by K. C. Crowne
“Come in!” Tracy called out.
The door opened and in stepped none other than the boundary-crossing secretary herself, Jenny.
“Ms. Shepard,” she said, entering with her eyes on the office iPad in her hands. “I just wanted to let you know that I rescheduled all of Dr. Frost’s —”
Her eyes flicked up to see that the man she was discussing was right there in front of her. Jenny’s eyes went wide, and she froze in place.
I was confused. “Something wrong?” I asked.
Jenny shook her head, then latched her still wide eyes onto her iPad as if afraid to look at me.
“Um, is there anything else, Ms. Shepard?”
“Nope, not a thing. And since Dr. Frost is taking off early today, why don’t you do the same? Send me the schedule for the rest of the week once it’s filled out, then go ahead and take off.”
“Th-thank you, Ms. Shepard,” she stammered as she was half out the door.
When she was gone, I turned in my seat and watched her hurry down the hall. Then I reached over the back of the chair and shut the door before turning back to Tracy.
“Uh, did something happen with her? She looked like I was two seconds away from biting her head off.”
Tracy smiled. “Just took care of what you asked me to take care of. I simply called her into the office and made our workplace guidelines very, very, clear. She won’t be giving you any more trouble – not if she wants to keep her job, of course.”
“Wow,” I said. “Not even going to ask how you said it.”
“You’re the best doctor I’ve got, Hayden. You really think I wouldn’t give a college kid a talking to in order to make you happy?”
“What can I say?” I asked, getting up. “You really had my back on this one.”
“That’s what I’m here for.”
I nodded as I headed to the door. “Thanks again, Trace. Though I have to admit I feel a little like you’re a mafia hitman I sent to do my dirty work.”
“Then don’t think that way. My job is to keep things humming around here. Now, you get out of here and take care of those kids. See you in the morning.”
“Later, Trace.”
With that, I left her office and headed back to my own. I glanced over at Jenny at the front desk as I passed by the hallway leading to the reception area. She didn’t notice me, and part of me wondered if I ought to stop in on her and make it clear that I wasn’t going to get her fired for talking to me.
Maybe later. For the time being, it was nice to know that I could leave for the day without getting invited to a frat party.
Once back in my office, I turned my attention back to the evening ahead. I still hadn’t gotten a chance to meet Nancy, the nanny. I wondered if she’d be another complication. When I pictured a nanny, I imagined some attractive, college girl – a total sexy stereotype.
An issue for later. I wanted to get things off on the right foot with Grace, so I slipped out my phone and typed up a text.
Hey. I’m thinking that with us needing to get settled in tonight, it’d be a good idea not to worry about dinner. You care if I pick something up?
After I sent the text, I propped my feet up on my desk and leaned back. But I didn’t have a chance to get too comfortable – her reply came seconds later.
Sure. I’m not a picky eater, so get whatever.
I glanced away from my phone, trying to figure out what would be a good choice for dinner, deciding on Chinese. But right as I turned my attention back to the screen to send a reply text, another one from Grace arrived.
Thanks for getting dinner. I really appreciate it. And if you want, we can alternate dinners each night – might be easier for us that way.
It was…strange. There was no sassy comment, no weirdness. Just her honestly thanking me for picking up dinner.
What the hell was going on here?
Without thinking, I typed a reply. Alright – who are you and what have you done with Grace? Or wait, were you kidnapped, and this is your way of letting me know you’re in trouble?
I let the message stay on the screen for a long moment before hitting delete and removing it.
Perfect, I wrote instead. I was going to grab Chinese if that works.
Works great! I love orange chicken.
Not knowing what else to say or do, I hit the “thumbs up” reaction for the text then slipped my phone back into my pocket. After doing a little Google investigating, I found a highly rated restaurant near Ryan and Carly’s place and put in an order for pickup.
Something weird was going on, and I wanted to find out what it was.
I arrived at the house a little before five, bag of Chinese food in hand. As I approached the front doors, I heard muffled noise.
“Hey! Now, Lily!” The voice carried a British accent, and I knew right away it had to belong to the nanny. “Come here and cease with that!”
Uh-oh. Was Nancy not only going to be a hot nanny, but a hot British nanny? This could be trouble.
I pressed the electronic doorbell, hearing the soft chime sound through the house.
“Just a moment!” shouted the voice. More commotion followed, the kids undoubtedly getting into some mischief. I checked my watch to see that it was ten of – Grace should be arriving at any second.
But a moment passed, then another, then another. I had a key, so I figured there wouldn’t be any harm in letting myself in. When I unlocked the door and prepared to open it, however, it flew open and revealed a very frazzled-looking older woman.
“You the good doctor?” she asked, her voice prim and polished. “Get on in here – I could use some help. I’m Nancy Summers, by the way.”
OK, so she didn’t look quite like what I was expecting. For some reason I’d had in mind someone a little younger – Nancy appeared to be around my parents age, sixty or so. And while she wasn’t a bad-looking woman by any stretch of the imagination, she was clearly just as frazzled as I’d assumed when I’d heard her voice.
