Brodie’s lips twitched. “Absolutely,” he said, as if he wouldn’t expect anything less, though she wondered if anyone had said no to him in his life.
Behind her, she caught Zoey doing a little victory dance and shooed her away into the living room before going over to pull out the chair opposite Brodie.
“You don’t leave the house,” she said. “Neither of you, either separately or together.”
Brodie shook his head. “No, ma’am.”
She cocked her head. “Don’t do that.”
“What?”
Maeve didn’t reply because she knew that he knewwhat, judging by the smirk on his face.
“Sorry,” he said, holding up his hands. “I’m not very good at being told off. Ask my brothers.”
“I’m not telling you off, Brodie. I’m not your teacher.” She tipped her head back.
“No, of course not.” He smirked again, seemingly unable to help himself.
She pushed her chair back. “I’m going to call Carole.”
“No,” he held his hands up again. “Please don’t. Sorry.” He schooled his features. “I’ll be serious.” He shook his head like he was trying to rid himself of his childishness. “Okay,” he said, gravely. “I’m ready.” He rolled his shoulders back. “Can I take her to the movies?”
“Brodie, I just said, don’t leave the house.”
“Did you?”
She put her head in her hands. Her phone bleeped and her pager went off again. “I really have to go. Please, Brodie, don’t go anywhere, don’t anything. Just—” She sighed. “It’s a school night. Zoey has to be in bed at eight. By your standards, it’s boring. You watch TV, she goes to bed, you sit here on the couch for the rest of the evening. You go up if she gets scared. It’s not glamorous or exciting—it’s just—” she felt weirdly guilty saying the word “—parenting.”
His mouth opened slightly as if he was going to protest but then he seemed to reconsider and gave a small lift of his chin to show he’d understood. “I hear you,” he said.
She narrowed her eyes, trying to look behind the charm and the beauty and the little turn up of his mouth that clearly got him everything he ever wanted. “Do you?”
He nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”
She sighed.
He bit down on a grin. “Sorry.”
Maeve ignored him. She had no choice but to trust him. He was the dad. And as much as she wanted it to be, this wasn’t onlyherchessboard now. “Just look after her.”
Before he could reply, Zoey appeared in the doorway. “Are we going to the movies?” she asked with an excited grin in Brodie’s direction, like she’d listened in on some of what had been said but had felt too guilty to eavesdrop on all of it.
Brodie shook his head. “Nah, sorry, kid, we have to stay in.”
“Why?” Zoey whined. “Just ’cause Mom says…” Her eyes immediately zeroed in on Maeve like she was the worst person in the world.
Maeve flinched.
But then Brodie said, “No, that’s not it. It’s school tomorrow. No one goes out on a school night. Not even me.” He made a face like the idea was pure madness. “On a school night,” he said, strolling in the direction of the living room, “you want to get cozy and sit on the couch and watch Harry Potter—but actually not the third movie, either, because that isterrifying.”
Zoey followed him, Maeve could sense her daughter’s wariness, like she knew she was being played, but as long as Brodie was involved, she would play along herself. “Can we have popcorn?”
Brodie glanced back at Maeve who would normally say no because they’d already had ice cream but didn’t want to give any more fodder to being Mean Mom, so she said, “Yes, it’s in the cupboard above the toaster.”
Brodie tipped his head. “Harry Potter and popcorn. That’s like myperfectevening.”
There was Zoey’s sweet tinkling little giggle.
