A low, sinister chucklerumbled from his chest as he diverted his gaze to the mirrored wall behind thebar and shook his head. “Well, at least you have the sense to come to me first.I guess that’s something.”
“What?”
Lifting a hand into theair and waving it dismissively, he replied, “My brother apparently thinks it’sokay to hire a babysitter for my daughters without talking to me first.”
“O-oh,” I stammered,taken aback and feeling like an utter fool. “I’m sorry. I didn’t—”
“No, no,” he cut meoff. The chill in his voice had warmed to something friendly and welcoming. “It’snot your fault. And I’mactually gladyou came. Shellytalked about you for a solid five minutes this morning.”
I looked away from himto fix my attention on the two little girls, playing a sloppy game of tagaround the floor of the club. They weaved in and out of tables, bumping intowooden chairs and squealing whenever splayed fingers touched a shoulder.
“Actually,” hecontinued, “she was more interested in your grandmother’scat, but still.”
“You talked about me tostrangers?” Grandma finally chimed in, and I tore my gaze from the girls to tryand stop my grandmother with a frigid glare. “Why were you talking aboutHarriett to people I don’t know, Tessa?”
“I wasn’t …” I sighed,pulling in a breath to grant me the patience I needed, and laid a hand over herfrail, bony shoulder. “I’ll tell you in the car, okay, Grandma?”
Her nod was short asshe pinched her lips, turning away from me to watch the little girls racearound the floor of the small club. I felt guilty, for dismissing her andtreating her like a child, and I decided I’d apologize later. But right now, Ihad business to tend to, and I looked back to the man I still didn’t have thename of, only to find him smiling in a fond, acknowledging sort of way thatbrought my own lips to smile back.
“Sorry,” I said in alow voice, hoping Grandma didn’t hear and squeezing her shoulder in case shedid.
“No problem.” He noddedand lifted a hand to squeeze the back of his neck. His smile disappeared and amore somber, serious expression took its place. “Uh, so Igottabe honest. I’m a little hesitant to just hire someone I don’t really know towatch my kids.”
I released Grandma’sshoulder to take a step closer. “Oh, no, I completely understand that. Youshouldbe.”
He lifted one side ofhis mouth into a friendly half-smile. “So, I thought, if you were reallyinterested, we could do this therightway. I can, uh, interview you and maybe you could spend a little time with thegirls, when my oldest isn’t in school. Sort of like a trial run.”
“Oh, you havethreedaughters?” My eyes widened withintrigue, and he nodded in reply.
“Yeah,” he clarified.“Lilly is my oldest; she’s six. Then, Shelly is four and Annabel istwo-and-a-half.”
“Oh, wow.”
His smile leaned towardsympathetic, while his eyes flashed something close to worry. “If it’s toomuch, or you’re not interested, I under—”
I shook my head. “No,not at all. I’m definitely interested.”
Surprise and somethingresembling disappointment overtook his features, and my curiosity lifted. Iwanted to know more about the things he was leaving unsaid as his lips pressedtightly together, as his throat moved deeply with his swallow, as his eyesblinked, shadowed, and then blinked again. I picked up on every one of thoselittle nuances and I held on tight, committing them to memory with anunrelenting need to write them down.
“Great,” he said,moving around the bar to grab a pen and paper. “Let me just give you my number.Call me tonight and we’ll set something up.”
He was left-handed, Inoticed, as the pen scratched over the notepad. A wedding ring glinted underthe industrial lights, and to the soundtrack of giggling little girls, Iwondered why his wife wasn’t assisting in this whole ordeal. Why hisbrotherwas the one to offer me the job.Why he now hesitated ever so slightly in ripping the page from the pad.
But he smiled as hereached out to me, passing the slip of paper into my hand. “I’m Jon, by theway.”
“Well, it’s nice tomeet you, Jon,” I replied, folding the paper and tucking it into my bag. “I’llgive you a call later. Is there a specific time, or …?”
“Uh,” he began, just asJeff emerged from a door behind the bar. Jeff’s eyes darted between Jon,Grandma, and me, before asking, “What’s happening out here?”
Jon cleared his throatand turned to his brother. “Tessa might be babysitting for the girls. We’regonnatalk on the phone tonight and see where it goes fromthere.” An unspoken exchange passed between their eyes; Jon’s narrowed with theterse line of his lips, Jeff’s widened, before finally, Jon’s relaxed as hishead bobbed gently.
“Well, that’s awesome,”Jeff said with a nod in my direction. “I hope it works out.”
And surprisingly, sodid I.
CHAPTER SIX
TESS
