by Tia Siren
“Hey, little man, are you ready?” he asked.
Matthew looked at him and stood up. “Mommy?” he asked.
“Yes, Mommy,” Aaron replied.
The funeral cortege soon got to the church, which was close to Aaron's home. When Aaron got out of the limousine, holding Matthew's hand, women began to wail. Not because they had known Lindsey particularly well, but because the sight of such a handsome man holding the hand of such a cute boy at his mother's funeral was too much to stomach.
After the funeral, Aaron did the usual thing and thanked everyone. He had no idea how it had affected Matthew, because he'd shown no emotion at all. He hadn't even made any of his customary noises. Aaron assumed he would find out in the fullness of time.
“Thank you, Pastor Evans. It was a wonderful service,” Aaron said as he shook his hand.
“You take care, Aaron. I'll be along to see you at regular intervals, and if there's anything you need, please let me know.”
“I will,” Aaron replied. “You're coming to the house for refreshments, aren't you?” he asked.
“Yes. Thank you. I'll just say good-bye to the mourners and then I'll be there.”
The house was full of well-wishers who'd come to Aaron's mansion to have a drink and something to eat. Matthew sat quietly in the comer and observed what was going on around him.
“Aaron, I heard Matthew's nanny has handed in her notice,” Pastor Evan's wife said.
“I'm afraid so, and she chose a very unfortunate moment to do so,” Aaron said.
At that moment, Matthew began to make the most deafening screeches. Aaron went to him and tried to comfort him. People started to move to another room to protect their ears.
“Hey, Matthew, it's okay,” Aaron said. “I'm here.”
“Sally,” Matthew shouted.
“Sally's leaving us. I told you. We're going to find a new nanny, someone really nice.”
“Want Sally,” he screeched. Aaron took hold of him to prevent him from hurting himself on the wall as he flailed his arms and legs.
“Come on, little chap,” he said. He picked Matthew up and withstood the pounding Matthew's fists and feet were giving him. Eventually, Matthew calmed down, and Aaron was able to put him in his playroom.
“How do I go about getting a good nanny?” he asked Kayla. Kayla had been Lindsey's best friend, and she knew everything about domesticity.
“Where did you get the last one?” Kayla asked.
“An agency.”
“Don't bother with agencies. There is only one place you will find a great nanny, and that's the English Nanny School. I'll text you the number. You need a well-trained nanny who knows about autism, not some bimbo from a local agency.” Kayla had always had a way with words, he thought.
That evening after everyone had gone and Aaron's staff had cleaned up, Aaron went upstairs and took one of Lindsey's nightdresses from the chest of drawers. He lay on the bed and cuddled the material.
*****
Aaron yawned and leaned back in the armchair. “I don't know about you, but I'm really not sure about any of them,” he said.
“No. I must say I was expecting better candidates. Perhaps I was lucky when I got my nanny,” Kayla said.
Aaron usually worked on Saturdays, but he'd taken the day off to interview potential nannies to look after Matthew. The school had sent him six applications, and he'd decided to interview every one of them. Five had been and gone, and none of them had made any impression on him at all. Only one of them had given any details about autistic children, and she'd told him she could only promise to stay a year because she planned to move to the Bahamas to teach diving.
“I really need someone. I can't manage on my own. I can't run a company and look after Matthew twenty-four seven.”
“Don't worry. We'll find someone. Anyhow, there's still another candidate.”
“And she's late, which doesn't bode well. I hate tardy people. If she's not here in ten minutes, she can forget it.”
Fifteen minutes later the doorbell rang. Kayla and Aaron were chatting about what to do next.
“Let her in and give her a chance,” Kayla said.
Aaron went to the door and opened it. He hadn't expected what he saw: a fantastically beautiful woman whose hands were covered in oil and dirt.
“Mr. Fleming, I'm so sorry I'm late. I'm Jodie from the English Nanny School. I got a puncture, and I couldn't get the wheel nuts off until some strongman stopped to help me. My hands are filthy, as you can see.”
