Chapter 10
CHAPTER TEN
The weight of someone’s gaze prickled at the back of Delaney’s neck as she walked with Charlotte toward the park. She glanced around. A mom pushing a stroller. A teenager on a bike. An older couple strolling hand-in-hand toward them.
Nobody was paying Delaney or Charlotte any attention. She must’ve imagined the feeling.
Charlotte skipped beside her on the sidewalk, golden curls bouncing with each step.
The bright blue sky was dotted with cotton-ball clouds, the sea breeze fluttering the autumn leaves.
But Delaney was churning over the night before. Had she said something wrong? One minute, she and Mr. Aylett had been having a lovely conversation, sharing bits of their lives, and the next, he was practically running away from her. His excuse about remembering something important had rung hollow.
“Miss Laney, look!” Charlotte pointed to a squirrel darting up a tree trunk, its cheeks bulging with acorns. “He’s funny.”
“He’s getting ready for winter. Squirrels have to store enough food to last until spring.”
“Really?” Her eyes widened. “Maybe we should help.” She slowed, gaze on the ground.
She started collecting acorns, displaying a level of generosity Delaney had rarely seen in a four-year-old.
The child’s own cheeks had filled out, her complexion pinker than it’d been before.
She was gaining weight, too. She was thriving.
“God will take care of the squirrels’ needs. He takes care of His whole creation.”
Charlotte touched a finger to her mouth, her little head tilted to one side as if she were contemplating what Delaney had said. After a moment, she opened her hand and let the acorns fall. “Okay.”
God would provide for the squirrels, as He’d provided for Charlotte, though from the child’s perspective, it probably hadn’t felt like it for a long time. Yet she was healing, despite all the adults who’d let her down.
They continued on the sidewalk, and Delaney replayed her conversation with Mr. Aylett again. The way his voice had sounded when he spoke about his mother. The genuine concern in his eyes when he’d asked why Delaney had left Maine. The moment when he’d seemed truly surprised by her age.
And then that strange, sudden withdrawal.
Charlotte veered off the sidewalk to catch a particularly vibrant red leaf, adding it to the small collection she’d been accumulating in her pocket. Older, dried leaves crunched pleasantly beneath their feet.
Delaney suddenly felt it again—that odd sensation of being watched. She glanced over her shoulder and spotted a dark sedan parked along the curb about a block behind them. They’d just walked by that spot, and that car hadn’t been there.
“Miss Laney, come on!” Charlotte called.
She hurried forward and took Charlotte’s hand. When they turned at the corner toward the playground, Delaney casually looked back again. The same car was rolling slowly toward them.
Her pulse quickened.
They crossed the street and entered the park. Delaney was eager to get there, where they’d be surrounded by kids and their parents and caregivers. “Race you to the swings!”
Giggling, Charlotte took off running, giving Delaney the perfect excuse to hurry.
Charlotte got there first and settled on the only empty one. “Push me!” she called, her little legs getting her moving.
“Hold your horses, love.”
Charlotte grinned like she always did when Delaney called her that.
Delaney shifted to stand in front of her, hoping to see that the sedan had moved on.
But it hadn’t.
It was now parked on the far side of the street, across from the playground, too far away for Delaney to see inside and get a glimpse of who had followed them.
Assuming she wasn’t being completely paranoid.
Swallowing a rise of nerves, she smiled at her charge. “I’m going to take your picture.” She crouched down, ostensibly to take a photo of Charlotte. Instead, she zoomed in on the sedan.
“Lemme see!” Charlotte demanded.
“One more. Smile.” This time, she took Charlotte’s photo, then showed her the image.
Charlotte seemed satisfied. “Now, push me, pleeeeease.”
Delaney moved behind Charlotte, which put her back to the parked sedan. Playing it cool. She didn’t want them to know she’d spotted them.
“Higher!” Charlotte squealed, kicking her legs out.
Delaney gave another gentle push, keeping her voice light despite her bubbling anxiety. “We don’t want you to fly all the way to the moon.”
“I could go to the moon and bring back cheese!”
Delaney forced a laugh.
“Well, hello there!”
She startled, spinning to find a woman approaching them with a friendly smile. She was familiar, but it took Delaney a moment to place her. It was the one who’d looked sympathetic during her confrontation with Charlotte’s former nanny a few weeks earlier.
“Hi.”
“I’m Heather.” The woman extended her hand. She was about Delaney’s age with dark curly hair that she’d pulled into a messy ponytail. “Heather Brown,” the woman added with a warm smile. “I remember you from that day with the nanny.” She glanced at Charlotte. “Looks like things worked out for you.”
