The alarm clock on the bedside locker shined brightly and Eliza winced at the time. She had about four hours to get home, showered, and make herself and the house look somewhatpresentable before the new nanny arrived. They hadn’t fallen asleep, or more accurately passed out, until the early hours of the morning. Eliza would already be running on empty. She slid from the bed and slipped on her clothes quietly before ordering a taxi on an app to pick her up outside.
“Dine and dash, eh?”
The sleepy voice was followed by a chuckle as Wyn laughed at her own joke.
“That was terrible,” Elle huffed as a smile escaped.
“Yes, yes it was,” Wyn said with her eyes half shut.
“I have to go, I have—”
“No need to find an excuse. We’re cool,” Wyn said, cutting Eliza off.
Eliza was about to explain that it wasn’t an excuse, but she stopped herself. No explanations needed for one-night stands, right?
“Sweet dreams, darling,” Eliza said softly.
A smile graced Wyn’s face as her eyes fluttered shut again and Eliza took one more moment to enjoy the view. There was a pang at the idea that it was a sight she wouldn’t witness again, and Eliza shook her head at herself. She was getting soft, and it was a good thing she was leaving the culprit of that behind. She couldn’t afford the complications of feelings, even if they were accompanied by mind-blowing sex.
Eliza had gotten the last of the laundry piled all over the kids’ room into the hamper when the doorbell chimed. She was shocked that it was already 8:59 a.m. and was pleased the nanny was early. With a schedule like Eliza’s, she needed someone who she could rely on to be on time.
Henry would be dropping the kids off in thirty minutes, which would give Eliza time to officially meet their newest kid wrangler first. It wasn’t like Eliza to hire someone without even meeting, and it likely wasn’t the best impression to give. She had been called to an urgent, last minute board meeting in London the day of the interview, and the prospective nanny had travelled all the way here for it.
Eliza hadn’t wanted to reschedule and risk losing yet another nanny before they’d even started, so she had Henry do the vetting instead. She trusted Henry’s judgement as much as if not more than her own, and so with his approval she had made an offer to the agency for the woman to start immediately. Since the last nanny had turned tail and fled a month before, the juggling act that was life had gotten impossible to manage. Frankly, Eliza was desperate. A state that she loathed to be in.
“Hi, welcome…”
Eliza’s voice trailed over as she opened the door and stood face-to-face with Wyn.
What the hell?
Wyn’s broad smile faltered as she stared back at Eliza.
“What are you…how did you get this address?”
Eliza’s voice was usually sure and steady, but her confusion seeped into the words as her brain began to race.
What was going on? Had the amazing one-night stand suddenly become a stalker situation? Eliza had to get this sorted immediately, before her kids were exposed to whatever unhinged shit was going on.
“Elle…oh fuck. Elle is short for Eliza?”
Eliza frowned, and her gaze dropped to the suitcase at Wyn’s feet. Her brain finally caught up to where Wyn’s had already clearly gotten to.
Wyn. Rowyn. You have got to be kidding me.
Eliza’s uncomplicated one-night stand had suddenly gotten awhole lot more complicated.
“Are you going to invite me in, or are we going to give your neighbours a rundown of our predicament?”
Eliza snapped back to the present as she looked out past Rowyn. Her resident nosy neighbour, Barbara, was walking her dog suspiciously slowly past the driveway. Barbara waved as their eyes met, and Eliza nodded stiffly.
“Come in,” Eliza said as she stepped back to let Rowyn through the door.
“Would you like some tea or coffee?”
The situation might be a nightmare, but that didn’t allow the manners her mother hammered into her to disappear.
“Maybe some water. You’ve got a lovely place here,” Rowyn said.
