.

“How can I ever thank you,” Audrey began, choking up.

“No. I mean it. Don’t. This is a happy house. I told you that when you moved in, and it’s certainly not going to change now that you’re moving out. I have adored having you. I will be rooting for you all the way. You’re certainly welcome to call and come visit. In fact, I’ll be hurt if you don’t. But it’s time to push you out of the nest, my dear. On with your life. I’m very wise about these things, you know? And I’m always right. You’re ready.”

Audrey stood up, nodded and worked hard not to cry.

“I didn’t think anyone in the world would have given me another chance, except you—”

“No. I mean it. Don’t. If you want to pay me back, you find someone else to help get back on their feet. That’s the thanks I’m interested in.”

“All right. I will,” she promised, looking around longingly at the pretty iron bed with the pink flowery quilt, the lace curtains, tiny sitting area and a kitchenette the size of a broom closet. Her sanctuary in her time of need. “I’m going to miss this place, too. So much.”

Marion beamed at her. “You’re ready to go, my dear. And you never told me. What did you think of Simon?”

“Well, he’s not sixty and balding.”

Marion whole body shook because she laughed so hard. “How in the world did you get the impression Simon Collier was sixty and balding?”

“I don’t know. I mean, you talked about how successful he is and that the man is rich. I just assumed he wasn’t…’.

Ridiculously attractive ?

Audrey hoped she wasn’t blushing just thinking about it.

Honestly.

“How old is he?” she asked, because it was the first question that occurred to her, and she didn’t want to even talk about how good the man looked.

“I don’t know. I’ve known him forever. Since he was practically a boy.”

“And has he always been so…demanding?”

“Yes.” Marion nodded. “And always known what he wants and how to get it. In business, I mean.”

Audrey felt a little flutter of panic. “Marion, you’re not trying to fix me up with Simon Collier, are you?”

“No. Of course not—”

“Because a man is the last thing I want or need in my life.”

“I know,” Marion said with an odd look in her eyes that made Audrey nervous. “Now, is this all you brought?”

Audrey nodded, picking up the overnight bag and the handle of her rolling suitcase.

When they got outside, Marion shut the door and said, “Don’t look back. Only forward. It’s the only way to get to where you want to go.”

And Audrey was ready to cry again. “I saw Andie today.”

“Really?” She knew how much this meant to Audrey.

Audrey started down the little path that led around the side of the house and to her car out front, with Marion following. “A few blocks from Simon’s. She was furious when I told her I’d be living and working nearby.”

“Well, you knew she’d likely be upset about that. It’s not a surprise, and it’s not a setback. It just proves you were right in thinking if you could be close, you’d run into your daughter. Give it time. You’ll wear her down.”

“Oh, I hope so. I don’t know what else to do.”

Marion rolled her eyes, then grinned. “She’s a teenage girl. They change their minds every thirty seconds, and they find drama in the smallest of things.”

“It was no small thing that I did.”

“I know, but you’re still her mother. A girl her age needs her mother, and it’s never too soon to learn how important forgiveness is,” Marion insisted. “I’m right about this. And I’m right about you, too. Try to believe me, if you can’t believe in yourself just yet.”

“I will,” Audrey promised.

She got to the car, hefted the suitcase into the backseat, then the shoulder bag. Her cell phone rang.

“It’s Richard.” Audrey made a face when she saw the number.

“Don’t let him bully you. The man is certainly not blameless in all this.”

Audrey took a breath and answered, “Hello, Richard.”

“What kind of nonsense is this I hear about you moving to Highland Park, Audrey?” He was bellowing, so Marion heard every word, too.

“It’s true. I’ll be living there. I have a job.”

He laughed. “And I can just imagine what you could do to earn your keep in a place like Highland Park.”

Audrey saw red but held her tongue. The conversation wasn’t anything unexpected. Andie didn’t want her there. She wanted Richard to ask her not to come back.