Something about her made him smile. She was dressed beautifully in an over-the-knee floral skirt and a cream blouse. She had a tan bag over her shoulder, and her hair was up and neat.
“Well, I'm sorry about your troubles. We'd just about given up on you. Come in. I'll show you to the bathroom, and you can get cleaned up.”
Aaron went back into the lounge and waited until Jodie appeared. Kayla got up and shook her hand.
“Sit down on the sofa,” Aaron said, and then he looked at her critically. She was going to look after his son, and he felt fully justified in doing so. The first thing he noticed was how pretty she was. She was tall and elegant, and she sat upright, her body language indicating her genuine interest in the job. Aaron had interviewed a lot of people in his time, and he knew when they were only there for the money.
“So, Jodie, let me tell you something about me. I'm Aaron, and I own a real estate business that I run out of New York. My wife has just passed away...”
“I'm sorry to hear that,” Jodie said.
“Thank you. My wife passed away, and I need someone reliable to look after my son, Matthew. He's autistic, and he's difficult. His previous nanny was overawed by the task and left me at a very difficult moment.”
“I understand. This is a very interesting position for me. My brother is autistic, and I've always been interested in working with autistic children. I majored in the care of such children. Here are my grades,” she said as she handed Aaron a sheet of paper.
“Very impressive. You say your brother is autistic, so you grew up with the condition?”
She looked at Kayla and then back to Aaron. “Yes. My brother is a year older than me, and I have known nothing else all my life. He's totally closed off from the world. My mother still looks after him. I would help more if I could, but I need to work.”
“Where were you born?” Kayla asked.
Jodie hesitated. “In New York,” she replied.
“Which part?” Kayla asked.
Once again, Jodie hesitated. “I'm afraid I was born into poor circumstances. I grew up in Brownsville.” She pulled an awkward face as if ashamed of her past.
“Really. I grew up in Brownsville. You shouldn't be ashamed of where you were born. All I can say is good for you for doing something to get yourself out of there,” Aaron said.
“What a coincidence. I went to St. Thomas's School” Jodie said.
“So did I,” Aaron replied. “Well, that's great. Someone from the same place as me.”
Jodie smiled and began to relax.
“Do you want to meet Matthew?” Aaron asked. He'd already decided he liked Jodie. He knew darn well that if she'd survived the trials of a youth in Brownsville, she was tough and up for a challenge.
“Yes. I'd like that.”
Matthew bounced into the room and stopped when he saw Jodie. “Hello,” Jodie said. Matthew didn't reply; he jumped on the sofa and stared into space. “He's a lovely boy,” Jodie commented.
“Yes, but he can be a handful,” Aaron said. “Okay. Let's give it a try. I suggest a three-month trial. When can you begin?”
Kayla felt bypassed and flashed Aaron a scowl.
“I can start immediately. A three-month trial will be fine.”
“Great. Let me show you where you will be living,” Aaron said.
He stood up and took Jodie upstairs to show her an area of the house they'd had converted into an apartment.
“I hope you didn't do that becau
se she's hot,” Kayla said once she and Aaron were alone.
“What? Are you accusing me of being unprofessional? Because if you are...”
Kayla put her hand up in apology. She knew Aaron had a temper, and the last thing she wanted was a confrontation. It was just that she'd sat with him all afternoon, and he'd made his choice without consulting her. “Sorry. That was bitchy,” she admitted.
“Look, she knows about autistic kids, and she's from Brownsville. If she came out of that place in one piece, then she's tough. I think she'll be perfect.”
*****
“Hi. I'm home,” Aaron shouted. He put down his briefcase and loosened his tie. He'd just returned from London, and he was anxious to see Matthew. He walked through the hallway and into Matthew's playroom. He wasn't there. He looked in the sitting room and then wandered to the kitchen.
“Have you seen Matthew and Jodie?” he asked Mrs. Robertson, the cook.
“In the backyard, I think,” she answered.
