Chapter 9 #2
He forced his gaze forward. “I think Mom wished Jasper had stayed too.” He watched an unfamiliar SUV cruise slowly down Magnolia Street, its headlights sweeping across the darkened lawns.
Odd at this time of night. Most of his neighbors were older, the ages his parents should have been if they hadn’t passed so young.
“Is that why he left?” Miss Wright asked. “Because he felt pressured to stay?”
“No.” Noah’s jaw tightened. “Jasper left because that’s what Jasper does. He leaves.” Bitterness hardened his voice.
“Maybe he has his reasons, but…” She shook her head. “I will never understand how a person can not treasure their own child. Does he ever call?”
“Occasionally.” When Noah called him first.
“But to check on Charlotte…?” When Noah didn’t answer—and what defense could he make for his wastrel brother—Miss Wright said, “At least you know he trusts you to look after her.”
Maybe. Or maybe he just didn’t care.
Silence fell between them again, the swing’s gentle motion filling the space. “Your brother leaves”—her tone was thoughtful—“and you stay. That’s what you do.”
He hadn’t thought of it that way before. “I like it here. For me, Driftwood is home.”
“What is it for Jasper?”
“Shame.” The word slipped out before he’d considered it. Before he’d ever really thought about it.
Miss Wright looked at him, the question clear in her expression.
“It’s a long story,” he said.
She looked forward again, her profile soft in the dim light. “It’s a beautiful town.”
He was grateful she didn’t push for more information.
All those eager bachelorettes who flirted at the market and the park had nothing on the kind and graceful presence of this woman.
There was a thought he needed to banish.
“Similar to where you grew up?” he asked.
“To Shadow Cove?” Her head tilted to the side as she considered his question. “In some ways, yes. It’s about the same size, probably settled around the same time, back when the locals were still happy subjects of the crown.”
“Early eighteenth century,” he said of Driftwood.
“Close,” she said. “Shadow Cove was settled not long after Portland, late sixteen hundreds. It’s got a long fishing history, but nowadays the economy revolves around tourism.”
Noah tried to picture it—a quaint coastal village, cold winds blowing off the North Atlantic, rocky shores instead of sandy beaches. A place that had shaped the woman beside him.
“Are you planning to go back?”
“I don’t think I could’ve left if I’d thought I’d never go back.” She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, peeking at him. “I needed to prove to myself I could survive on my own.”
“Why?”
She shrugged.
The worry that had been gnawing at him since he’d hired her surfaced again. “Charlotte’s getting attached to you.”
“I know.” Her voice was soft but steady. “I’m attached to her, too. But my family’s there. My sisters. I miss them. By next fall, I’ll have been gone for over a year.”
He hated to think of how her leaving would break Charlotte’s heart. “You mentioned sisters. Are you the oldest? Is that why you’re so good with kids?”
She laughed, the sound adding melody to the rhythm of the surf. “I’m the fourth of five. My little sister’s four years younger than I am.”
“You mentioned her once. Kenzie? The runner?”
“That’s right.” She sounded pleased that he remembered.
“I was often tasked with keeping an eye on her. She didn’t make it easy.
” Miss Wright shot a look his way. “Kenzie can be a handful. She was always climbing or jumping or just wandering off. A little adventurer. We’re all thankful she survived her childhood. ”
“Did she settle down?”
“Hardly. She’s a sailor.”
“Like…in shipping, or for the Navy?”
“She captains yachts, often sailing them from one port to another for owners who prefer to fly but want their boat at their next destination.”
“Interesting job.”
“I guess. We don’t even know where she is half the time.”
“She and my brother would get along famously.”
“Maybe we should introduce them.”
He laughed. “I wouldn’t do that to my worst enemy.”
Miss Wright smiled, but it faded. “Too bad he doesn’t know how amazing his daughter is.”
“Yeah. Well, that’s Jasper.”
Noah clamped his lips shut. He’d been badmouthing Charlotte’s father to the nanny. Talk about unprofessional. He’d never been one to air family grievances to strangers.
