Chapter 3
2200 Words
Three
Phoenix
“You found him. Maybe you should go back to school to be a private investigator or something.” Holly sneaks a peek down the hallway.
Griffin is standing right by the opening.
“Shhh,” I say, not wanting him to overhear.
“Give me the baby,” Holly says. “My plan is to let the kids pick up all the balls from baseball practice to exhaust them.”
I pull Phoebe from the holder, and Holly gets the cloth off of me and puts the wrap on herself. By the time she has her own baby, she’ll be a pro.
“I didn’t find him on purpose. I wasn’t expecting to find him right now at all. Otherwise I would’ve maybe brushed my teeth and showered this morning. Yesterday I had Calista in a dress, Dion’s face was clean all day, and Phoebe had one of those pretty ribbons in her hair. Of course the day I run into him, Phoebe will only sleep attached to me, Calista is on a sugar high, and Dion is a mess.”
Holly can’t even argue. She hands them to me in the morning all neat and clean and happy. I hand them back to her in mismatched clothes, dirty, and cranky.
“What were you guys talking about when I came in?”
I smile. “He asked me if I was a nanny.”
“Jackpot,” Holly says. Have I mentioned how much I love her? It’s like she gets me. “So is he going to hire you?”
“He just mentioned doing a background check when you came in.”
She cringes while we get Phoebe into the wrap now attached to Holly. The baby fusses for a second but calms down when Holly pats her bum.
“Yeah. I guess I didn’t think this through because hello, he’s going to find out I’m a Bailey. And then Denver will find out and…”
She looks down the hallway again. Griffin waves, and we both wave back.
“The two of us hiding out in this hallway looks suspicious,” Holly says.
“Will you vouch for me? Maybe he won’t insist on a background check if the school principal says I’m legit.”
She releases a long breath. “Phoenix…”
I get it. She’s the principal of the high school. She has to stay on the moral high ground. But a girl’s gotta try.
“Please? It’s not like I’m a bad person. I’ll keep his kid safe.”
Holly’s hands run over Phoebe’s back as she shifts her weight side to side. “I don’t want to lie.”
“You’re not lying. I am a nanny right now for Rome and Harley.”
She gives me a look that says I’m stretching the truth. “You’d better figure something out because he’s talking to Greta now.”
I look down the hall and see that she’s right.
“She’s going to spill who you are.”
“Damn it.” I speed walk down the hall. “Griffin.”
He turns toward me. “Hey, I had no idea you were a Bailey? I know Denver. Well, you probably know that with what we went through a few years back.”
“Greta, I need four cookies. Two dinosaur and two sunflowers.” Holly doesn’t join our conversation. Guess she’s pretty firm on the not-lying thing.
“Yeah, Denver is my brother.”
Holly stays a safe distance away. “Dion and Calista, we need to get going. You get to help Coach pick up the baseballs after practice today.”
“Yay!” Dion falls off the chair.
Holly sighs after she sees him get back up with no visible scratches.
“This is great,” Griffin says. “Denver’s good people.”
I nod.
“Let me introduce you to Maverick.”
“Thanks, Greta.” Holly takes the bag of goodies and turns to the kids. “Say goodbye to Aun—Phoenix. You’ll see her tomorrow.”
Dion and Calista each hug me.
“You’ll pick them up at seven again?” she asks, her hand already on the door handle.
“Yep.”
“Nice to meet you, Holly…” Griffin waits for her to fill in the rest of her name.
She waves. “You too.” I’m not sure if she pinches Phoebe, or it’s just great timing, but Phoebe wails and rocks her head back. “Gotta go. Welcome to Lake Starlight.”
Holly practically pushes the kids out the door. She might not lie for me, but she’ll omit information. Still works.
“That woman has her hands full,” Griffin says with a smile.
He’s really attractive. Much more so in person than on television or in a magazine. His dark, shoulder-length hair is lighter on the ends and looks thick and shiny, while his deep brown eyes hold a bit of mystery, but they’re kind.
