Текст книги "Playing the Player"

Автор книги: Lisa Brown Roberts

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Текущая страница: 3 (всего у книги 16 страниц)

She stopped screaming, wiped a tear off her cheek, and fluttered her eyelashes at Slade.

Slade chuckled as he handed Max a hot dog. “Bribery, huh? Personally, I’d wait until I’d exhausted all my other tricks before resorting to that.”

Using my super-human self control, I squelched the overwhelming desire to attack him with one of Max’s dinosaurs.

“Speaking of experience,” I said, “tell me about yours, oh great nanny oracle.”

He snorted. “It’s not so much experience as having the right attitude. It’s like a Zen thing. You have to let go of expectations.” He shot me a meaningful look. “Let go of schedules. Of plans. Go with the flow.”

We stared at each other, not speaking. It was like whoever blinked first was admitting their nanny style was wrong, so no way was I losing this battle. I wanted to tell him that I was getting paid to teach him, not the other way around.

But while I bit back everything I wanted to say, I noticed his topaz eyes had flecks of green in them. His eyelashes were long and golden brown, matching his messy hair. Desi said that Slade was a golden child, born with the sun god’s blessing, and that was why everyone loved him. Desi was very into astrology and mythology and had made up her own weird amalgam of the two.

I felt a blink coming on. I opened my eyelids wider, ignoring the dryness in my own boring, non-flecked brown eyes. I tried to ignore the odd tightening in my throat. And my rapidly increasing heart rate. I desperately wanted to sniff my wrist but didn’t dare.

“You’re stubborn,” he said, finally blinking.

“Ha!” I gloated, pointing at him. “I win.”

He shrugged, leaning back against the bench. “Maybe,” he said, “maybe not.” He took a bite of his sandwich and swallowed. “You still have to take Gillian to the gift shop. Max and I are headed to the IMAX movie.”

I glanced at my watch. He was right; the movie started in ten minutes. No way could I drag Gillian in and out of the gift store that quickly.

Gillian jumped up. “Gift shop! Gift shop!” she chanted, spinning in a circle.

I snuck a peek at Slade, who looked so smug I wanted to stab him with my fork.

“Ready for the movie, Max-man?” Slade rose from the bench and swished his trash three-pointer-style into a receptacle several feet away.

Max jumped up, obediently stuffing his dinosaurs into his backpack.

Meanwhile, Gillian had made herself so dizzy with the gift shop dance that she collapsed on the ground, giggling hysterically.

Slade shot me a sideways smirk, and I knew he was thinking what a pathetic nanny I was. This was so unfair. Gillian never gave me this much attitude when I babysat her at home.

“Meet you at the car after the movie.” Slade grabbed Max’s hand, and they disappeared into the museum. I stared at their retreating backs, shocked that he’d actually bailed on me.

Gillian lay on the ground, staring up at me with wild eyes. She banged her feet on the ground. “Nooo!” she howled. “Gift shop! Gift shop!” She tugged her T-shirt over her head and pulled at her shorts, trying to strip down to her bathing suit.

“Gillian, please,” I begged, sinking to my knees next to her. “Let’s go to the movie with Max. We’ll head to the gift shop after.”

Why had I taken this job? I could have gotten a job at the mall with Desi, at a gas station, anything but this. This shouldn’t be happening. I didn’t fail. Ever.

“It’s a space movie,” I pleaded. “You’ll love it.” I pulled her shirt down over her swimsuit. I was dying to sit in the air-conditioned IMAX theater and get a break from her energy.

Her hair splayed on the ground like a tangled mess of red snakes, reminding me of Medusa. She’d have turned me to stone if she had the power.

“Mommy said I could go to the gift shop. She gave you money.”

“I know she did. But we can do it after the movie.”

My phone pinged with a text message from Slade.

Saving you two seats.

I frowned at my phone, confused. Didn’t he just abandon us?

“Come on, Gillian. Slade’s saving us seats. You can sit next to him,” I said, hating myself as I said the persuasive words.

She hopped to her feet. “Hurry, Trina!”

We rushed to the theater, arriving just as the usher closed the door. “Sorry,” he said. “You’re too late for this showing. There’s another one at three fifteen, though.”

