4. Maddie
CHAPTER 4
MADDIE
M addie had to wonder, as she rinsed off in the guard showers and pulled her track pants on over her suit, if she was losing her mind. Going out with a strange man? That wasn’t the kind of thing she would ordinarily have agreed to — what had come over her?
Maybe it was just the fact that the little boy — Charlie — had seemed so eager to spend time with her. She had to admit, she’d found him charming, and she was excited to spend a little more time with him as well. She had been worried when she’d first found him wandering alone on the beach, wondering why he didn’t have an adult with him, but after meeting Eli, she’d relaxed a bit. She’d been doing this job long enough to tell the difference between a negligent parent and one who had just looked away for a moment, and it was obvious that Eli was the latter sort. There was no excuse for taking your eyes off your kid at the beach, of course, but maybe this would be a learning experience for him and he wouldn’t make the same mistake again.
It was also possible that Maddie had agreed to go out for ice cream because of everything that had been going on with herself and Tess. The fact that she had to move out of her house and find somewhere else to live — and more importantly, the fact that Tess was making such progress in her life while Maddie felt stagnant — had her wanting to try new things. She wanted to come home tonight with a story to tell her friend about something wild and exciting that had happened today, even if it was nothing more significant than ice cream with a cute guy she’d met on the beach.
He really was cute, with his dark hair and dark eyes, with his shorts that showed off the lean muscles of his thighs. She had wondered for a moment, upon first seeing him, whether he was a movie star, but she couldn’t think of any movie stars named Eli, so she had to concede that he probably wasn’t. Still, he was handsome enough that she would have believed it if someone had told her he was in movies. She would definitely be including that in the story she told Tess when she got home tonight.
She toweled off, hating the fact that she never got fully dry after work. She knew she ought to start packing a change of clothes — but she so rarely went out after work without coming home first that it had never seemed necessary, and she didn’t like changing in the staff room. Now she wished she had brought something along so she could have worn a cute sundress instead of her track pants and guard suit.
It couldn’t be helped, though. She went back out and found them waiting for her beside her lifeguard chair. Charlie was hopping around in the sand, still clutching his sand dollar.
Eli smiled when he saw her coming, and Maddie felt slightly weak. He was even better looking when he smiled. She hadn’t had the wind knocked out of her by a guy in a very long time.
“Ready to go?” he asked her.
“Ready,” she said.
“Ready!” Charlie chimed in.
They started up the beach toward the boardwalk that would lead them to the ice cream shop.
“Listen,” Eli said as they walked.
Maddie looked at him.
“You must think I’m a terrible father,” he said.
“I wasn’t thinking that. I don’t even know you.”
“I just want you to know — I wouldn’t usually take my eyes off of him at the beach.”
“I’d hope not.” She had no problem giving him this warning, even though they didn’t know one another. “Charlie seems like a bright kid, but you never know what might happen to kids on the beach. It’s a dangerous place. It’s not a good idea to take risks.”
“I know. I didn’t mean to. I… well, I had an important email from work.” His cheeks colored slightly. “I know that’s not an excuse.”
“If you can’t give Charlie your full attention, maybe you shouldn’t bring him to the beach.” She said it as gently as she could.
“Yeah, maybe not. He really wanted to come. Ordinarily his nanny would be the one to take him so that I could focus on work.”
“It’s her day off or something?”
“No, she quit on us unexpectedly.” His jaw tightened. “She left yesterday with no warning. Moved all her stuff out.”
“She was live-in?”
“Yeah. Which means I have a huge gap to fill for Charlie, obviously. I can’t stop working, but I don’t want his whole life to be derailed either. He’s used to getting to do fun things like having beach days. I was trying to give him everything, and I overestimated my ability to do that.”
Maddie felt a little more sympathetic, hearing their story, than she had at first. “That does sound hard,” she said.
They’d reached the ice cream shop, and they went inside. Charlie began to puzzle over which flavor he might like.
“You should taste them,” Maddie advised him.
“Taste them?” He looked up at her, obviously mystified.
“You’ve never done that?”
“I’ve tasted ice cream before.”
“Nah, that’s not what I mean.” She turned to the ice cream scooper. “Can we taste a couple?”
“Which ones?” The teenage girl behind the counter pulled out a handful of wooden tasting spoons.
Maddie turned to Charlie. “What do you want to try?”
“Everything!”
“Nah, not everything. Pick three.”
“But I still get a whole ice cream, right?”
“Yes. This is to help you decide which kind you want.”
Charlie began to discuss his options with the ice cream scooper, and Maddie fell back a few paces to talk to Eli. “I can’t believe he’s never tasted ice cream before.”
“He’s tasted ice cream before.”
“You know what I mean. He’s never sampled it like this.”