But she didn’t feel like a stranger.
“I’ve known her less than a month, and I already dread walking away from her.”
He loved how devoted Miss Wright was to Charlotte. Yet again, fear dogged him. What would happen when she left?
Noah pushed his foot against the porch boards, setting the swing into motion again. The night air carried the scent of sea salt and late-blooming roses.
She shivered beside him.
He should suggest they go inside where it was warm. That would be the sensible thing to do. But it would also put an end to the best conversation he’d had in a long time.
Instead, he blurted, “Why did you really leave Maine?”
Her body stilled, all sense of relaxation gone.
“I’m sorry,” he said quickly. “That’s none of my business.”
“No, it’s okay.” She exhaled. “I was with this guy. We were talking about getting married.”
“Married? You’re so young.”
She looked at him, eyebrows hiked.
“I mean, aren’t you?”
She smiled. “How old do you think I am?”
She looked about nineteen, but she had to be older than that, based on all the jobs she’d listed on her résumé.
“Twenty-one?”
“You’re off by six years. And before you guess again, I’m not fifteen.”
She was twenty-seven? He’d never have guessed it. Still too young for him, and it wasn’t just her youth. It was her innocence. Her naivety.
Not that any of that mattered. She was the nanny. That was all the reason he needed to keep his distance.
She was watching him, so he gestured for her to continue. “You were an appropriate age to be talking about marriage, and then…?”
“I discovered he was working for a smuggling ring. He shot a man. Didn’t kill him, thank God. When he confessed, he claimed he was trying to earn enough money to buy me a ring.”
“Wow. Obviously, he hid that side of himself from you.”
Miss Wright’s head tilted to the side, a curious expression on her face. “Everyone else, when they hear the story, reassures me that it wasn’t my fault, as if I might blame myself.”
“Why would you?”
“I wouldn’t. I didn’t tell him to commit a felony. I didn’t tell him to shoot my sister’s boyfriend.”
That sounded like some story. “You don’t strike me as the type of person who’d care about the size of a diamond.”
“Thank you. Anyone who knows me knows that about me.” She faced forward again, shaking her head. “That wasn’t what had me questioning everything. I just…I still can’t figure out how I missed it. His true nature.”
“Maybe you didn’t. Maybe he was acting outside of his true nature when he got involved with the smugglers, and he couldn’t figure out how to get out.”
“Yeah. Maybe. But the point remains. I had no idea.”
“What do you think that means?”
“That I’m a fool. That I need to be more careful. That I need to trust my judgment less.”
“You’re being pretty hard on yourself.”
She shrugged.
“That day in the park when you confronted Charlotte’s nanny?
You showed very good judgment.” He thought of the wonderful therapist she’d found.
Miss Wright had narrowed the list, then interviewed each one before recommending the one they’d landed on.
The therapist had done wonders for Charlotte.
As had Miss Wright herself, always knowing when to push his niece and when to give her space.
“You’ve shown excellent judgment the entire time you’ve lived here. ”
“You’re very kind.”
“Well, sure.” He lifted his hand in a what else would you expect gesture. “As you know, ‘kind’ is my fallback position.”
That made her laugh, which was what he’d been going for.
He really enjoyed the sound.
He enjoyed everything about this woman.
Another SUV—or maybe the same one—drove by, snapping him out of his trance.
This was his employee. His niece’s nanny. They were supposed to be keeping their distance from one another. Vibe-less, as Delaney…Miss Wright had put it.
Who had seen them sitting together on this porch swing?
He was definitely feeling some vibes.
He could hear the echo of Richard’s voice in his head after this afternoon’s meeting.
“The merger’s on track. Just stay out of trouble.”
Everything about Miss Wright spelled trouble.
He pushed himself to his feet abruptly. “Sorry. I just remembered something I need to do.” The something being to avoid this exact situation. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
He headed into the house before he did something stupid.
Like kiss his niece’s nanny.