Chapter 15
CHAPTER 15
CARLIE
The next few days happen in a whirlwind. Once I tell Chad yes, he wants me to move in as soon as possible. That’s not difficult. I sold all my big furniture before I left Arizona, and the few boxes I have left are mostly still packed. Chad’s guesthouse is furnished, so Jenna lets me keep those boxes in a closet at her house.
Two days after accepting the job, Chad has me come over for dinner to introduce me to the girls as their new nanny. And then he has to explain what a nanny is.
“A babysitter,” I say, interrupting his complicated explanation. I understand there’s a lot more to it, and other nannies might not appreciate me boiling down their careers to that, but that’s what Scarlett and Zoey will understand. “I’m going to be your very special babysitter who comes to help you when your dad has to work.”
“Like a new mommy?” Zoey asks. Chad looks horrified.
“Not quite. Mommies are pretty special. I’ll be like the substitute for a little bit, doing some of the things mommies do, but not all.” I shrug at Chad, hoping that’s an okay explanation for him. He nods, but his cheeks still look red.
The girls know about the guesthouse, but we walk down there with them to show them where I’ll be living, and then back to the house to show them the room I’ll stay in when I need to sleep at their house. I’ve already separated some clothing to put in the dresser there so I can be ready when that happens.
The first night I’m going to spend at the guesthouse, Jenna comes over with me to bring the last of my stuff.
“You shouldn’t be wasting time helping me drive stuff over,” I chide her when she parks behind me in Chad’s driveway.
“It wouldn’t have fit in your car.” She winks at me as she pulls out one of the two huge suitcases she put in the back of her SUV.
I scoff. She laughs, because it would’ve been a tight fit in my little Kia Forte. The trunk space is sort of a joke. It took a lot of creative thinking to get as much stuff as I did in this car when I moved from Arizona. I had to ship more than I wanted to. But it gets amazing gas mileage, so there’s that.
“Well, it would’ve taken you so many more trips, hauling it all from the driveway and down the path.” She points ahead of us to the path that skirts around the garage and down one side of the yard before circling the back of the yard to go through the trees to the guesthouse.
“I know you need to be working on the new house.” I adjust one of my bags on my shoulder so I can grab a second one.
“It’s fine,” Jenna says, making her way toward the side of the garage. The way her shoulders tighten as she leads the way says otherwise. Or it could be the strain of the two suitcases. Hard to say.
But not really. Devin’s been working extra late hours this week, and Jenna’s been taking advantage of the last of my time with them, staying at the new house until two or three in the morning and then getting up with the kids. At the least, she should’ve stayed home and gotten some extra sleep tonight.
“Okay, well, since I have this amazing salary now and I can’t help you like I planned, let me ‘invest’ in your mortgage payment for a few months to give you some breathing room.” I trip on a rock, and the number of bags I have distributed between my arms and the backpack on my back threatens to have me tumbling to the ground. I stop to try and right myself and shift all the bags back into place.
Jenna looks over her shoulder at me and laughs. “No need, Car. I promise. It’s fine.”
I hurry to catch up with her. How is she making such good time rolling those suitcases over the uneven ground? Is this like a big-sister superpower? “I was supposed to come and help you until you got the house ready. That was the plan,” I say.
She shakes her head. “The plan was for you to move out here and help out, and it was always in the plan that you’d look for a new job here.”
I didn’t expect that to happen for at least a month. In fact, I wasn’t even going to look that hard until Jenna was closer to finishing. I have enough savings to chill for a bit and help my sister the only way she’ll let me: by living in her house for free, watching her kids, and helping out Grandma. But I can’t even do that now.
“Yeah, but now that I’m not going to be able to live with you while I work, I messed up the plan, so let me help. Seriously, you know the numbers. It’s not a big deal, and I know you’ll pay me back as soon as you can.”