“Delaney Wright.” She shook her hand. “I wasn’t trying to take her job, but God has a way of working things out.”
Heather’s eyebrows scrunched together. “Hmm. Maybe He just likes you.” There was something in her tone—not quite mockery, but definitely skepticism. Her head tilted to the side. “You okay? You jumped out of your skin a minute ago.”
Heather was practically a stranger, but it had been weeks since Delaney had had a real conversation with anyone besides Charlotte or Mr. Aylett.
“Charlotte, love, I’m going to sit on the bench for a minute. Stay where I can see you, okay?”
Charlotte nodded, gaze averted, thanks to the stranger who’d joined them. But she didn’t argue, just pumped her legs like Delaney had taught her to keep her swing moving.
Delaney led Heather to a nearby bench and sat, her gaze focused on Charlotte—and not missing the sedan still parked across the street. “This is going to sound silly,” she began, “but I think someone might be following us.”
“Seriously?” Heather’s eyes widened, scanning the area. “What makes you think that?”
Delaney explained, and Heather glanced casually toward the street.
“That car?” At Delaney’s nod, she said, “Could be anything. A delivery driver on break, some guy waiting for his girlfriend. But I totally get it. Between the news and all the creepy stuff I watch on TV, I can find scary in everyday moments.”
Delaney didn’t watch those kinds of movies. Her family had been through so much in the previous twelve months that the last thing she needed was fictional danger.
But Heather had a point. Having someone see what she saw and explain away her concerns made them seem smaller, more manageable. “You’re probably right.”
“Now, tell me about Charlotte’s hunky father. What do you know about him?”
Hunky? That wasn’t the word Delaney would use to describe Mr. Aylett. He was so much more than that.
She recalled him covered in leaves the evening before, making Charlotte giggle, playing with abandon.
The man was more than hunky. He was beautiful.
Delaney wasn’t about to discuss her employer’s appearance with a woman she barely knew, especially when her own feelings were so confusing.
“He’s not her father,” Delaney said, feeling a strange protectiveness toward both Charlotte and Noah. “He’s her uncle. Her parents are…not in the picture.”
“Uncle, huh? I didn’t see a wedding ring, so that’s even better.” Heather’s eyes lit with interest. “No baby-mama drama.”
Heather had noticed his lack of ring? What did that say about her?
Delaney shifted uncomfortably on the bench. This conversation was veering into territory that felt inappropriate. “I really shouldn’t discuss my employer’s personal life.”
“Sorry. My parents always said I was too nosy for my own good.” The words were tinged with amusement.
“If there’s nothing between you and Uncle Hottie, you must be lonely, working as a nanny.
I mean…I guess I’m just assuming you don’t have a lot of friends around here.
You certainly don’t sound like a local.”
“I’m from Maine,” Delaney said. “Charlotte’s good company.”
“Do you live in the house with them? I bet it’s nice, one of those mansions.”
Charlotte’s delighted giggle gave Delaney an excuse to avoid the question. She watched her charge leave the swing and climb the ladder to the slide, her curls bouncing with each step. She was urging on a boy who looked a little younger than her as he climbed up behind her.
The car Delaney had feared was following her was gone, telling her she’d probably overreacted.
“What about you?” she asked, eager to shift the focus away from herself. “Is one of those kids yours?”
A shadow passed over Heather’s face, but she pressed on a smile.
“No kids. I work as a bookkeeper at an accounting firm nearby. Nothing exciting, but it pays the bills.” Heather’s hair blew in the breeze, and she tucked a strand behind her ear.
“I come here when I need a break from the monotony. Something about kids laughing—it just makes everything better, you know?”
Delaney did know. Children’s laughter had always been a balm to her soul. Even on her worst days, the children she cared for brought her joy. “It’s like a reset button.”
They were chatting about nothing important when Charlotte stepped off the mulched play area and wandered toward the woods.
“Looks like I need to run.” Delaney stood, never taking her eyes off Charlotte.
“What do you say we meet up here again? Maybe Thursday midmorning? Give us both someone to talk to besides four-year-olds and stuffy bosses.”
The prospect of having a friend—even a casual one—made Delaney’s heart lighten. She was moving toward her charge but said, “I’d like that.”
“Great! See you then!”
Delaney ran toward the little escapee, pleased with herself.
She had a job, a place to live, and now a new friend. Not only was she living away from home, she was practically thriving.
She thought of the check her father had given her, still uncashed in her purse.
Maybe, for the first time in her life, she could actually make him proud.