by Rayne, Piper
“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 fucking 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.
Four
Griffin
The next day, I sign Maverick up for school. I might’ve seen the smallest of smiles on his lips when he found out there was no uniform at his new school. This will be the first public school Maverick has attended.
After school is all sorted, I decide to run over to Lifetime Adventures to let Denver know the search for a nanny is off and I hired his sister.
“It says I need all these supplies, and why are they giving me a Chromebook? I have a Mac.” Maverick must have fished out the school welcome package from my bag.
“Because the Chromebooks have the school software. You won’t need your Mac for school.” Surprise, surprise, he zoned out during the principal’s tour.
His grunt says he’s not pleased. “I have to do a test tomorrow?”
“Yeah.”
“Why? I’m coming from a better school.”
I glance at him in my rearview mirror. I hope he isn’t a condescending snob to the kids at his new school. Sometimes I think I did a piss-poor job of raising him. But I have to remind myself where he grew up. The boy has never had a chance at a normal life. That’s all about to change now.
“They want to see where you fall compared to your classmates.”
“Um… I’m smarter.”
I blow out a breath, thankful when I spot Denver’s SUV outside Lifetime Adventures. We can table this talk for the time being, but eventually I’ll have to sit Maverick down and talk to him about not being a pompous ass to his classmates.
We get out of the SUV, and I stop to look at the mountains. Lifetime Adventures has had a remodel since the last time I saw it. The building no longer looks like a rundown cabin. It’s been cleaned up and has new windows and a new sign.
I give the guy credit. I pegged Denver as one of those forever bachelors, but it looks like commitment has been good for him.
Maverick sits down in the gazebo and pulls out his phone.
“Are you staying out here?” I ask.
He nods without looking up. Please tell me this kid will become an actual kid at some point.
“If a mountain lion comes to feast, run in and get me, okay?”
That garners a look from him. “I’ll come in.”
Finally, one sign that he’s actually eight and not thirteen. LA makes kids grow up too damn fast.
He follows on my heels, sliding in front of me to get into the building first.
“I was kidding about mountain lions,” I say, pressing my hand on his shoulder and squeezing. “Maybe a bear though.”
“Where did you move me to?” He seeks out the first chair and plops down onto it.
“Griffin!” Nancy stands from behind her new desk. There’s no longer an ancient computer at her workstation.
“This place looks great,” I say, hugging her and kissing her cheek. My gaze falls to the large picture behind her with Chip Dawson’s name on the bottom.
“Would you like a cold brew?” She rushes over to the coffee station and opens up a mini fridge. “I’m a master at it now.”
Her excitement has me saying okay even though cold brew isn’t really my thing.
She hands one to me then bends down to Maverick’s face. “Do you want some candy?”
“No.”
I kick the bottom of his foot with my shoe, and his gaze flickers to me.
His shoulders falter and he looks at Nancy. “No thanks.”
She doesn’t give me the look of ’you should be a better father.’ Instead, there’s sympathy in her eyes.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Denver’s leaning on the door frame with his arms crossed.
“I live here now.”
He shakes his head and already has his hand out before he’s halfway to me. “Someone should examine that head of yours.”
We shake hands and lean in for a hug.
Maverick blows out a breath. “True story.”
Denver gives me a look, and I non-verbally confirm that yes, my kid is still being a little shit about this move.
“The place is looking good.” I take in the new waiting room filled with pictures of the previous owner—Chip—Denver, and Cleo. There’s even a poster of us on the Uncovering America’s Beauty reality show I did with them a while back.
Denver shoves his hands into his pockets and follows my gaze around the room. “Yeah. Business has been good.”
“And Cleo?”
A smile lights up his face, and I’m kind of jealous seeing how happy the bastard is.
“We’re good. Really good.”
I’m not sure I ever looked that way about Maggie. Everything moved fast, and before we could process if we wanted a serious relationship, Maverick was born. Then it was all juggling schedules and flip-flop-parenting. Sometimes I think I drove her into Adam’s arms.
“That’s awesome. I came by to tell you that I found a nanny.”
He signals to the table in the corner, and we pull out the chairs. Opening the fridge, he grabs himself a Powerade. “Mav?”
