Chapter Eighteen
“Ooh, Simon! And Miller!” TraceyAnn warbled as the two walked into the Childcare Center.
Lily looked up just in time to see Miller go stone faced. She admired how Miller was always polite, although reserved, with TraceyAnn’s obvious flirtation. Simon was flustered, clearly uncomfortable with her fawning over him. The two men spotted Lily and looked both relieved and happy to see her.
In a coordinated fashion, Miller separated from Simon and went off to distract TraceyAnn, while Simon came over to Lily. He tossed her a set of keys and a plastic card.
“What’s this?” Lily caught them easily, but was flummoxed. Simon grinned at her.
“Miller told me about your car situation. You should be able to come and go between the Faire and the house, since you insist on working here.” He looked over at TraceyAnn and Miller and gave a laugh. “Look at Miller, taking one for the team.”
Lily had to cover her hand with her mouth to hide her laugh. TraceyAnn was leaning forward, desperately trying to get Miller to look at her cleavage, and he was politely but stubbornly looking her right in the eye. He hadn’t cracked a smile, either. He wasn’t leading TraceyAnn on in the slightest, not that TraceyAnn needed any help in interpreting things the way she wanted to see them.
“Anyway, uh, this is one of the more basic cars that we have, so don’t worry about it. It’s already banged up from when the boys were first learning to drive.” Simon rolled his eyes at the memory, but his voice was filled with amusement. “And this is a prepaid gas card, so you can keep the tank full. Let Rika know if you have need a new one.”
Lily was speechless with astonishment. It was like trading spaces with Simon, who was normally tongue-tied around her. So it was a big improvement for him. Maybe she was having a positive effect after all.
“It’s, uh, tagged so you can’t just take off with it and end up in Mexico or something.” He gave an awkward laugh, but Lily was thrilled. Simon made a joke around her! She caught Miller’s eye, and he winked at her.
Simon continued, “And if you need anything involving the car, find our head of ops, Puma, and he’ll get it done. He knows you’re working with me.”
Irony of ironies. She had a car, but couldn’t use it to leave. And the trust that Simon had in her was filling her with all kinds of guilt that she would be leaving soon. After the time that she had gotten to spend with him, she had pretty much pegged him as someone who didn’t trust easily.
For one thing, there was never anyone else with him at the house when she was there, besides Miller and the five boys….especially Col. For someone so wealthy you’d expect tons of helpers and assistants. But their security was rigged so they couldn’t even get a delivery from Domino’s without it being a major production. She chalked it up to his eccentricity. And it was another thing that she felt guilty about. He had rolled out a red carpet for her into his small, carefully contained universe, when people like TraceyAnn were scrambling to get his attention. She couldn’t help but feel affectionate towards him, along with the guilt.
She smiled at him, and tilted her chin towards the display outside the window. “Any chance I could get the keys to one of those instead?”
Simon jerked his head, and realized she was referring to the sports cars that he had as part of the outdoor exhibit.
“Uh, sure I guess, I mean technically Puma has the keys on him on the key ring that he carries—”
“I’m joking,” she said gently, and he flushed. “I’m really grateful for the loan of any car, and you’re more than generous with the gas card.”
“Oh, uh. Oh.” Simon was back to his tongue-tied self. But, baby steps. She’d work on that with him, and maybe before long he could even be as comfortable talking with people as Aylwyn.
She suddenly saw a small missile launch itself at her. It was Brady, running over and immediately clinging to Lily’s skirt. The little boy was crying, and buried his head in its voluminous folds. Simon took a huge step back, as if Brady were a snarling, three headed dog. Lily took note of that, but her immediate concern was the child weeping in her skirts.
“What’s the matter, honey?” Lily reached down and ruffled the little boy’s hair.
He looked up with his tear filled face and pointed a finger at one of the older kids, Alfonso.
“He said that he’s the Big Bad Wolf and he’s going to eat me!”
Clover came over, clearly concerned about her twin. Lily gently lowered herself so she was at eye level with both kids.
“Listen to me, ” she said in a calm voice. She noticed that Simon was standing back, but watching her with the kids. “Do you remember the story of the Big Bad Wolf and the Three Little Pigs?”
“Yes!” Clover announced proudly, her brother echoing it between sobs a second later.
“What did the Big Bad Wolf do in that story?”
Clover had the answer. “He blowed and he blowed!”
“No, silly,” her brother’s tears stopped in his rush to correct her. “He huffenpuffed. Andthenhe blowed the house down!”
“Yes, that’s right!” Lily said. “And do you think if Alfonso huffed and puffed, he could blow you down?”
“No!” Clover giggled, and even Brady started to laugh at that.