Gillian’s face crumpled.

“Please?” I gave him a pleading look. “We’re meeting friends. They’re saving seats for us.”

He shrugged, his pimply face a mask of total boredom. “Sorry. No late entries.”

I grabbed Gillian’s hand. “Come on. Gift shop. We’ll see Slade and Max after the movie.”

“But I want to sit next to Slade!” Her wail made the usher take a step back from us.

“Gillian, come on.” I tugged her behind me like a stubborn dog on a leash. “They have lots of space toys in the gift shop. And candy.” All of my rules were flying out the window and the day wasn’t even over.

While Gillian hovered in the space toy aisle, I sat on the floor, exhausted. I thought I’d sail through today, dragging Slade along on as he watched and learned from me. Instead he and Max were the ones sailing, while Gillian and I flailed around like frantic survivors of a capsized boat.

I pulled out my phone and texted Desi: Day from hell. Even worse than I predicted.

Except as soon I hit send, I realized I’d texted Slade, not Desi.

Crap. Why hadn’t the stupid phone people invented a way to recall texts?

And it’s not over yet. Where r u? he answered.

I bit my lip as I pondered my reply. Hopefully he thought my hell reference was about the kids, not him.

Gift shop. Usher locked door.

His reply came a few seconds later. Want us 2 leave and meet u?

Huh. That was sort of…nice. I considered his offer. We could leave early and try to get the kids to nap. Gillian perched on the floor, a stack of toys next to her. She looked content, finally.

No just meet us here after.

OK.

I leaned against the store wall with my eyes closed, grateful I could hide unnoticed. So far, Slade’s first day report was not looking good, since he kept bailing on Gillian and me. It was going to be so easy to get him fired by the end of the week. As soon as the week was over and I was flying solo, the kids and I would get into a groove and there wouldn’t be any more tantrums or meltdowns.

“That bad, huh?”

My eyes flew open at the sound of Slade’s voice. He towered over me, his arms folded across his chest. Max had found Gillian and settled next to her on the floor, helping her choose a toy.

Slade tilted his head, looking embarrassed, but I told myself that I didn’t buy his remorseful act. Or notice his dimple.

“Sorry about the movie. It was a strategy, when we left you outside. I thought Gillian would come chasing after Max.”

He ran a hand through his messy waves of surfer boy hair, tugging out the shoelace and shoving it into his pocket. “It used to work on my cousin when she was younger.” He glanced at me from under those stupid eyelashes. “I was going to come get you, but the usher said if I left I couldn’t come back. And Max wanted to stay.” He put out his hand. “Come on. I owe you ice cream.” He gave me a disgustingly sexy smile. “Whatever you want. I’ll buy.”

I hesitated before I put my hand in his. He tugged gently, and I jumped to my feet, trying not to notice the unexpected tingle shooting up my arm. I pulled my hand away and turned toward the kids, disconcerted by how much his presence was rattling me.

“Trina, hold up.”

I took a breath and turned back to him

“Maybe I should be the one to tell Gillian it’s time to go. She sort of, um, resists when you tell her what to do.”

I hated the truth in what he said, but I couldn’t let him take over like this. The only reason Gillian listened to him was because of a silly infatuation. I’d been babysitting her for years and he’d only spent half a day with her.

A wave of anger and frustration pulsed through me. “What are you saying, Slade?” I heard the rising hysteria in my voice, but couldn’t stop it. “You think there’s something wrong with me? That I don’t know what I’m doing?”

He put up his hands as if I were hitting him. “Hey, chill out, Trina. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with you.” But an expression flitted across his face that said otherwise.

I took a deep breath. I needed to get myself under control. But that look on his face…it made me feel small and embarrassed. I moved away from him, toward Gillian and Max, who watched us open-mouthed.

I had to stop letting him get to me. What did I care what he thought about me, anyway? He was a flake who hadn’t even earned this job, and he’d be gone by next week. I crouched down next to the kids.

“Stupid playboy,” I muttered then I forced a smile. “What did you decide on?” I asked Gillian.

She squinted at me. “Why are you so mean to Slade?”