Surprisingly, Maverick looks up. The kid hates his name being shortened. Denver holds up a Powerade, and Maverick nods, holding up his hands. He catches it.
Denver whistles. “Watch out, shortstop. You play baseball?”
“No.”
“You should with hands like that. Maybe football. My buddy Liam—”
“I don’t like sports.” Maverick unscrews the top of his bottle and leans back in his chair.
“Sorry,” I say.
Denver waves him off. “I get it. You took him away from all his friends. You’re a bastard.”
“Thanks?” I chuckle.
Denver laughs. One of the reasons I love Denver is his happy-as-shit attitude. Nothing gets the guy down. Even when we were stranded on the mountainside, he was as positive as ever. If you put shit on his doorstep and lit it on fire, he’d probably either tell you how to do it better or slap you on the back and say good job. Then he’d kick your ass.
“That’s great about the nanny thing. Sorry I wasn’t much help. I even asked my brother, and he didn’t know anyone.”
I lean back in my chair. “I hired your sister.”
Denver chokes on his Powerade, sitting straight up in the chair, grabbing his throat.
“You okay, man?”
He nods and sips the drink one more time. “Did you say you hired my sister?” He wipes his chin with the back of his hand.
I nod. “Yeah. I ran into her and the three kids she’s looking after right now. I met your grandma too. This really is a small town.”
“Please tell me it was Juno you met?” he asks.
“Juno? No. Phoenix. She’s the nanny, right?”
Denver’s happy mood disappears and his jaw clenches as if it’s turned into granite. Did he not want me to hire his sister? I study him as he pulls out his phone.
“This one, right?” He shoves a picture of Phoenix in my face.
I smile. “Yeah.”
His chest rises and falls.
“Shit. Did you not want me to hire your sister? Is that why you never mentioned her?” I’ll feel horrible if I overstepped. Then it dawns on me that maybe it’s not a boss/employee relationship he’s concerned about. “Oh, you’re not worried? I mean…”
Denver pockets his phone. “Cleo!”
“She’s in the garage, remember?” Nancy says.
“Right. Page her please,” Denver asks and puts his head in his hands.<
br />
I lean forward. “You okay, man?”
“Uh-huh,” he mumbles.
“You’re not worried I’m going to hit on her, or something are you?”
“Nancy!” His voice grows louder.
“She’s attractive, that much is obvious, but she’s young. Way too young for someone like me.” What could I possibly have in common with someone that young?
He peeks at me, his face pale.
Cleo comes in through the door and smiles when she sees me. “Griffin!”
I stand up and hug her.
“Hey, Maverick,” she says, and he picks up his head and actually waves to her. “So it’s official. You’re here now?” I nod, and her gaze flickers to Denver and back to me. “What’s up?”
“I hired Denver’s sister, and I think he thinks I’m going to hit on her or something.”
She glances at Maverick, but he’s put on his headphones. Our chatter is probably interrupting his game or something. What am I gonna do with this kid?
“Which sister?” Cleo licks her lips and slides the chair out from the table. Her hand disappears under the table when she sits, and I assume it’s on her boyfriend’s leg.
“Phoenix.”
Her lips purse and she nods. What am I missing here?
“Denver’s grandma said she’s a hot commodity, that if I didn’t snatch her up right away, I’d miss my opportunity. Since she’s a relative, I figured I could trust her to take care of Maverick.”
Cleo nods as if she understands why I would do that, but her eyes shift to Denver, who’s now finished his Powerade. He tosses the bottle into the trash can but misses and the bottle travels across the room. Nancy stands, picks it up, and puts it in the trash can.
“Thanks, Nance,” he murmurs.
“I’m sorry if this upsets you. I’d retract the offer, but that’s kind of a dick move.”
“Oh no.” Cleo shakes her head. “Definitely don’t retract the offer.” She examines her boyfriend again. “Denver is a grown man. He understands that you’d never cross that line.”
Denver stares blankly at her, and I know I’m missing something here.
“You know how brothers are. Overprotective.” Cleo slaps his leg hard and he jolts. “Right, Denver?”