“She does now,” I say.
“This is Maverick.” He holds out his arm, but the kid doesn’t bother leaving the table and his eyes don’t leave his phone. “Maverick?”
The boy sighs dramatically like I used to. Okay, like I still do. He pockets his phone and comes to stand next to his dad, still not making eye contact with me.
“This is Phoenix Bailey. She’s Denver’s sister.”
Maverick nods.
“Hey, Maverick,” I say with a huge smile because I’m channeling my inner Nanny Jo.
“Hi.”
“We’re staying at Glacier Point right now. Maybe we could meet for coffee tomorrow. You can fill out an application and back—”
The door chimes again and I hold my breath because one of these times it’s going to be Denver. He’ll out me as not being a professional childcare provider right away.
“Griffin Thorne. I heard you were moving to Lake Starlight.” Grandma Dori walks in with Ethel on her heels, fresh from the beauty shop I’d guess, since their hair is nicely styled, and Grandma Dori’s blue gleam is brighter than normal.
He circles around and puts out his hand. “Hello.”
“Dori Bailey. Denver’s grandmother.” She shakes his hand. “This is Ethel.”
Ethel waves but puts her finger on her hearing aid and walks to the other side of the shop to talk to whoever about her podiatrist appointment.
“Nice to meet you. I feel like I might meet the entire family today.”
Grandma looks at me and slides her arm through mine. “Oh, you’ve met our ever-reliable Phoenix. She’s the best. Who else have you met?”
She pats my hand with her free one. I strain to smile when I really want to remind her that it was just a few weeks ago that she said she didn’t know what to do with me.
Griffin smiles. “Just Phoenix.”
So he never caught on to Holly being a Bailey by marriage. That’s good.
“And who are you?” Grandma bends as much as she can and gets in Maverick’s face.
Griffin elbows him, and Maverick has to catch his balance to right himself.
“Maverick,” he mumbles.
“Maverick. Like Tom Cruise?” Grandma Dori says.
“What?” Maverick asks with disdain.
Surely this kid knows about Top Gun?
“The character Tom Cruise played in Top Gun,” Griffin says and smiles at both of us like, ’Kids, am I right?’
“You’ll need to come over to my granddaughter Savannah’s house. We have eighties movie nights,” Grandma Dori says.
Maverick looks at his father. Griffin smiles and nods. Even I know eight is too young for that movie.
“Dear, what brings you to Sweet Suga? Ethel and I were coming back from Clip and Dish and saw you talking to our new Lake Starlight resident, thought we’d pop in.”
“I had Calista, Dion, and Phoebe. Holly’s taken them though.” I’m trying to tell her with my eyes not to out me.
“She’s so good with those kids. I mean, if their parents could maybe spread them out a little more, it’d be easier, but they do love Phoenix.”
Griffin smiles at me. His teeth are so white, so straight, so alluring. And when he smiles, there are these crinkle lines at the corners of his eyes that do something to me. Damn, everything down south is saying screw the nanny position and screw him instead.
No, no, no. I will not be detoured from my goal. I’m lying for one reason only—to have this man see how talented I am and skyrocket me to stardom.
“I hope they won’t get mad if I steal Phoenix away,” he says.
Grandma widens her eyes at me. “Oh, you better snag her before someone else does. She’s a hot commodity in Lake Starlight.”
Thanks, Grandma, for refraining to mention that you fired me yourself.
“Really? I was going to do a background check and an application, but—”
“Background check? Dear.” She touches his arm. “You’re not in LA anymore. This is Lake Starlight. And Phoenix is a Bailey.” She lowers her voice. “I’m the matriarch, and I would never tell you to hire my granddaughter unless I knew she was the perfect fit for you. You can trust me on that. Right, Ethel?”
“Right. Someone was just asking about Phoenix at the salon.”
