“You know what I mean.”
He leans forward, mirroring my posture. “I do. And as much as I’d like to rib you about it, you don’t have much time to spare. Mom leaves Monday. Who knows when your nanny will skip town?”
Yeah. I know.
I need to find Megan and ask her to stay.
My body tightens, struggling against the chaos erupting inside me.
“I’m going to take a shower and find something to eat,” I say, my jaw tensing. “Then I’m going to figure this out.”
“And?”
“And go into town,” I say.
“And?”
“Fuck off, Luke.”
“Are you gonna grovel?” He laughs, his eyes sparkling with mischief. “You are, aren’t you? She has you groveling, and you haven’t even touched her yet. This is amazing.”
“Please leave.”
Luke snickers and gets to his feet. “Fine. I’ll be over on Monday to meet the new nanny.”
I hold my head in my hands.
How can one thing simultaneously feel like the right and wrong answer?
CHAPTER 8
Megan
It’s too earlyfor the leaves to fall.
I tug my sweatshirt closer to my body as a barrier to the breeze. The temperature must’ve dropped ten degrees since I set out on a walk of Peachwood Falls a couple of hours ago, and I wasn’t prepared. I was too preoccupied with my thoughts to grab a jacket.
The quaint town is reminiscent of a backdrop in a cheesy cable drama. I looked for a coffee shop, Peachwood Falls’s version of Luke’s Diner, but came up empty.
There is only The Wet Whistle.
I stroll down a residential street and take in the small homes on either side of the road. They’re modest with cozy porches complete with swings. Many chairs, coffee tables, bicycles, and topiaries are wound with twinkling white lights. I imagine the townspeople congregating on their porch swings after dinner and waving to one another while the children play.
It makes me smile.
My phone buzzes as I turn onto the street that leads back to the hotel. A glance shows Calista’s name.
“Hey,” I say.
“Hey, you. Sorry I missed your call earlier. I was …busy.”
I roll my eyes. I know what that means in Calista’s language.
“How did it go?” she asks. “Tell me all the things.”
I sigh and step over a puddle.
I left my room two hours ago to sort outall the things, as Calista put it. But, to my surprise, there’s more rolling around my head than I realized.
