Page 42 of Temptation at His Door

“What on earth are they doing?” Joa asked, confused by the boys’ interest in a set of rocks.

Tanna laughed. “Abigail is giving them a history of gnomes in Boston. Apparently, gnomes live in boys’ gardens and fairies in girls’ gardens,” Tanna said, with a completely straight face.

Well, that made sense.

Joa’s lips twitched with amusement. “And the boys are buying it?”

“Aron is lapping it up, Sam suspects it’s rubbish but he’s enjoying the story.” Tanna turned away from the window and headed toward the kitchen area, asking Joa if she wanted coffee.

Joa said yes and watched the boys for a few minutes more. Abigail looked to be in her midfifties, fit and slim. She wore her blond hair in a bob and was naturally attractive. Best of all, her attention was fully on the boys.

Aron had her hand in his and Sam’s normally reticent expression wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Joa instinctively knew they liked her.

Turning back to Tanna, Joa joined her in the kitchen and sat down on one of the stools at the island. “What do you think of her?” Joa asked.

Tanna thought for a minute.

“I really like her. She’s easy to talk to, seems completely unfussy. The boys took to her immediately.” Tanna pushed her cup toward Joa and her lips curved into a rueful smile. “I kind of interviewed her. I hope you don’t mind.”

She really didn’t. The boys were Tanna’s nephews and Joa appreciated a second opinion.

“She’s fifty-nine, her husband died two or three years ago. No kids but she’s taught grade school for thirty years and gave up work to nurse her husband who died of cancer.” Tanna explained.

Joa felt a spurt of sympathy and asked Tanna to continue. “She’s not looking for a live-in position as she has a house ten minutes away but she’s not averse to spending the occasional night here if Ronan needs to travel for work.”

“Did she say why she was looking for a job?”

“She simply loves kids and she’s bored. She’s traveled a bit since her husband died but, as she said, she’s not the sitting-at-home-knitting or lunching-with-her-friends type. She doesn’t want to go back into full-time teaching and she thought that a part-time job might suit her better.”

Tanna’s shoulders lifted and fell. “Honestly, Joa, I think she’s perfect.”

Oh, she sounded like she was. Of course, Joa would grill her again before she recommended her to Ronan but Abigail did sound perfect.

Dammit, dammit, dammit.

Joa didn’t want Abigail to be perfect; she didn’t want to find Ronan his forever nanny because then Joa would be obsolete. She’d have to move on.

She’d lose her family.

No, dammit! Joa scrubbed her face with her hands, reminding herself that she was repeating past mistakes, that she didn’t have a family, that this was a temporary position. Shehadto move on. She had to find her own spot of sunshine, her own place to stand. It wasn’t here, in this house, with those boys and that man.

“So are you going to tell Ronan about her?” Tanna asked.

Joa pushed her coffee away and stood up. “I suppose I have to, don’t I?”

Joa turned away and didn’t see Tanna’s satisfied smile.

Joa walked down the hallway of Murphy International, feeling out of place in her skinny jeans tucked into flat knee-high boots and a thick hooded sweatshirt worn under a quilted puffer jacket. The other women darting in and out of offices wore form-fitting dresses in bold colors, with neutral or skin-tone stilettos. But Joa had spent the morning at the halfway house, going over plans for the renovation, and she’d spent most of that time outside. Dresses and heels were pretty but impractical.

Office dresses and heels had never been her thing anyway. She doubted they ever would be. She liked wearing flip-flops and sneakers, shorts and jeans. She couldn’t imagine dressing up and slapping on makeup; she far preferred to get her hands dirty, whether it was looking after kids or climbing up ladders to inspect roofs.

Earlier, and still without telling Ronan about Abigail, she’d dropped off the boys at their school and headed to Isabel’s foundation, joining the staff meeting already in progress. Thirty minutes in and they were still on the first item on the agenda. Joa made an executive, and easy, decision to move them along. By item number five she was chairing the meeting and afterward, the acting CEO told her that they’d achieved more in an hour than they had all week. They needed direction, Joa realized, someone to make decisions and to provide leadership.

She thought she just might be that person. She was passionate about the foundation, about the work they did, and she felt supremely comfortable in the role of CEO. But she wasn’t qualified. She didn’t have the business, accounting or management background, or any of the qualifications the board required.

But damn, it was fun. Running the foundation was something she could see herself doing for a long, long time...possibly for the rest of her life.

“Ju.”

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