What did these two do? Rehearse this before coming in here?
“Geez, I had Denver looking, and he never mentioned Phoenix.”
Grandma waves him away and rolls her eyes. “Oh, he’s so forgetful these days. All his attention is on Cleo. You know what a new relationship is like.”
Surprisingly, Griffin nods as though he does. Obviously, I’ve googled the man, but other than his wife, there’s been no one serious. Sure, there have been some rumors of him with different artists, but even I know those aren’t always true.
“I’m enrolling Maverick at school tomorrow and I have to get working on the house if we’re going to move in. Maybe we can meet tomorrow over coffee to discuss salary?”
“Why wait?” Grandma Dori drags me over to a table, pulls out a chair, and shoves me into it. “Talk now. We can take Maverick down to the park. You can see it from the window. Right by the library.”
Griffin follows the direction Grandma Dori’s finger is pointed and nods.
Maverick doesn’t appear to be jumping for joy about it, but he doesn’t say anything.
“That’d be great,” Griffin says.
“I’m sure you have a million things to do. Securing the nanny should be the first.” Ethel puts up her pointer finger as if she’s the wisest one out of all of us.
Grandma Dori pulls out a chair for Griffin and he sits down, running his hands through his long strands. I hope there’s no drool dripping down my chin. He’s completely gorgeous. Why on Earth would his wife cheat on him with his ugly-ass partner?
Before I can blink, the three of them are out the door with the chime ringing and I’m sitting alone in front of Griffin Thorne. I had a plan. All these things I intended to tell him. But I clam up and sit there silently instead.
He bites the bottom of his lip. “I’m not prepared for this.”
I laugh nervously.
“Do I make you uncomfortable?” he asks.
“No,” I say in a rush. But the truth is, he does. He’s Griffin f*****g Thorne. He’s worked with some of the biggest names in the business. Of course he makes me nervous.
“You obviously know what I used to do?”
“Used to?”
He inhales. “I was a music producer back in LA, but I’m putting that behind me now. But I still need someone to watch Maverick while I finish working on the house. I’m going to do a lot of the work myself, and hopefully by the time I’m done, I’ll have figured out what I want to do with this next stage of my life.”
“What?” My voice is no louder than a whisper, but he hears me.
He nods slowly. “I’ve decided to step back. I’m sure you don’t follow the music scene, but…”
I listen to him talk about an article in a music magazine. I’ve read the one he’s talking about—the one that said he sold out. He tells me how the business has changed and what used to inspire him feels like work now. My heart breaks while he speaks. I know what it feels like to be passionate about something, and I can’t imagine him losing that.
I should walk away. I should tell him the truth. But for the first time in my life, I feel sorry for someone who isn’t my family.
How could he not want to fill his days creating music? He’s produced huge artists who might never have become who they did without him. He’s lost the spark. The same spark inside me that I hope never dims. I might be down right now, but I’m not out.
“Phoenix?” He touches my hand to gain my attention.
I pull away, placing my hand in my lap. “I’m sorry, what?”
“Is that good then?”
“Yeah,” I agree without processing all the details. “Wait…”
He chuckles. “I thought I lost you for a moment. Until we move into the house, you’ll pick him up after school and watch him until dinner. After we move in, you can have the spare room. Take him to school, pick him up from school, run the house errands, and cook us dinner?”
I nod.
“I’ll pay you…” He seems to think about it for a moment, then says a figure that makes my eyes widen.
I’ve never had a job that paid that much a week, and I can’t pass up money like that. It doesn’t matter if he’s left the business. With money like that, I can probably be back in LA and pursuing my dream by summer’s end. I can handle hanging out with his kid and picking up his dry cleaning. No problem.
I hold my hand out across the table. His slides into mine and I ignore the rush of electricity when our palms meet. “Deal.”
“Perfect. This is gonna work out great.” He winks, and I have to remind myself that I’m here for his son, not him.
- Writer
