Page 69 of Holiday Hire

Another moment passes.

I add, "Come on, Miss Nanny. You can tell me."

She slowly caves and says, "If I win, we get to paint your house."

I jerk my head back. "Paint my house?"

"Yeah, add some color to it."

"You don't like my house?"

"I didn't say that. I promise you that's not what I meant. I love your house. It's really nice."

I chuckle. "Okay, but you want to paint it?"

"Yes. Some color would be nice."

"So you think it's boring."

She cringes and wrinkles her nose. "It sounds bad, doesn't it?"

I chuckle. "It's okay. I don't have a problem painting the house."

Surprised, she questions, "You don't?"

I shake my head. "Nope. I'm not much of a decorator, and I'm horrible at picking out paint colors. If you want to redecorate, do what you want. Just no pink walls, okay?"

She pretends to be offended. "What do you have against pink?"

I groan. "Pink stinks."

"No, it doesn't."

"Yes, it does. Ask my nieces. I tell them that all the time," I admit.

She laughs. "Okay. No pink."

"Okay, so what else do you want?"

"You seriously want me to pick two things?"

"Yes."

She ponders a few moments, then shakes her head. "I really can't think of anything else, Alexander. Painting your house is a big project, so I'm okay with only that."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"It doesn't seem fair to me."

"No?"

I continue, "Nope. So I'll let you think about the second thing and tell me later, okay?"

"Is that fair?" she questions.

"I'm a man. I can handle it."

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