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“That’s how good he was at keeping me a secret.”
“Pancakes!” Sophie appears in the kitchen in a cute yellow nightgown and holding an iPad.
“Here you go!” I give her my plate.
“Those are yours.” Darragh goes to the refrigerator and pours juice into a purple plastic cup decorated with Easter eggs. “She needs her meds first. Eat,” he demands and heat tingles me all over.
Deftly cutting squares and popping them into my mouth, I watch him give Sophie three different pills, a kid’s vitamin gummy, and then a spoonful of pale pink liquid.
She sits at the kitchen table under a wall of windows and fires up her iPad.
“What are those meds?” I ask Darragh when he puts them away.
“Allergy pills and prescription cough syrup.”
“She gets them every morning? Because I can help with that.”
He opens his mouth to answer but bites his lip.
“I got a list of nanny résumés from the service,” he says instead. “I have to review them and make calls today. If I don’t have anyone picked out, I’ll change my hours to take Sophie back and forth to school. Someone at the hospital can watch her until—”
“Leaving me alone, all day?” I bite the last sinful triangle of warm heaven. “Hmmm.”
“I’m trusting you to stay here.”
“Don’t forget, I’m a criminal. I know how to fence stuff. There’s lots in here I can sell to buy a ticket to Canada.”
“I heard your lawyer say you don’t have a passport.”
“I need one for Canada?”
“You do now.”
Damn it. Maybe I can call Dante Caruso…
“Can I have my pancakes now?” Sophie asks.
“Absolutely.” I turn the griddle back on and ladle up a few small dollops, remembering how I loved silver dollar pancakes as a kid.
Darragh cups her shoulder. “Sophie, after breakfast, we’re going to the hospital to listen to Ana’s baby.”
“How do we hear the baby?” She looks up with wide eyes.
“It’s called an ultrasound machine,” I answer while Darragh sneers at his phone, possibly from poor nanny candidates.
“That sounds so cool.” Sophie takes her plate and stabs each of the pancakes, shoving them into her little mouth.
“Hey, slow down, speed racer.” I pull the plate away. “We’re in no rush.”
She chews and chews, rolling her eyes, nodding.
When I think she gets it, I put her plate back.
I notice a few ripe bananas on a hook, take one down, and peel it.
Darragh watches me with an eyebrow raised.
For fun, I turn away from Sophie and lick the tip.
