Page 2 of Riding the Waves

“Hello.” Scarlett didn’t sit but picked up the book to inspect it. “It’s good, isn’t it?”

“So good.” Emmy beamed. “Thanks for recommending it.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Do you want a drink?” Hugh asked Scarlet when she hovered awkwardly.

“No. I’m not staying long. I just needed to talk to Damian about the brats.”

“They’re not brats!” he said forcefully.

Scarlett looked mildly confused. “I meant it affectionately.”

“You may need to work on your tone,” he told her.

“Okay. I will. Anyway, I know we agreed you’d pay me for looking after them at the end of every week, but I decided I’d rather have half the money upfront and half at the end of the holidays. I emailed you an invoice and a basic working agreement an hour ago. I don’t know if you saw it.”

“I haven’t, but thanks.” Getting Scarlett to help with the boys for the summer had seemed like a good idea previously, but he was wondering if he might end up regretting it.

“I should also tell you I decided the price we originally agreed on wasn’t enough, so I’ve increased the hourly rate.”

He squeezed his eyes closed and shook his head. “Why?”

“Because the boys arrive on Monday. It’s too late for you to find someone else to look after them, so it puts me in a good position to negotiate.”

While Hugh and Leo stifled their laughter, Emmy was quite open in her amusement.

“I thought we’d already agreed on a fair price,” Damian said to Scarlett.

“It seemed okay before our washing machine broke,” Scarlett said. “Now I need to earn a bit more over the summer.”

“You can’t really say no to that,” Leo said, looking highly amused.

“I’ve also got a meeting on Monday morning,” Scarlett said. “So I’ll only be able to come and meet the brats for an hour. You said you wouldn’t really need me on that first morning anyway.”

He definitely wasn’t about to palm the boys off on someone else the first day they were with him and hadn’t actually anticipated Scarlett being around at all on Monday.

As it was, he only needed her to watch them three mornings a week when he was out giving surf lessons. The rest of the time they’d be in surf school themselves or Damian would be available for them. He had good staff at his surf business, which freed him up to spend the summer with his boys.

“That’s fine,” he said to Scarlett, who was looking at him expectantly.

“Good. That’s all I needed to talk to you about.”

“You could have called me,” Damian said.

“I don’t like calling people. Besides, you’re easy to find on a Friday evening.”

“Should we be offended by that?” Damian asked.

“Probably,” Scarlett said, then looked to Emmy. “You can come to my place for a bit if you’re bored here.”

“Yes, please.” Emmy twisted to face her dad. “Can I?”

“Yeah. I’ll pick you up on the way home.” He checked his watch. “Half an hour.”

They watched the two of them leave, then Leo rested his elbow on the table and propped his head on his hand. “Scarlett’s extorting you, you know?”

“It’s starting to feel like it.” Damian pulled his phone out to find the email from Scarlett. His eyes bulged as he read how much money she wanted for the first instalment. “Definitely seems like extortion,” he said, holding his phone out to show his friends. They nodded in response and Hugh winced at the sum.

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