“Yeah,” Max said, watching me suspiciously. “Stupid is a bad word.” He blinked at me. “What’s wrong with being a playboy? I like to play.”

“And he’s a boy,” Gillian added.

“But Max isn’t a playboy,” Slade said. Again with the towering over me thing. “And it’s not really a nice word, guys,” he said, his voice low and full of warning. “So you probably shouldn’t repeat it.”

Just kill me now. Maybe it wasn’t too late to get a job scrubbing toilets somewhere. So what if I gave up the double salary? I busied myself putting toys back on the shelf, refusing to look at Slade, or the kids, who were glaring at me.

“Gillian, are you ready? Let’s go pay for your evidence.” Slade smiled and reached for her hand.

She fluttered her eyelashes at him. “My what?”

“Your proof,” Slade said, grinning. “That you were here.”

“Oh,” she held out a box to him.

“Very cool, Gilly,” he said, checking out the Mars Rover kit.

I watched her swoon We needed to have a serious girl chat, or it was going to be a very long week.

“Her name is Gillian. Not Gilly,” I snapped.

Slade raised an eyebrow at me, but said nothing.

“I don’t mind,” Gillian whispered, looking up at him with adoring eyes.

Gag me. I stood up. “Let’s pay for this and get out of here. We should have been home half an hour ago.”

Slade sighed and released Gillian’s hand. “The moms said as long as the kids are home between five and six, it’s fi—”

“Are you ever on time? Anywhere?” My voice vibrated with frustration.

His eyes narrowed. “I wouldn’t know.” His voice was smooth and even, but anger glinted in his eyes. “I don’t wear a watch.” He stared pointedly at my wristwatch like it was an instrument of torture. “Let’s go wait by the car, Max-man. I need some fresh air.”

And with that, he bailed on me, for the second time in one day.

Chapter Five

Slade

Monday, June 3

“So,” Alex asked. “Was there bloodshed? Tears?”

I’d met Alex at the pool right after I was released from nanny duty. Jumping into the water had felt awesome, washing away all the stress and weirdness of my day with Trina.

God, she was a train wreck. I didn’t know how I was going to survive working with her. I wondered what would happen if I quit…besides my parents going ballistic.

“No bloodshed,” I said. “Just a few tears.”

“Trina’s, I assume?” Alex said.

“No. Gilly’s. Max’s buddy. She had a meltdown at the museum.”

“Ah,” Alex said. “Kids and their crying. You couldn’t pay me enough to babysit.”

I yawned. “Kids are cool. You just have to get in their headspace and it all works out. I tried to explain that to Trina, but she totally freaked out, like I was questioning her existence or something.”

Alex laughed. “You tried to tell Trina how to improve her nanny skills? I’m surprised there wasn’t bloodshed.”

“Yeah.” I remembered her face in the gift shop. She’d definitely wanted to draw blood. And that whole “playboy” comment… I shifted on my towel, unable to get comfortable. “She’s not exactly the tooth fairy, dude,” I said. “She’s more like…I don’t know…a rampaging devil pixie.”

“Hmm. Like I said, Tinker Bell. Cute, but possibly psychotic.”

I glanced at him. “What?”

He rolled his eyes. “Did you not read Peter Pan as a kid? Or at least see the cartoon? Tinker Bell. Insanely jealous. Sort of psycho.”

“I don’t think Trina’s jealous of me, but she’s definitely psycho.” I took a long swig from my soda. “I may as well pay up on the bet now. There’s no way I can get her to relax.”

Alex laughed. “The summer is young, my friend. Let’s wait and see what happens.”

I shrugged. “Whatever,” I said, distracted by the tall, gorgeous blonde who winked at me before she dove into the pool.

“Maybe you shouldn’t be so judgmental,” Alex said. “Maybe she has some official tight-ass disease.” He snorted. “TAD.”

The blonde swam to our side of the pool and leaned her arms on the edge, smiling right at me.

I was done talking about Bird Brain. As far as I was concerned, things between us were strictly business, and I was off the clock until Wednesday.

“Hey, gorgeous,” I said to the blonde. “Swim here often?”

