Page 65 of Don't Fall for the Billionaire
“What?” Millie asked.
“Signing her and Eloise up for the school’s talent show.”
“You did what?!” Maddie exclaimed, leaning forward, eyes wide.
There was a moment of silence before the table erupted.
“Oh, honey.” Millie shook her head, stirring her coffee with slow, gentle circles. “Kitty Corners is going to eat you alive.”
“Come on.” I laughed. “It’s just a school talent show.”
“Not when that witch is involved,” Marissa said, sipping her coffee. “Her daughter has been practicing some over-the-top piano piece since last year. She even hired an additional piano teacher. That’stwopiano teachers who come to the house every single day.”
“Kitty doesn’t see this as a cute night for the kids. She sees it as a blood sport, just like she does with the fall bake off,” Mackenzie said.
“She really has it in for you ever since that day you told her off at the school,” Marissa said. “I overheard her telling Mr. Corners that if Eloise enters the talent show, she’ll only make a fool of herself because she can’t dance, and she can’t wait to see her fail.”
My hands tightened around my mug of coffee. The thought of Kitty saying that about Eloise sent a protective heat throughout my body.
“That’s exactly why I signed us up. Eloise deserves a win, and I’m going to make sure she does.” I smirked.
The nannies exchanged glances.
“Girl,” Millie said, shaking her head. “Either you’re crazy, or you’ve got more guts than all of us combined.”
“Maybe a little of both. But I’ll be damned if I let Kitty Corners teach Eloise she’s anything less than extraordinary.”
They all went quiet for a moment until Maddie held up her coffee cup. “To Charlotte. The woman brave, or crazy enough, to take on Kitty Corners.”
Smiling, I clinked my cup against theirs. Brave or crazy, I wasn’t backing down, and we were going to win.
“Soooo,” Marissa said, leaning forward, staring at me. “What is Mr. Cross like? I mean, the man is sexy as fuck. What is he like as a boss?”
“I honestly don’t know how you can live in the same house with that man,” Maddie said. “I wouldn’t be able to keep my hands off of him.”
If they only knew.
“He’s fine. Didn’t Maura ever talk about him?”
“Ha.” Millie laughed. “Maura wasn’t part of our group. She was a mean and nasty woman who kept to herself. She was ALL business and wouldn’t give us the time of day.”
“We were happy when we learned she had moved back to England,” Maddie said.
“Okay, ladies. I have to run. I have pies to start baking for Saturday. I’ll see you at pick up later.”
When I arrived back at the townhouse, Sylvia informed me she had to leave for the day because she had just gotten a call that her daughter was in labor.
“Good luck. Make sure to send me a picture after he’s born.” I smiled.
I gathered all the ingredients for the pies. I wanted to get a head start now, and then I’d have Eloise help me bake some more on Friday since there was no school for teachers’ in-service.
Today’s pie lineup was ambitious, but manageable. An apple crumb, a lattice-topped apple, an apple raisin, an apple cranberry, an apple with a twist, and a salted caramel apple topped the list. Luckily, the hard part was already behind me since I’d prepped the crusts and sliced the apples the other day. All I had to do was whip up the fillings, pour them into theirshells, and slide the pies into the oven where the kitchen would soon smell like heavenly autumn.
I tapped the music button on my phone, and music began blasting through the speakers in the house. I was in my happy place—baking pies and listening to music. I needed to think of a good song to use for our talent show dance. The song “Yeah” by Usher began to play, and my body started moving to the beat, doing hip-hop dancing in the kitchen, when I should have been filling the pies.
Ashton
I’d just left a meeting a couple of blocks from the house when I went to pull out a business card of a colleague and noticed my wallet wasn’t in my pocket.