“Pleasure to meet you, Nancy Summers,” I said as I caught up to her while she took hurried steps into the kitchen.
“Interesting accent,” she said. “New Zealand like Ryan?”
“Yep – from Taupo as well. Ryan and I grew up together.”
“Well, I’ll be,” she said, as we crossed the threshold into the kitchen. “You’re from New Zealand, I’m from Croydon, and here we meet for the first time while a couple of squalling girls are waiting to be tended to.”
She didn’t need to say anything else on the matter of the girls. Lily and Rose were in the kitchen in their highchairs, both shouting and banging on their counters.
“Hey!” Another voice spoke out behind us, and Nancy and I turned on our heels to see who it was.
Grace stood at the entrance to the hallway, her fingers waggling in a wave.
“Sorry to barge in, but the door was open.”
“Oh, no worries,” Nancy said. “Good to see you, Grace.”
Grace didn’t waste a moment forming up at my side. Her eyes flicked to the bag in my hand.
“Smells good,” she said.
I chuckled.
“OK,” Nancy said, her voice taking on a clear tone of authority. “Here’s the game plan, as the yanks say. Grace, you take Lily, and I’ll take Rose. Dr. Hayden, you get their area cleaned up and get the food out of the fridge for their dinner.”
“Sounds good,” Grace said.
“Mind if I have one of these eggrolls first?” I asked with a shit-eating grin. “I’m famished.”
Nancy, her expression not lightening in the slightest, cast a glance at Grace. “Ah, a joker.”
“You’ll get used to it,” Grace replied. “Or maybe you won’t.”
That got a smile out of Nancy. Tough crowd.
“Alright,” Nancy said. “Let’s do it.”
The ladies went for the girls, and once they’d been scooped out of their chairs and taken out of the kitchen to separate rooms, I did my part of the job. I grabb
ed a rag and some cleaner from under the sink, then rushed over to wipe off the mess the girls had made. Once that was done, I put the cleaning supplies away and grabbed the covered meals from inside the fridge. A few moments later, the food had been laid out, the kitchen clean.
Done and done.
“I’m good whenever you are!” I called out.
The women returned a few moments later, each of them carrying one of the now calm girls. For a moment, I worried the twins might get rowdy again. But once they laid eyes on the food, the way their faces lit up made it clear dinner was what was on their mind. Once the girls were settled back into their highchairs, the two of them happily began eating.
Nancy let out a sigh of relief before wiping her brow with the back of her hand.
“What a bloody mess,” she said.
“What’s the story?” I asked. “Girls seem pretty keyed up.”
“That’s because with all the excitement of their parents leaving, the girls’ naptime routine got all manner of screwed up. What you saw was them hungry and tired at the same time. Not to mention a little bit of missing their parents thrown in on top. So, what you have now are two very hungry little girls who have missed their nap, but it’s too early to put them down for the night. It looks like the worst is over though.”
She checked her watch.
“And now, despite not having a moment to get to know you, Dr. Frost, I need to be going.”
“We can handle it from here,” Grace assured her. “Don’t worry about us.”
Nancy nodded. “We can have a more proper meeting when I’m not rushing out the door. Maybe you both can come a bit earlier tomorrow and we can have some tea before I depart for the evening?”
“That would be perfect,” Grace said. “See you in the morning.”
“And call me if you have any issues,” Nancy said as she took her purse off the counter and slung it over her arm. “The kids will need a bath later; I’d aim for around six. Then you can start putting them down around seven. They should sleep like little stones with all the excitement they’ve had today. Until tomorrow!” She waved her hand as she disappeared around the corner.
“I think a need a little wine after that,” Grace said. “How about you?”
“You open it, I’ll drink it.”
“Deal.”
She went to the kitchen wine rack and bent over to grab a bottle of red. As she did, my eyes went right to her ass, my cock shifting in my slacks. When I realized what I was doing, I gave myself a quick internal scolding before turning my attention to the girls, who were happily eating their cut-up chicken and carrots.
Seconds later I had a glass of wine in my hands.
“So,” Grace said. “We’re off to a rollicking start.”
“Yep. And something tells me that bath time isn’t going to be a picnic.”
There was silence, and I could tell that there was something on her mind.
“What’s up?” I asked.
“Are you a little scared?”
“Scared?”
She swept her hands toward the girls. “This isn’t housesitting or coming over to water the plants a couple times a week. We’ve got two little girls who are going to be totally depending on us. We’ve got Nancy to help, and Ryan and Carly are only a phone call away. But still…”
“Yeah, you’re right. When you put it that way, it does sound like a lot of responsibility. Let’s call Ryan and Carly and tell them we changed our mind. You think they’ll be bothered?”
I grinned, and she shook her head and smiled.
“Seriously – you’re not worried?”
“Not even a little. Let’s get these girls fed and bathed and put into bed.”
I wasn’t lying. As strange as it sounded, there was something about Grace being there that made me feel like with her, I could do anything.
Chapter 13
GRACE
Two hours later, Hayden and I were both soaked through our clothes and starving.
