Page 9 of A Manny for Christmas

He shrugs. ‘It was nothing. She’s a real find. Zoe’s thrilled to have her on board. But here’s the thing.’ He leans forward. ‘Evelyn had drinks with her last night, and she’s in a real pickle. Her au pair is leaving at the end of the week, and she’s got no childcare, and she really needs some help first thing in the mornings because she’s in the kitchen at the crack of dawn. She needs another adult body, basically. Someone to just get the kids out the door and off to school. That’s right, isn’t it, sweetheart?’

He turns to Evelyn, who presses her lips together, unimpressed. She hasn’t taken her eyes off me. ‘That’s right,’ she says quietly.

‘And there’s plenty of space at the cottage. There’s Alastair’s old room over the kitchen. It’s got its own stairs and everything. It’s completely separate from the rest of the bedrooms.’

It all clicks.

What he’s saying.

What he’s proposing.

He wants me to go stay with Molly? And look after her children?

Is he fuckinginsane?

I’m so horrified I shoot straight to my feet.

‘There’s no bloody way.’

‘If you just calm down—’

‘I will not calm down.’

‘I think it’s a pretty elegant solution all round,’ my dickhead brother says mildly.

‘Er, it's anelegant solution’—I make quote marks with my fingers—‘if you ignore the fact that she fucking hates me.’

He sighs. ‘She doesn’t hate you. It was a long time ago.’

‘Angus. I went out with her forfour years. I lived with her, for God’s sake.’ I rake my hand through my hair in frustration. ‘She was—’ I pause, my voice weirdly strangled. ‘She wasn’t just some girl I dated back in the day. She wasMolly. Jesus. You, of all people, should understand that.’

It was Angus who got tasked with the shitty job of picking up the pieces of my heart after she walked. Which is why I can’t quite believe that he’s operating with such a selective memory. He knows the pain Molly and I caused each other.

He knows she’s best off staying firmly in my rearview mirror.

I pace towards the kitchen area, my hands going to the island where I lean over and hang my head. My back is stiff as fuck after that flight.

‘I do understand.’ His voice is quieter. ‘I get it. I know what you two had. Which is why I thought you might want to help her out. Look, you both ended up getting what you wanted, all right? She got kids. You got to wander the globe with a backpack. So I’m sure there are no hard feelings.

‘But right now she’s in a tight spot, and I know she won’t leave her kids with just anyone. Who better than someone she’s known for half a lifetime? Whatever went down between you guys at the end, I’m sure she’d trust you with her life. And her kids. She’ll always be family to us.’

His words hit a spot far too close to home to be comfortable. Molly Carter was my family. My home. My everything. I’d still happily punch any fucker who hurt her (and that includes her twat of an ex-husband). But my particular brand of nostalgic protectiveness is light years away from bedding down in her spare room and looking after her flesh and blood.

Flesh and blood she wanted to create with me, at one point.

‘Evelyn, please explain to your obtuse arse of a husband why this is an idea of epically disastrous proportions,’ I say instead, turning to face them and resting my weary ass against the island.

She looks from me to Angus and back again, but the little I know of my sister-in-law tells me she’s not one to beat about the bush when clarity is needed.

‘This isn’t just a simple hypothetical puzzle to solve, darling.’ She pats his hand. ‘Max isn’t just a manny-bot with plug-and-play functionality. There are feelings involved, and, I’m guessing, years and years of baggage. A spare room and a childcare need don’t equal a solution in this case.’

‘Thank you,’ I say pointedly. ‘Exactly.’ Though what the hell a manny-bot is, I’m better off not knowing.

‘Anyway,’ she continues, ‘there’s no way Molly would go for it. I mean, look at him.’

‘Look at me how?’ I demand.

Evelyn waves her hand dismissively in my direction. ‘The guy’s a walking nightmare. He’d shoot her that sexy, I-can-make-it-all-better-baby grin, and next thing you know, he’s shagged the poor woman, and all hell’s broken loose.’

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