Aaron went through the conservatory at the back of the house and into the yard. They were in the pool together. Matthew was splashing away to his heart’s content, and Jodie was applauding everything he did.
“Welcome home,” she said when she noticed him watching them.
“How on earth have you managed to do that?” he asked.
“What?”
“Get him into the pool. He hates the pool.”
“Not anymore. Look. He's having a great time.”
Aaron tried not to look, but he couldn't help but notice her body. He loved the shape of her legs and the way her breasts rose above her flat stomach.
“Well, how?”
“Slowly. That's the key. I put no pressure on him at all. I let him watch when I went swimming, and he soon saw that it was fun and wanted to join in.”
“Can he swim?” Aaron asked.
“Not yet, but we're working on it.”
“Jeez, that's amazing. Thank you. I would never have thought.”
Jodie watched Aaron return to the house and smiled when she saw him shake his head in disbelief.
That evening after Matthew had gone to bed, Aaron was sitting on the terrace, looking through some documents. Jodie came out in a robe and dived into the pool. She swam seriously for half an hour and then got out.
“That's your workout, is it?” Aaron asked as she walked past him.
“Yes. I try to do some exercise every day.”
“Sit down. I've finished working,” he said.
“Okay.”
“Do you want a glass of wine? I usually have one around now.”
“No. I don't much care for alcohol. Have you got orange juice?”
“Sure.” Aaron returned with the drinks and sat down. “It's been a long day. It's funny to think I was in London this morning,” he said.
“You live in a high-pressure world. I admire you for the business you have built.”
“Thanks. It's a good company, and I'm proud of it.”
“I asked around about you in Brownsville, and did you know people back there are proud of you? Everyone cites you as an example of someone who got out of there and was successful. You're an inspiration to a lot of people.”
Aaron looked at her. It was the first time he'd noticed the color of her eyes. “Have you got colored contacts in your eyes?” he asked.
She laughed. “Everyone asks me that. No. That's their natural color.”
“Amazing. They're turquoise. I've never seen that before.”
“How are you feeling?” she asked.
“You mean after Lindsey?” Jodie nodded. “I'm devastated, and I miss her all the time. Apart from that I'm okay.”
“Where did you meet her?”
“At a dancing class.”
“Really. I wouldn't have thought you were the type to go to dancing classes.”
Aaron laughed. “I'm not, but my mom forced me. I was only sixteen. I can still remember what she said to me. She told me that it was the best place to meet girls, because every girl liked to dance. So I went, reluctantly. Lindsey was there. I asked her out at the end of the first evening.”
“So fast?”
“Yes, but she told me to sod off. It took me five attempts to get her to go out with me, and even then I had to threaten her.”
Jodie sipped her orange juice and imagined Aaron as a spotty sixteen-year-old chasing a girl who didn't want to be chased. “You threatened her?”
“Yes. I told her if she didn't go out with me, I'd put a frog down her panties.”
“Jesus. Did it work?”
“Sure. Threats often do work. I use them all the time to get what I want.”
Jodie flicked her blond hair back over her shoulder and looked at him. She could imagine him threatening people. He was handsome, tall, and well-built and she sensed a slight air of danger about him.
“What about you, Jodie? Have you got anyone special?”
“No. I'm only twenty-three, and I keep telling myself I've got time. I'm too busy anyway.”
“You're very good at what you do. I'm pleased we found you. I love Matthew, and I want the best for him. In you, I think we've found it.”
*****
Six months passed and Aaron began to find it easier to think of Lindsey without getting too emotional. He'd put her things in boxes and sent them to a charitable institution, but he kept one article that was dear to him: a pink shawl he'd bought Lindsey the day they got engaged.
“I need a vacation,” he said to Jodie one evening. “Do you think it will harm Matthew to go away?”
“I don't think so. Not if we make a tight schedule and stick to it. If we tell him well in advance and do what we say, he'll be fine.”
“Okay. Then I'll book something. I'll have to work on vacation as well, but I'll try to keep it to the mornings and save time for Matthew in the afternoons.”