“I didn’t realize he hadn’t, to be honest with you,” Eli said. “I’ve brought him here myself a few times, but he usually just orders something quickly. Usually, his nanny would be the one to bring him. I’ve never seen him take his time like this.”
Maddie hesitated, unsure whether she should say what was on her mind.
“What?” Eli asked. “You look like you’re thinking something.”
“Well, it’s just that… I wonder whether he’s been quick about placing his orders in the past because he’s sensed that you’re in a hurry,” Maddie said. “You seem like a guy who doesn’t take a lot of time to enjoy the small things in life. If you brought him to get ice cream, maybe he felt like he needed to order quickly so you could get back to whatever you were doing.”
She held her breath, wondering if she had overstepped.
“You see a lot,” Eli said.
“I’m sorry. Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything.”
“No, you’ve got a point,” he said. “I don’t take my time with him when we go out together. It’s the same as what happened on the beach. I split my focus with him. I try to be a good father, but my job just keeps me so busy — this is why I need to have a nanny.”
An idea had been playing at the back of Maddie’s mind. It felt a little crazy — she couldn’t believe she was even thinking it. But at the same time, she saw potential in it, and it had been a long time since she had felt on the verge of anything new in her life.
She swallowed. “Listen… you’re looking for a new nanny. I’m looking for a new job.”
“You are? What about the lifeguard job?”
“I’m only a beach guard during the summer,” she said. “It was ending in a month anyway. Usually I work at the country club pool during the rest of the year, but I’m not attached to doing that. And you said it was a live-in job… I’m looking for something like that.”
“You are? Why?”
Maddie didn’t want to get into her whole situation, so she gave him the short version. “I’m about to have to move out of my house,” she said. “My circumstances have changed.”
“Money problems?”
“Nothing like that.” She was surprised he had been so forward with his question, but maybe it made sense. If he was honestly thinking about hiring her, he’d want to know that she was responsible, and this spoke to that. “It’s just that my roommate is moving in with her boyfriend, so I need to find a new place to live.”
“I see.”
“I was going to rent a place, but… well, Charlie seems like such a cool kid, and I wouldn’t mind doing something different for a little while.”
“Do you have experience with children?”
He was actually considering it. “I teach swim lessons at the country club during the school year,” she said. “I’ve done that for several years now. And my long-term goal is to open up a ballet school. I have a passion for working with children.”
“He does seem to like you,” Eli said.
“Does he? I got that feeling, but of course, as his father, you know him best. I like him a lot.”
“When could you start work?”
“In a week. I’ve got to give them enough time to replace me at the beach if I’m leaving a little early. But there are always people applying for guard jobs. They’ll be able to replace me easily. Is a week soon enough?”
“It means I won’t have to spend time on hiring, so yeah, I can make that work,” Eli said. “This is really something you want to do?”
“I’d love to. I’m just surprised you’re willing to take me on. I thought I might have to push a little harder than that to convince you.”
“I really need a nanny, and you seem to be good with Charlie,” Eli said. “We can give it a try. If things aren’t working out after a couple of weeks, we’ll make a change, but I’m definitely willing to give you a chance here.”
Maddie’s heart leapt in anticipation.
She told herself that her excitement was only for the fact that she was starting something new. It was the first time in a long time that she had had a sense of forward motion in her life, and that felt like a big deal to her. And she really did like Charlie and was looking forward to spending more time with him and getting to know him better. There was no doubt that this was going to be a positive step.
But she had to wonder if she would have done something quite so impetuous if the man in question hadn’t been so handsome. Already, she felt affected by him, as if she was in the early days of having a crush.
Which she wasn’t, of course. She couldn’t be. This wasn’t a crush. She couldn’t feel that way for someone she wanted to have a professional relationship with. It was the kind of thing you learned fast working as a lifeguard and running around all day with attractive, athletic people in swimsuits. The ones who couldn’t manage to keep their hands to themselves were the ones who didn’t last. They either ended up getting fired for unprofessionalism or they quit voluntarily because of the drama they had created for themselves. Maddie had always prided herself on being above that sort of thing, but looking at Eli Sinclair, she found herself feeling less secure in her usual determination. Surely it wouldn’t hurt to allow herself a bit of fantasizing about Eli, even if he was going to be her new boss? It wasn’t as though anything was ever going to come of it.
“Can you come meet with me for a cup of coffee tomorrow?” Eli asked her. “We can sign papers and make it all official.”
“I can do that. Tomorrow is my day off anyway.” Maddie was already looking forward to tomorrow, knowing that she would be seeing him again.
She needed to be careful with this. It was a promising situation, and she was excited about it, but she couldn’t afford to let herself get carried away here.
After all, she wouldn’t be any good at the job she was being hired for if she couldn’t keep her eyes off the boss. And then she would find herself right back where she had started.