I kinda sorta assessed the situation at a glance but the look on her face confirmed. She must be the ex or soon to be ex, and why didn’t I pay more attention when I had the chance?
Oh well; too late now. Besides, from her reaction it doesn’t look like I’m going to be here long enough for it to matter one way or another.
The dreamboat with the black curls and piercing blue eyes came forward with a welcoming smile and his hand outstretched to take mine.
“Hi, I’m Callan, mom told me you’d be here sometime today. Come on in.” He didn’t even acknowledge her as he took my hand and led me towards the house.
I fought not to look back at who I suspected was his ex-wife… Trudy was it? I was glad I didn’t when she screamed or screeched more like it, and ran after us.
“Who is she Callan? Huh?” He didn’t answer and I was starting to feel just slightly uncomfortable since she was getting way too close and seemed way too angry.
As if he hadn’t melted my poor unprepared heart already, when he placed me in front of him out of harm’s way and kept walking I felt butterflies take flight in my tummy. Oh this is not good.
Once inside I was even more blown away. It’s not that I’m not accustomed to class and sophistication in home décor. My own home after all is a thing of beauty.
But this place, with its antique furnishings that seemed to have been here since the house was built, the finery in every detail, somehow seemed to transport one back to a different time.
It’s the same way I felt the first time I visited an old Louisiana plantation, or any of the other historical sights I’ve haunted in the past. Almost as if you’re in the presence of something from a time gone by.
What made the experience even more intense, more enjoyable even, was the man whose body heat I imagined I could feel searing my arm as we moved through the room together.
For a brief moment I felt as if I were moving through a time warp, or some kind of otherworldly portal that blurred the lines between reality and an alternate universe.
My body went from hot to cold and back in seconds and my head swam with visions that were too quick to grasp. Even the scents and sounds seemed to change as I looked around the room taking it in.
I didn’t have time to dwell on my confusing feelings. In fact I was rudely jarred back to the here and now by the door being slammed behind us as she came in.
He stopped and turned at the bottom of the stairs with his hand on my wrist, his body turned in such a way as if he were protecting me.
Outside the sound of a car pulling rapidly down the dirt road leading up to the driveway was heard just seconds before another door slammed.
Maybe that’s the thing in these parts, slamming doors. I relaxed a little when the woman Sheila, his mom, came in. She was the only familiar face in this bunch.
“Hi mom, what brings you here?” Her focus was on the Trudy person, at least I think that’s who she was. No one had bothered making any introductions as yet.
For all I know she could be a loony cousin who lives in the attic. She looked the part. But she wasn’t looking so scary now as she backed away from Sheila’s glare.
“I remembered that this child was coming in today and thought I’d better come on over before there’s trouble.” Each word was aimed at Trudy who seemed to be getting smaller with every passing second.
“I see you found the place okay Noelle.” She swiveled her head my way with that same winning smile I remembered from the day we met and all I could do was nod as I swallowed.
I was swallowing nervously because the woman I met had been a sweet grandmotherly type, if a bit young in her fifties maybe.
She’d been dressed conservatively in a nice summer dress, though her makeup had been minimal and she didn’t look the sort to go overboard with her appearance.
This version wore denim overalls over a white Henley, with a man’s work boots on her feet and a red bandana pulled over the curls that were an exact replica of her son’s with a slight smattering of grey.
It wasn’t so much her state of dress that gave me pause though, as much as it was the rifle she carried like someone way too comfortable with using it. No wonder Trudy looked like she was trying to disappear into the wall.
“I told you not to worry mom, I have it all under control.” She flicked a glance his way and her whole face changed with the smile. “Where’s my sweet baby? She still down for her nap?”
“Yes mom, Isabelle is still asleep and don’t you go waking her up either. This teething thing has turned her into a right terror.”
He smiled when he said it and I bit back the sigh that would’ve been way too loud in the two hundred year old plantation house with the high ceilings and extremely large rooms.
“I told you I could…” Trudy made as if to step forward but both mother and son gave her a look that had her hanging her head and looking down at the floor. Exactly what is it that she’d done again?
I knew they were no longer an item, but for the life of me I can’t remember why that was. And of course Sheila never did go into too much detail when we met that one time.
But it had been obvious from the minor mention of her the day of the interview that she was not well liked by her ex-mother in law. But it seems the husband didn’t bear her any warm feelings either.
Noelle
There was a heaviness in the air that wasn’t there before and I looked around at the other three to see if they felt it as well.
Something was brewing beneath the surface and once again I felt that lethargy in my limbs, as if I were wading through something thick and cloying.
Then Sheila spoke and broke the spell. “Well I know you can handle it son, but seeing as how I’m the one who hired her I thought it only right I be here to welcome her and see that all goes smoothly.”
Again her speech seemed directed at Trudy before she turned back to me, and Callan. “You go on ahead and show our girl around. I guess it’ll take her a day or two to learn her way around.”
