Page 30 of Worst Nanny Ever
She gives him a serious nod. “You’d help make sure that doesn’t happen. It’s an important job. Friends don’t let friends be lame.”
He seems impressed by this, and I smile at Sophie, who obviously is way better with kids than I’ll ever be.
“We’ll take you up on that,” I say.
“Yeah,” Ollie says. “Thank goodness Hannah is finally my nanny now.” His face creases into a frown. “I think Travis just said your name again, Hannah. He’s frowning.”
“Dammit,” I say, then catch myself. “Sorry. I meant…”
“That’s okay,” he says. “I know all about swearing. Roland produced a lot of rap music, and sometimes rappers would come over and freestyle.”
“That’s really cool.”
“Yeah,” he says with a slight smile. “Itwascool. They didn’t invite me, or anything, but it was a big house, and Nanny Rose took plenty of naps. A lot of times no one noticed if I was in the room.”
That’s it. I want todestroythese people. I want to vanquishthem so thoroughly there’s nothing left behind but a scorch mark.
Sophie, who reacts in more normal ways to sad stories, looks like she’s about to burst into tears. “Oh, Ollie,” she says, “I know exactly what that feels like, but it’ll never happen again. I promise.”
He grunts, shaking his little head. “I wish it would. Travis always knows exactly where I am. I can’t get away with anything.”
“That’s okay. I’ll teach you how to get away with stuff.” I extend my fist for a bump, and as he gives it to me, Briar gives me a disapproving look.
I’m tempted to point out that some rules are stupid and shouldn’t be followed, and that building Ollie’s confidence is more important than making him into a rule-following sheep, but I’m not sure she’d agree.
Dottie pats Ollie’s hand, and I’m not at all surprised when she says, “Dear boy. I have a few things Imustgive you. In fact, come with me. We need to figure out which of the stones call to you.”
He glances at me before meeting her gaze again. “Stones don’t talk, Miss Dottie.”
“Oooh, but they do.” She presses her hand over her chest. “They talk to ushere.”
This time he gives me a look that requires no body language expertise to interpret.Is this woman crazy?
“She doesn’t mean it literally,” I explain, “but if you’d like to go look at some cool rocks, it’s okay with me. Your dad knows Dottie’s good people.”
Ollie shrugs. “Okay. Idolike rocks.”
“And I’ll tell you all about them,” Dottie promises, beaming.
“Promise?”
“Oh, yes.” She looks like someone just baked her a triple-decker birthday cake.
The two of them take off toward the back room of the shop.
I glance over my shoulder at Travis’s table. He is, of course, staring at me, so I give him a thumbs-up and a huge grin.
I expect him to stomp over to demand an explanation, but he settles for giving me a severe look.
“So they’ll be gone for at least six hours,” I say, turning back toward my friends. “You guys, I have something really life-changing to tell you, but you have to promise to keep it to yourselves. Like, it’s very important not to tell anyone. Even Dottie. I love her, but I get the sense that she’s not very good at keeping secrets.”
“What is it?” Sophie asks, her eyes widening. “Are you and Travis together?”
Shock ripples through me. “No, absolutely not. Why would you say that? Why would you eventhinkthat?”
“She thought so too,” Sophie whispers furtively, gesturing to Briar, who shrugs, still playing with a lock of her long golden princess hair.
“Seriously, guys?”