Chapter Six

Trina

Monday, June 3

I made a beeline for the mall right after I lied and told Mrs. Forrester the day had been great. I don’t know why I bothered, since Gillian would tell her mom how I’d been mean to Mr. Perfect Nanny.

At least I could decompress with my best friend, I told myself as I navigated all the stroller moms and spastic middle schoolers.

Dressed in her uniform—a paper chef hat and sailor blouse with red bow tie—Desi glared daggers at me as I stood in line at the pretzel place. I knew she was paranoid that I’d post her photo online. She didn’t need to worry; no matter what she wore, she looked amazing. She was tall and gorgeous, with deep brown skin and cheekbones to kill for.

Once upon a time we’d been the same height, until Desi shot up to runway proportions and I stayed stuck at goblin-sized. In middle school people called us Salt and Pepper, which I worried was racially offensive, but Desi just laughed it off. For Halloween in eighth grade, we dressed up as salt and pepper shakers, me with a big S on my chest and her with a big P.

Desi rang up my sale, and we pretended not to know each other while the store manager hovered. She handed me my pretzel and whispered, “Wait by the fountain. My break’s in fifteen minutes.”

The fountain stood sentry in the middle of the mall, surrounded by statues of fake elk, fake boulders, and actual benches. Spray from the powerful waterspouts misted the air while I searched for a bench that wasn’t too wet. Mom texted to say she was working late at the hospital and I should eat leftovers without her. Sometimes I didn’t know how I handled the never-ending excitement that was my life.

Desi finally joined me, carrying two lemonades and a bag of pretzels, her hat tucked into the pocket of her pants. She handed me a drink. “Compliments of Pretzel Logic.” She leaned back on the bench. “All right, spill. How bad was it?” She sucked lemonade from her straw, appraising me through narrowed eyes. “You look wiped out. Were the kids that bad?”

“Not just the kids. Though Gillian was in rare form. But Slade…he was…” My voice trailed away as I pictured him towering over me in the gift shop, eyes flashing.

“He was what?” Desi prompted. “Did he set off the fire alarm as a prank?”

“What? No, of course not.” Even he had outgrown that.

“Did he let the kids play in traffic? Force feed them worms for lunch?”

Was Desi going to make me feel bad for every negative I’d said about Slade, just because he was friends with her boyfriend Trey?

“He totally questioned my authority, Dez. He bailed on us during the IMAX movie. He hated the binder. Gillian’s in love with him. Max thinks I’m mean.” My chest heaved as the words spilled out. “It wasn’t supposed to be like this! I’m an excellent babysitter. Remember that time I helped Jarvis build his volcano for the second grade science fair? He won a blue ribbon because of me.”

Desi slurped noisily from her straw, but I could tell she did it to hide her smile.

“You know I’m right. Slade has no business working as a nanny.”

“Max’s mom must not agree, or she wouldn’t have hired him.” She took a bite of pretzel, leaving a tiny speck of mustard on the corner of her mouth. Normally I’d tell her about the stain, but I was mad, so I didn’t.

I wanted to tell her the truth about how Slade got his job. But I couldn’t break my promise to the moms. Damn their delicious cookies and double salaries.

“You know, Trina, every other girl I know, and some guys, would be ecstatic to spend the summer working with Slade.” She slanted me a look. “Maybe you’re defective.”

I didn’t answer right away. Once or twice I may have caught myself staring at him during class. In the hall. Shooting hoops. And there’d been one time, one teeny tiny moment, when I’d almost lost my immunity.

We’d stayed after school for GSA club. Slade rarely came to the meetings, but everyone knew he was a total supporter because of Alex. Whenever Slade did show up, he was always the center of attention.

It was time to hang the fundraising car wash posters and Alex, always in charge, had pointed to Slade and me. “You two take the second floor.” I’d felt light-headed when Slade turned his full wattage grin on me.

He’d joked about our senile Spanish teacher, and I’d struggled for words, frustrated with myself for falling under his smexy spell. He’d held the poster too high for me to reach with the tape, looking down at me, laughing, making a joke about me needing a ladder. It wasn’t mean; it was flirty. And I knew it.

