“I’m sorry.” Apparently, that was the only thing his muddled brain could come up with right now. He stood. “Did she hurt you?”
Hallie shook her head a little too quickly. “Uh … no. It’s fine.” But she hadn’t relaxed, and she eyed Pumpkin warily.
The dog inched forward, sniffing at the newcomer’s flip flops. Hallie took a step back.
Christian’s tongue felt too large for his mouth. He hooked a finger underneath his collar, attempting to pull it away from his neck. “What’re you doing here?”
Oh, real smooth, buddy.
Where did all these nerves come from? It didn’t help that Penelope kept patting his cheek with her hand and giggling. She was obviously oblivious of the tension swirling around them all. They were caught in this weird cringey snow globe waiting for someone to come by with a hammer to break the glass and free them all.
With a small shake of her head, Hallie seemed to snap out of her frozen state. She held out the green-and-white box. “I know you told me not to but … I wanted to thank you for helping me.” Her eyes darted from Christian to his daughter and back. “I hope you like cookies.”
“Cookies!” Penelope lunged for the box.
Christian circled his other arm around her to keep her from toppling out of his hold. “This one does, as you can see.”
Hallie gave a hesitant laugh, but she said nothing more. She became fixated on something at his side, and he realized that Isla had emerged from the house.
“I washed my hands, Daddy. Can I have a snack?” Her expression turned suspicious when she noticed Hallie. “Who’re you?”
The smile Hallie gave the child was polite, but her obvious discomfort grew. “My name is Hallie. What’s yours?”
Isla ignored her question, instead looking up at her father. “I don’t like her.”
“Isla,” Christian warned.
Hallie’s brows shot up to her hairline. “Oh … um … it’s nice to meet you too.”
Isla glared at her. “Are you my new nanny? Our last one quit, and we don’t want another one.”
Christian set a hand on his daughter’s shoulder. “Isla, that’s enough.”
This is not going well.She made it sound like Annelise left for some horrible reason, not because of her educational pursuits. He summoned all his calm, despite his desire to scoop both girls up and disappear into the house before this escalated further. Good thing he’d had lots of practice remaining composed around people.
Isla was bent on testing every ounce of it, however. Yanking her shoulder from his grasp, she spun toward him. “No! I won’t have another nanny. She’ll leave just like everybody else!”
Christian opened his mouth, but Isla wasn’t finished.
“Go away!” she screamed, turning on Hallie. “We don’t want you here! You’ll never be my nanny.” She lunged forward, landing a swift kick in the middle of Hallie’s shin.
“Isla!” he gasped.
Hallie winced in pain at the same time Isla took off toward thehouse. Pumpkin’s barks echoed through the air as she sped after the girl. In all the chaos, Penelope broke down crying.
Tilting his head to the sky, Christian pinched the bridge of his nose with his free hand. Was it too much to ask that someone else be the problem solver for once? He was tired, dang it!
He rubbed Penelope’s back,shhhingsoftly in her ear. Once her wails had downgraded to quiet sniffles, he switched his focus to solving the next problem.
But when he turned to Hallie, his eyes landed on another car parked at the curb. A woman, who looked to be in her late thirties, stood frozen outside her vehicle, watching the commotion.
The real nanny applicant. How much had she seen?
By the alarm written across her face, Christian knew she’d witnessed the entire unfortunate event. And she did not like what she’d seen.
Fantastic.
She yanked the door open, hastily folded her ample body inside, and started the engine. Her tires squealed as she peeled away from the curb.