Try month, not day. The place was huge with as many twists and turns as expected from the design which could be seen from outside.
With each step that sense of familiarity kept growing, even the feel of his hand that had yet to release its hold on mine felt like it should be.
My mouth may, or my not have hung open up the staircase with its intricate design of climbing vines and berries.
And when we reached the landing on the second floor and the sense of Déjà vu hit me square in the gut, it was his hand that held me up and kept me from falling.
I reddened with embarrassment but the look in his eyes put me at ease. “No need to apologize. It was a long ride, you must be exhausted.” His voice. Why did it tickle the edges of my mind?
I had to force myself to look away from his stare and barely stopped myself from shaking my head to free myself from my own confusing thoughts. If I didn’t know better I could almost believe that I’d seen that same look before, heard that same exact tone, whispered in my ear.
Each room seemed to know me, to welcome me and I accepted his diagnosis that the ride had somehow tired me out because why else would I be feeling this way?
If I closed my eyes I could almost see the rooms as they once were, which made no sense. Maybe the house just reminded me of some place I’d visited a long time ago.
“Come, let me show you to your room so you can catch your breath while the baby naps.” I didn’t question why he was still holding my hand. Because it felt natural.
There was no uneasy feeling like maybe he was a perv. No, instead it felt reassuring. Like I was safe as long as he was there. What was surprising was the fact that I didn’t feel the need to fight it.
He led me back down the hallway to a large mahogany door with an angel carved into the panel. I reached out and traced the design feeling a sense of… something.
He opened the door and stood back for me to enter ahead of him, finally releasing my hand. I felt the loss and had to clench
my hand into a fist so as not to reach for him again.
My room, I was pleased to see, was one with a dormer window, which turned out to actually be a French door that led out onto the upper balcony.
The room was huge as were all the others in this mausoleum of a house. Here too the place was like stepping back in time. Even with the bright sunlight outside, it didn’t seem to touch here.
Not that the room was old and stuffy, far from it. But it felt almost like a cocoon. Like the outside did not intrude here. As if reading my thoughts he walked over and pulled the drapes letting in the sunlight, which transformed the room.
“We put you in this room because it’s close to the baby. This way she’ll be between the two of us so one of us will hear her if she needs us in the night.”
For some inexplicable reason, while he spoke of such innocent things, my eyes fell on the bed. It was an old canopy bed with red- checkered curtains and deep dark stained mahogany wood.
There was another intricate pattern carved into the wood, which I couldn’t quite make out now. My heart started beating out of place the longer I stared at the two hundred year old bed and my skin grew hot, my face flush.
My mind was playing tricks on me, because for a split second it was as if the room and time disappeared and he and I were in a different time. I felt my face heat up even more as a vision unfolded in my mind.
In my mind, plain as day, I saw us on that bed, naked, entwined. Our bodies were wet with perspiration, skin glistening; our breath coming hard and fast as he moved inside me.
My chest tightened and my breath stayed trapped in my lungs as something exploded inside my head. I could feel him, there, inside me. It was so real, I never wanted it to end.
I felt a sweet ache between my thighs just as his voice penetrated the haze that had enveloped me. “Are you okay?” He was standing right in front of me, his hand on my elbow… his eyes.
I know those eyes, I’ve seen those eyes before. Looking at me in just that way. With concern and caring. I could only nod my head as he looked at me worriedly before dropping my arm. I felt cold as soon as he did.
My voice was barely above a croak when I answered. What was I supposed to say? That I think I was losing my mind? The doctors had given me a clean bill of health.
There were no lingering affects from the concussion and coma that I’d been in for three days after the accident. But I had no other reason for the strange phenomena that seemed to be assailing me.
Get your act together Noelle before you lose this job before you even start. Any doubts I may have had were long gone now that I was here.
I wanted this job, wanted to be here, in this house, in this place; with him. In fact now that I was here it felt almost like it was the best thing ever.
His voice droned on and on as he explained where everything was and about the connecting door between my room and the nursery. His voice that seemed to have a strange affect on my senses.
I wondered as I looked at him if he realized that I could barely grasp the words as they fell from his lips? If he knew that my mind was no longer here in the room?
It felt like time stood still one minute and the next I was losing time and space. I’ve been off the medication for a few weeks now but maybe I should’ve checked with my doctor before coming here.
Though I don’t remember this being one of the things he’d warned me about after I came to. How could I possibly be reliving something that had never been?
But as Callan stood there talking it all seemed so familiar, like I’d heard it before, standing right here in this very room. Nausea hit me in the gut just as the room began to spin and I reached out a hand.
When I came to I was laying on the bed with him sitting next to me holding a wet cloth against my forehead.
“What happened?” I tried to sit up but he held me down with a hand on my shoulder. “No don’t get up. I think the heat has gotten to you.” I felt my head and breathed a sigh of relief at his easy explanation.
Yes, that must be it. The heat along with all the turbulent emotions of the past few weeks had finally caught up with me. I felt easy again once my mind settled on that.