And for one never-ending moment, we’d stared at each other and I thought my heart would fly right out of my chest and crash into his. But the moment passed, and we returned to the GSA meeting, where he drifted across the room to joke with Alex, and it was like nothing ever happened.

“I’m not defective,” I told Desi. “Just immune to his spell.” I remembered his hand grasping mine in the gift shop and how my whole body had tingled. Okay, maybe ninety-nine percent immune.

“Whatever.” Desi wiped her mouth with a napkin, erasing the yellow stain. “What are you doing tomorrow, since it’s your day off?”

“Maybe a movie. And I should do more research on field trips for the kids.” And try to figure out where I’d gone wrong with Gillian today. I needed to rein her in, stat.

Desi stood up and blew into her paper chef’s hat, puffing it out like a balloon. “I’ll go to a movie with you, but only if you don’t rag on Slade the whole time. You need to step back from this situation and reevaluate.”

I gaped at her. “I need to reevaluate? Me? What about him? He doesn’t even—”

She put up a hand. “Save it for later. I’m headed back to work. If you’ve calmed down by tomorrow, we’ll talk for real.”

She turned on her heel and disappeared into the crowd.

Oh. My. God.

She was the second person who’d bailed on me in the same day.

Chapter Seven

Slade

Tuesday, June 4

I hoped to sneak into the kitchen, but my parents lurked like hunters stalking their caffeine-deprived prey.

“So tell us about your first nanny day. We didn’t even see you last night. When did you get home anyway? How were the kids? How was the other nanny?”

Mom. Why ask just one question when you could pepper a guy like a machine gun?

I poured myself a gigantic cup of coffee before answering. “Got home late. Kids were cool. Other nanny needs your professional assistance.” I slid into my assigned chair at the table, waiting for the next barrage.

“Slade, you shouldn’t joke about people needing our help.” That was Dad, never one to crack a smile at my shrink jokes. “Please expand on your mother’s questions.”

Expand on the questions? I glared at him. Sometimes he forgot I wasn’t one of his college students. Mom passed me one of her chalky homemade granola bars. What I really wanted was more of Mrs. G’s awesome cookies.

“Gilly’s kind of a spaz, but not impossible. Max is cool. Kind of cautious, though.”

“And the other nanny?” Dad arched an eyebrow.

Their eyes bored into me like I was revealing the secret location of a dead body.

I closed my eyes and sighed. If I told them how I actually felt about Bird Brain, they’d lecture me about accepting people’s differences, and being open to “other ways of being in the world.”

Yada yada yada until my ears bled.

“She’s…okay. A little intense.”

Dad drummed his fingers on the table. “Sometimes intensity is a good thing.”

I snorted. “Not this kind.”

Mom twisted her rings around her fingers. Why was she nervous? She wasn’t the one who had to deal with Bird Brain.

“But you two got along? Took care of the kids together?” Mom’s voice sounded tinny.

“Yeah, sure. It’s not like Trina and I got into some huge fight.” Just a few small ones. “We have different styles, I guess.”

This time Dad snorted. “I’ll bet.”

I glared at him. I hoped he never wrote a parenting manual because if he did, an untold number of kids would be permanently damaged by his crappy advice.

Mom sighed, looking relieved. That made me feel sort of crummy. I wasn’t going to let Mrs. G. down, or Mom. I could take care of Max, and probably Gilly, too. In fact, the kids would be better off with just me. I’d be a hell of a lot more fun than Bird Brain.

Maybe after this week, I’d suggest that idea to the moms.

“So what’s your plan for today?” Dad asked.

I knew he wouldn’t like my answer. “Hanging with Alex. Whatever.” I shrugged.

Dad opened his mouth, but Mom spoke first.

“Well, I’m just so pleased about your first day of nannying. You should enjoy relaxing today.”

Dad turned his glare on her, which was my cue to leave.

“Later, gators,” I called over my shoulder as they began arguing about me. A hailstorm of buzzwords followed me out of the room: motivation, self-actualization, participation…and a whole bunch of other words I chose to ignore. Today was going to be a stress-free day, and I planned to enjoy every minute. I pulled up my contact list, thumbing through lists of girls.

Time to make somebody’s day.