“Great. Where do you propose to go?”
“I've thought about Grand Cayman. I've been there before, and it's safe for kids. The beach is great, and now that he likes swimming, he can go in the sea. That's safe too.”
“The Caribbean. It sounds great.”
“Yes, it is.”
Three weeks later they landed on the small Caribbean island and were driven to their hotel. The Caribbean Club Hotel was located on the beach along a strip called Seven-Mile Beach.
“Pure luxury,” Jodie exclaimed when they arrived. She took Matthew and carried him to the foyer while Aaron paid the taxi driver and got a concierge to take their bags.
Aaron had arranged for a family suite that was large enough to house them all. Jodie got a separate room. When she went into her room, she gasped when she saw the view. Her balcony looked out over the sea. The sea looked clear and was almost the same color as her eyes. She'd heard of Grand Cayman as some kind of tax haven. She’d had no idea it was such a beautiful place for tourists.
Jodie ate a meal with Matthew at 5 p.m. and put him to bed at seven. Then she went to her room and plugged in the intercom system. She sat on the balcony and watched the people walking along the beach and the boats full of divers coming and going.
Aaron had gone for a walk along the beach and was enjoying the feel of the sand on his bare feet. It was a popular time for joggers, and a few of them nodded at him as they passed. When he'd walked a kilometer, he stopped at a beach bar and ordered a beer. He sat down at a table and looked out over the bay. The sun was getting lower in the sky, and there was a soft feeling to the evening. He watched as couples walked past hand in hand on their way back to their hotels or to a restaurant. His thoughts drifted to Lindsey and how she would have loved it there. He'd had a busy few months, and his company was thriving like never before. The only thing he didn't have was someone to share his success with. He wondered what Lindsey would considered a reasonable amount of time to wait before he dipped his toe into the world of dating again. Until now he hadn't felt like it, but sitting in the evening sun and watching beautiful women walk by, he couldn't he
lp but think about the future.
*****
“Wow, look at that one,” Jodie exclaimed as she held Matthew up so that he could see over the wall and watch the turtles. They'd arrived at Turtle Farm, a conservation facility for turtles. While Aaron was busy making phone calls about some deal in Los Angeles, Jodie was showing Matthew the pools where the turtles were kept. There was one small pool where children could paddle among the turtles and pick them up while under adult supervision. Jodie put Matthew next to the pool and watched what he did. His eyes expanded, and she noticed him connect with something for the first time. His eyes followed the turtles, and he seemed fascinated by them. As they were walking past one of the enclosures that housed some of the large adult turtles, one of them jumped from a wall into the water, sending a torrent of water over them.
Matthew screamed and Jodie gasped. Jodie was wet through, Matthew less so because he'd been protected by Jodie.
Aaron was waiting for them outside on the sidewalk, and when they arrived, he laughed. “What happened to you two? You're soaked.”
“A turtle decided to do some diving and splashed us. Apparently there's a warning that they do that sometimes.”
Aaron looked at her. She noticed his eyes fix on her chest, and when she looked down to see what he was looking at, she froze. Her nipples were sticking out like bullets and pointing right at him.
“Oops,” she said. She smiled at him and, despite her embarrassment, remained calm. “Maybe we out to go and sit in the sun of a bit so I can dry out. I can't go back to town like this,” she said.
“Well, you can, but you'd have to put up with men gawping at you.”
“Like you were, you mean?” she said. “Sorry. That was rude of me.”
“I couldn't really help it. Anyhow, you look very beautiful like that. There isn't a single person who would object.”
“Men,” she said. “All the same.”
That evening Aaron sat at the same bar he'd gone to the previous evening, and he was surprised to find himself thinking about Jodie and the incident that afternoon. She was a hell of a beautiful woman, he thought. Just the sight of her legs gave him ideas he probably shouldn't be having. The sight of her breasts highlighted so beautifully by the water the kind turtle had splashed over them that afternoon took his lurid thought process to another level altogether.