Page 19 of Crush
Brynn looked around the house, eyes wide. “Wow, you have such a beautiful place.”
“It's a mess,” I said. After the moment with my Bentley earlier, I wasn't about to gloat. “But let me show you around.”
I gave Brynn the tour and let her know some of the house rules so none of the kids could pull any fast ones on the new nanny.
“No matter what Chloe tells you, she's not allowed to go out with friends until she's finished her homework.”
“Okay.”
“The twins need to do their homework before they play hockey, too. Because once they set foot in that rink, they won't come out until it's bedtime. Oh, and make sure they actually stop to eat dinner, too.”
“Ha. Noted.”
“If Chloe has any boys over, they're not allowed to be unsupervised. No closed doors or anything like that. She was pushing the envelope on that rule with the last nanny.”
Brynn tilted her head at me. “Does Chloe have a boyfriend?”
I raised my hands. “Boyfr—she better not!”
She covered her mouth and giggled. “Oh, no.”
“What?”
“Nothing, nothing. I get it. It must be hard to watch your girl grow up, that's all.”
“Ugh …”I put the thought out of my mind and grabbed my bag of gear. It was almost time for me to go.
“Do the kids know I'll be here?” Brynn asked.
“I sent them a text, so they should know by the time they get home.”
“Great.”
“Anything else you need to know?”
“If anything comes up, I'll give you a call.”
She walked with me to the door. I turned around to give her a smile, and my eyes swept over her one last time. “Okay, Brynn. Good luck tonight.”
She patted my arm. “Thanks. And good luck toyou,Captain.”
I climbed into my car and smiled.
Hope the kids don't give her a hard time.
***
I must've still been smiling when I made it to the arena, because the second I walked through the dressing room door, the boys started giving me shit.
“Look who just walked through the door! Mr. Sunshine!”
“Can you stop making that face, Boomer? I'm not used to seeing it and now I'm scared.”
“Yeah, Shea, you're awfully smiley there.”
“I am not,” I said, my scowl going back into place.
“Ah, now that's more like it,” Radar said with a laugh. “So what's gotten into you, Captain?”
