Page 12 of Architect's Christmas Nanny

“What if you have gym today?” Jillian asked.

Josie’s eyes opened wide, and she darted back to the dresser to pull out the tee-shirt and shorts her grandmother had given her.

“Great job,” Jillian said. “What’s next?”

“I’ll put this in my bag, and we’ll go down for breakfast,” Josie said, sounding worried that she might be forgetting something else.

“Normally, you would want to check your bag for books and homework too,” Jillian told her. “But today is your first day, so you don’t have to worry about that.”

“Okay,” Josie said brightly.

Jillian followed her into the hallway and watched her cram the gym clothes into the backpack they had filled with brand new notebooks and a beautifully stocked pencil case back in the city. Jillian would have placed them inside a little more carefully, so as not to disturb the other items, but Josie was going to have to learn by doing.

They headed downstairs and Jillian smiled when she saw Josie was taking her backpack all the way to the front door, just like Jillian did for her back home.

“Two of thesamepair of shoes,” Josie said, pointing to her sneakers as she set the bag down beside them.

“Excellent,” Jillian told her. “You’re already one up on your dad.”

“I mean, it should count as two,” Josie teased, quirking up an eyebrow that reminded Jillian so much of her father that she couldn’t help laughing.

“Okay, two,” Jillian agreed. “Let’s go see what you can do for yourself for breakfast.”

But before they reached the kitchen, her phone rang. She slid it out of her pocket and swiped to answer when she saw Brad’s name pop up.

“Hey,” she said. “What’s up?”

“My parents are making breakfast,” Brad said gruffly. “Come on over.”

She knew she should remind him that Josie needed to learn to get herself ready for school, but it was such a lovely idea to have a big breakfast with the grandparents that she didn’t have the heart.

“That’s really nice,” she told him instead. “We’ll be over in a minute.”

“What’s going on?” Josie asked.

“Your grandparents are making breakfast,” she told her. “So you’re off the hook for today.”

“Yes,”Josie said. “I’ll bet it’s pancakes. Grandpa loves making pancakes.”

Sure enough, when they came in the back door of the big house just a few minutes later, they found Alistair pouring batter onto a pan and Annabelle starting up the coffee maker.

“Grandpa,” Josie yelled. “Youaremaking pancakes.”

“Well, come and help me,” her grandfather told her with a smile, pointing to the step stool he’d placed next to him. “I need a fry cook.”

“Hi,” Jillian said to Annabelle, feeling a little shy at first with Brad’s mother, as she always did.

“Get in here,” Annabelle said, throwing her arms around Jillian and giving her a good squeeze. “I hope you’re ready for a big country breakfast.”

“I’malwaysready for a big country meal,” Jillian said, feeling right at home after the warm embrace. “You’ll be lucky if I don’t eat you out of house and home.”

“That’s our girl,” Alistair chuckled from his place at the stove. “Remember the first time she was here for Thanksgiving and we made homemade cranberry sauce?”

Everyone laughed, including Jillian, who had eaten so much vanilla-infused cranberry sauce that Thanksgiving she was afraid there wouldn’t be enough left for everyone else to enjoy with the leftovers. In her defense, she hadn’t asked for seconds, but Alistair kept spooning a little more on her plate as soon as he saw how much she loved it, and she hadn’t been able to turn it down.

Though she had worried in the moment that they might think she was greedy, over time she realized the story just made her fit in. The Williams crew liked a person who appreciated a good meal and didn’t mind being giggled at for it.

At the sound of footsteps, Jillian found her eyes moving to the doorway to the dining room. Brad appeared a second later, wearing a flannel and jeans, and a smile that got bigger as soon as he spotted her.

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