“Don’t they look so peaceful?” Hayden asked, the two of us standing at the threshold to the girls’ room. “Hard to imagine that thirty minutes ago they were both bludgeoning me with their bath toys.”
I chuckled, making sure to keep my voice low enough to not wake them.
He was right – the girls looked pretty darn peaceful. Both were in their handmade cribs, their names carved into the wood on the front. They had the most angelic looks on their faces, their mouths open slightly as they took in their soft, little breaths.
The sight of them almost, almost made me want a kid of my own. But I pushed that idea out of my head as quickly as it appeared. How the hell could I squeeze in a kid with as crazy as my life was these days? Not to mention, I’d have to find a man first. That didn’t look like it was going to happen any time soon.
“Hey,” I said. “Better them hitting you than me.” I grinned.
“Well, that was all part of the plan.”
“That right?”
“That’s right. I provided a distraction while you washed them. Teamwork makes the dream work, right?”
I had to admit that Hayden had handled the total chaos of the last couple of hours damn well. Once the girls had finished eating, they’d gone right back to their insanity, encouraging one another, and taking one another to the next level of loudness as if it were some kind of toddler competition.
My stomach growled.
“Damn,” Hayden said. “I heard that one.”
Now that we were finally having a moment of calm, I was keenly aware of how hungry I was.
“I’m right there with you,” he said. “How about we head down and get the food warmed up?”
“Perfect. I feel like I could eat everything off the menu.”
“You want more, it’s a phone call away.”
We headed downstairs, fatigue taking hold of me.
“Sit,” Hayden said once we were in the kitchen. “I’ll get the food ready.”
“You sure?” I asked. “I don’t —”
“I’m sure. Take a load off and have some wine.”
The stools at the kitchen bar were calling out to me, my butt and legs tired as hell.
“I swear,” I said as I plopped into one of the seats. “I have no idea how I’m this tired. I do Zumba for a living, for eff’s sake.”
“This is a whole different kind of tired,” he replied as he dumped out what looked to be orange chicken onto one plate. “Working out makes your body tired. This is mental tired.”
“You’re speaking like someone who’s an expert in kids.”
He dumped out another plastic container of beef and broccoli onto another plate.
“Doctor stuff is the same way. Even simple surgeries that I could do with my eyes closed always leave me feeling like I’m about to pass out. The focus and the concentration really suck the energy away.”
Hayden filled one more plate with pot stickers and egg rolls. Ryan and Carly’s microwave was huge, so he was able to fit all three plates inside with room to spare. Then he pressed a couple of buttons, the microwave humming to life and the food slowly spinning inside.
“Here’s the deal,” he said, crossing his arms and leaning back against the counter. “You have some bags?”
“Yep. Nancy texted me on the way over asking if I could come in as soon as I got here, so I didn’t bring them in.”
He nodded. “Then pass me your keys. I’ll go and get our stuff and take it upstairs. While I do that, you can set our places and top off the wine.”
“I think I can handle that.”
I reached into my purse on the counter and took out my keys, then tossed them over to Hayden. He neatly caught them, and with a wink he was gone. As always, my eyes flicked to his ass on the way out.
I sighed and realized I was alone for the first time since I’d arrived. I absent-mindedly watched the food in the microwave, thinking of the conversation I’d had with Willow the night before.
“You have to tell him you’re a
virgin,” she’d said once I’d let the cat out of the bag about my fully intact and unpunched V-card.
“And why the hell would I do something like that? So he can make fun of me?”
“No!” she said. “Not at all. I mean, come on. You just finished telling me a story about how you’ve been crushing on this guy since you were still in braces. And now he’s back in your life – it’s the perfect opportunity for you to finally get laid for the first time.” She’d shaken her head in disbelief after she’d spoken the words. “God, I can’t believe I’m talking to a woman who’s almost thirty and still hasn’t had sex.”
“Well, you are. The longer I went without having it, the easier it was to just keep the status quo. And no, there’s no way in hell Hayden can find out. I don’t want him having sex with me as some kind of pity thing.”
“Well, it’d kind of be a mercy screw at this point,” she said. “That’s just so much lovemaking to have missed out on. Do you regret it?”
I shrugged. “Honestly? Not really. I mean, I look back on my twenties, knowing that most people our age are collecting experiences, figuring out what they like in bed, and making memories with guys. But…I don’t know. I’ve dated a few guys here and there, but never once have I looked back and been like, yeah, I should’ve slept with him. I’m still a virgin, sure, but it’s not like I wish I weren’t.”
Willow had given a thoughtful look after I’d spoken.
“You know what? That actually makes a lot of sense.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. I’ve slept with my share of guys, and while each one of them has been, ah, special in his own unique way with his own unique energy, most of them were disappointments.”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah, but it’s not always their fault. Sometimes you go out and have a drink too many and end up in bed with someone that, if you were clear-headed, you wouldn’t have. And sometimes you hook up with a guy that you have amazing sexual chemistry with, but in every other way he’s not good for you. Come to think of it, most of my experiences with guys have been shitty in one way or another.”