Chloe touched his picture. In it he looked like a brooding author with his hand under his chin. “That’s cool. He’s hot.”
My brow furrowed. “What do you know about men being hot?”
“Mom.” She rolled her eyes. “I know lots of hot boys at school.”
“Oh, really? Who?”
She blushed, making me worry. I was hoping for her not to notice boys until she was thirty and had the sense to stay away from them all together. It was a pipe dream, I know. When she didn’t answer, I became more concerned. “Do you like someone?”Dear God, please no.
“Kind of,” she squeaked.
My heart dropped to my feet. “Does he have a name?”
“Alec.” She grinned.
“How do you know Alec?”
“We have the same lunch. He’s in ninth grade.”
All the air whooshed out of my lungs like I’d been sucker punched. That’s how I met her father, except I was a sophomore and he was a senior. I had to remind myself Chloe wasn’t me. “That’s nice,” I lied. My baby was only in seventh grade. No one should be looking at her, especially older boys.
“It’s no big deal. I’ve never talked to him.”
I breathed a sigh of relief, for now.
“But one of his friends told Ginger to tell me that he thinks I’m pretty.”
That was it; we were for sure moving back to Carrington Cove. “That’s sweet, but can I give you some advice?”
“Okay,” she resigned herself.
I kissed the top of her towel. “I know you think I’m old, but it wasn’t that long ago that I was in your shoes. And I wish someone would have told me to wait for a boy who is brave enough to tell you himself how he feels about you.” If only I’d known. Leland was like this Alec. He played the cat and mouse game with me my entire sophomore year, having his friends tell my friends or me how much he liked me, but he didn’t ask me out until the last day of school. Then all summer long he strung me along until he left for college. He broke more of our dates than he kept. His excuses ranged from having to work to his parents grounding him, but looking back, it was always another girl. I was just too naïve to realize it.
He played the same game with me every summer until I graduated. Like a lovesick puppy, I always chased after him whenever he showed me any attention. All because he was beautiful, angsty, and could play a guitar. Every girl I knew wanted him. Then I finally went off to college and started dating a nice guy named Matt. When Leland found out, he came chasing after me, telling me how much he loved me. I was foolish enough to believe him, but the truth was he didn’t want anyone else to have me. That’s how we got Chloe. There I was, pregnant and married at nineteen, babyat twenty, divorced by twenty-one. Never once did I regret having her. I squeezed my girl tighter.
“Mom, it’s no big deal.”
She was probably right, but I knew there would be a day when it was going to be a huge deal, and I wasn’t ready for it. Just like I wasn’t ready for the choice I had to make. “Baby girl, I need to talk to you about something important.”
She lifted her head and looked up at me. She barely had to lift her head; she was almost as tall as me now. A few more inches and she would surpass me at five foot eight.
I tapped her cute button nose. “The man on the back of this book, Mr. Wickham, offered me a job today.”
Her face scrunched. “What kind of job?”
“He wants me to be his nephew’s nanny and his personal assistant.”
Chloe’s face looked more than unimpressed. “He wants you to be a babysitter?”
I pulled her to me and hugged her tight. “It’s a little more detailed than that, but sort of, except this is better paying than any babysitting job. In fact, it’s a lot more money than I make now at the bank.”
That got her attention. She popped up and out of my arms. “Like how much?” Her eyes began to swirl with all the possibilities. “Could I finally get a cell phone?”
“It would definitely be enough for you to get your own cell phone.”
She squealed and kicked her legs. “Yes! Take the job.”
“Before you get too excited, kiddo, I don’t know if Ishouldtake the job.”
