Page 42 of Always Be Mine
Easy for her to say. She wasn’t about to go home and tell his ridiculously hot nanny, whom he couldn’t stop thinking about and couldn’t afford to lose, that she needed to move into their house in less than two days.
Kat joined him at the door and together they stepped out into the warm spring day. “While you’re talking to her, maybe you should?—”
“Oh no.” Craig held up a hand. “Whatever you think I should do, the answer is no. This is going to be awkward enough.”
Kat flipped her hair over her shoulder. “Why would it be awkward?” She didn’t wait for an answer before she shook her head and continued. “I was just going to say that I think you should invite her over for family dinner on Sunday.”
“Family dinner?”
Over the last few months, the Carlson clan had resumed the habit of a weekly family dinner, often at the big house, where they could reconnect and come together as a family. It was loud and chaotic, and there was no way he was going to bring Lucy into that. Especially when this weekend was going to be hard enough.
“Come on,” she pushed. “She spends so much time with Meri that she’s practically family. We should all get to know her better. It’ll be fine.”
Craig took a deep breath in through the nose. It would most certainly not be fine, but there was no way he could tell his sister the reason he didn’t want to invite her to the family dinner was the same reason he didn’t want her to move into his house. He was starting to have feelings for Lucy. Feelings he couldn’t afford to have.
She had dinner cooking in the slow cooker on the counter, two loads of laundry done and folded, and Meri had already completed her printing assignment from school.
If anyone had told Lucy a month ago that she would find herself in a small town, playing house with a little girl who wasn’t hers, she would have laughed in their face. Of all the ways she’d seen her life playing out, cooking, cleaning, and looking after a child who wasn’t hers didn’t even make the top twenty.
Despite how unexpected her new job was, she could honestly say that the last few weeks had been some of her favorite in a very long time. Meri was a sweetheart, and the two of them had taken to each other right away. It was a much quieter pace of life, but as far as Lucy was concerned, a much-needed change.
“Lucy! I’m ready!” Meri appeared, dressed head-to-toe in her full snowsuit in the kitchen. She had a scarf wrapped around her head and face, mittens on her hands, and to finish off the look, running shoes on her feet.
Lucy bit back a laugh. “What exactly are you ready for? Running away from a snow monster in the middle of a blizzard?”
Meri laughed. “No, silly. For building snowmen. You said when I was done cleaning my room, we could go outside.”
“I sure did say that. But I think you might be a little overkill. I know we got another dump of snow…” she circled the little girl slowly, pretending to think, “I guess I’d say you’re both overdressed and underdressed. But good job getting ready.”
Lucy hadn’t fully believed people when they’d told her it wouldn’t be unusual to get another big dump of snow, but when she’d woken up to see a thick layer of white stuff, she got an idea.
Lucy unwound the scarf and handed Meri a knit cap instead. “It’s pretty warm out there already. We might not even need hats. But just in case.”
Meri nodded seriously.
“And maybe your fleecy jacket would be a better choice than the parka. But leave the snow pants on so you can sit in the snow.” Lucy tapped her finger against her lips. “And the running shoes have to go. You need your winter boots for sure. We don’t want cold wet toes ruining our build, do we?”
“No way!”
“Go grab boots, kiddo. I have a surprise for you when we get out there.”
“A surprise? What is it?”
“It wouldn’t be much of a surprise if I told you already, would it?” Lucy winked. “The faster we get out there, the sooner you’ll know. Besides, the snow is melting quickly. We don’t have long.”
That’s all it took for Meri to run out of the room and make the changes to her wardrobe. Lucy laughed with a shake of her head and grabbed thesurprisefrom the counter where she’d just finished preparing it.
Her phone dinged with an incoming message. Craig wasn’t texting her quite as frequently as he had been those first few days, which was probably a good sign considering he clearly trusted that she could do a good job watching his daughter. Still, she couldn’t help but hope it was him who’d sent her a message.
It was her mother.
Did you have a chance to try those recipes I sent?
Lucy turned and snapped a picture of the slow cooker on the counter. She sent it to her mom.
Beef stew is cooking right now. Thanks. So far they’ve all been big hits.
After the first day or two on the job, when it became clear that Meri and Craig lived mostly on frozen food like fish sticks and chicken fingers, Lucy had reached out to her mom for some tried-and-true favorites. She herself had never been much of a cook, especially working in the restaurant industry for most of her adult life. She’d relied pretty heavily on quick and easy foods, or whatever she could convince the chef at work to make her.