“I’m sorry I’m being such a pain. I’m not usually this weak.” His smile was reassuring and so was the hand he kept on the cloth he held against my heated skin.
“Stop apologizing, no one here will judge you.” I’m gonna have to get used to his voice and the way it makes me feel. And his closeness too.
I can’t seem to gather my thoughts when I’m this close to him. I have a feeling though, that if I keep staring at him the way I am he might get the wrong idea.
I almost groaned in protest when he took his hand away before getting to his feet. “I’m sorry, what did you say?” He’d walked away as he spoke but my eyes were busy looking at his physique and I missed it all.
When he left the room and came back with a glass of water I figured that’s what he’d been saying. “Here sit up, let’s get some of this in you.”
He helped me sit up and held the glass to my lips and I had to remind myself to swallow. This is ridiculous. If I keep this up I won’t last one day on the job.
I’m sure there’s a rule against lusting after your boss. And really, I don’t mean to since it’s not my style, but everything about the man seems to be getting to me.
His scent seemed familiar. He smelt like the outdoors. Like sunshine and wind. His scent went with the locale and even though he was dressed in jeans and a tee shirt like every other man in the city, they didn’t seem to fit.
I keep imagining him dressed more formally, like maybe he should be wearing a cravat and a gentleman’s hat. And his voice with its familiar southern drawl, just sent my imagination soaring.
I grew embarrassed once again when I realized he’d caught me staring. It was on the tip of my tongue to ask him if we’d ever met before, but at the last minute I decided that I’d already been weird enough for one day.
We looked at each other wordlessly until a sound coming from downstairs broke us out of our reverie. That only left me thinking. I knew what my problem was, but what was his excuse?
That Trudy person or whoever she was is a knockout. Not that I’m not a beauty in my own right, but I know when I’m beat. Didn’t most men go for the blonde svelte type? My ex sure did.
I felt the old familiar feeling of self-doubt and inadequacy I’ve been plagued with since the truth of his betrayal came to light. But this time, the feel of Callan’s hand on my cheek was enough to make them disappear.
He looked at me as though he could read my thoughts. I hope not. The last thing I need is for one more human being to know what a screw up I am.
“It’s going to be okay; you’re here now.” There was so much meaning in those words and yet, I have no idea what any of them were. What did he mean?
Before I could ask, if I had the guts to, he stood to his feet once again and headed for the door.
“Take your time, you can come down when you’re ready.” I nodded an okay when he looked back at me. Are all of his looks going to be that intense the whole time I’m here?
If so, I don’t think my heart can take it. His eyes always seem to be seeing more than just what’s on the surface. Like he sees something else when he looks at me as well.
And that smile. I went flying back in time again. We were standing under a large tree, the kind of which I couldn’t make out, because the night was growing dark and all I could see was his smile. But I could smell the sweet scent of magnolia.
I felt, I could feel the moment, the joy the excitement that crackled in the air around us. And when he drew me into his arms in the moonlight that danced through the leaves I knew that I was safe, that I was loved.
Noelle
He left the room with the promise of grabbing my stuff from the car and bringing it up, but I barely heard a word he said.
I sat on the bed in a daze, trying to make sense of what I’d just seen and felt. Wondering what was happ
ening to me since I arrived here.
The feelings didn’t let up by much with his absence, only I felt like I could breathe a little easier now and my body wasn’t trying to betray me.
I looked around the room once more as that same feeling of familiarity assailed me. I realized that from the moment I drove up the long driveway I’ve felt a sense of listlessness.
Not sure from one moment to the next if my mind was playing tricks on me. Or if this was all just a leftover from the accident.
The longer I sat there thinking, the more I felt compelled to run. Just walk down the stairs, get into my car and drive away.
But just as strong was the need to stay. There was a new sense of excitement awakening inside me. And I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was supposed to be here. Almost as if there was something very vital waiting for me.
I stood to my feet at the first sound of a baby crying and followed the noise to the room next door. Now my heart beat wildly for a different reason.
The nursery felt warm and welcoming as I made my way to the old fashioned cradle. It was one of those really cool ones that you could swing back and forth to rock the baby to sleep.
There was a mosquito net over it that protected the little one, who stopped crying as soon as I lifted it back and looked down at her. My hands, seemingly of their own volition, reached down and lifted her.
Taking her into my arms, she laid her head on my shoulder as if she’d done it a million times. For some reason I smiled as I paced the room with her, rubbing her back in that way you do with a fussing babe.
She was only ten months old, but she was heavy. Not big just heavy. A sign that she was not commercially fed. That means someone made her fresh food instead of the bottled crap that’s found on every supermarket shelf.
I remember her grandmother telling me that part of my job would be to take care of that. Cook and puree her veggies. Mash her fruit in the food processor or blender.
At the time it sounded like a lot of unnecessary work to me, but now that I was holding the evidence I could see the value. This was one healthy little girl.
Babysitter’s Club Noelle Page 2