She shakes her head. “Carlie, it’s fine. I have a friend who’s going to watch my kids a few times a week in exchange for a couple nights at the beach house for her and her husband. She’s even letting me get away with nights that aren’t already booked, so I’m not losing money. See, it’s fine.” She’s repeated that it’s fine so many times that it has me doubting how fine she actually is. I’ve barely seen her this week, and her calm demeanor now is an act. Or she could be annoyed with me. Again, hard to say.
“Guess I’m going to have to move faster with Law than I really wanted …” I mutter.
Jenna laughs, hauls the suitcases up the two steps, and sets them by the door, turning to wait for me to lumber up behind her.
“Hey.” I point a finger in her face after I set down a couple bags so I can dig the keys out of my purse. “You promised that if I married Law, you’d let me invest in your business.”
“Sure, sure.” She holds her hand up in surrender, but she’s smirking. “I one hundred percent believe that you’re going to jump right in with him, considering how recently you were reminded of how some men can be scum.”
I grimace. “Has Gabriella said anything?” I just sent the pictures a couple days ago, since Gabriella and Colby spent extra time in Hawaii after everyone else left. It’s not really my business to know what happens between Madelyn and Ford, but after being the one to catch him, I’m dying to know.
Jenna shakes her head. “No. But it sounds like it’s the last straw.”
I frown and stick my key in the lock. “It’s too bad.”
Jenna hums in agreement and follows me inside once the door is open. “If it helps at all, Car, I do think that Law is one of the good ones.”
I sigh. “So do I.” The problem is convincing my brain.
I start my new job the next day at a completely normal time. Chad calls me at about eight a.m., saying he’s been called in. I’m already dressed and working on a loose schedule for the girls to get back into something normal. I had planned on going down to spend time with them again around nine anyway. Chad and I have talked about me being around during the day most of the time, with a lot of leniency when I have to come over at nights. We both agree that the girls need more structure, and I’m glad he’s on board with that.
I hurry over, and when Chad leaves, he’s got the first real smile I’ve seen him wear. Something flutters in my chest at being able to provide not only stability for the girls, but relief for him. That’s not the type of feeling I got to experience teaching ten upper-class kids from relatively stable homes.
The girls are still sleeping, probably because Chad let them stay up too late—something he admitted to doing because bedtime is too much of a chore when they’re not exhausted. We’re going to work on that too. I decide now is a good chance to explore the house. Chad gave me a tour, but I want to familiarize myself with the house, especially since I know I’ll be here at night a lot. An unfortunate side effect of being obsessed with true crime is that my imagination is vast when it comes to things that can go bump in the night. The more familiar I am with this house and its quirks, the easier it will be for me to dismiss strange noises. Mostly.
Plus I want to snoop. I can’t help myself.
The front room is pretty basic—clean and unused. I straighten up the kitchen and family room as I go through them, but I don’t spend much time there. When I’ve been with the family so far, it’s been in these two rooms, and I feel familiar with them already. The housekeeper will be in tomorrow to clean. Chad made me a long list of helpful information, full of phone numbers and household details like that.
I head down the hallway behind the kitchen. There’s a bathroom, as well as a large laundry room and mudroom that connects to the garage. It’s a mess of shoes and jackets flung all over, so I straighten up here too.
After that, I head upstairs quietly. The girls’ bedroom doors are closed, so I’ll inspect them closer later. There’s the guest bedroom where I’ll sleep when I need to be here overnight. I’ve already brought over some of my things to keep in the dresser to be more efficient. There’s an office up here, and I push the door open to look inside. This is the first room I’m a little anxious about. Chad showed me it earlier without pause—this is where the computer is kept, so if I need that, he told me I’m welcome to use it. He’s already even set up a guest account for me and given me a password.
There are a couple of frames on the desk, and I walk in to get a closer look. I’m dying to know what Shelby looks like. So far, I haven’t seen pictures of her around. But these are pictures of Chad with the girls and then one of the two of them in cute, themed Halloween costumes that must be from last year. They’re characters from a show Ian and Hudson watch too, so I recognize them and smile.
There are more pictures of the family in the front room downstairs and in the family room. Maybe I just somehow missed the ones with Shelby in them. Curious, I go back downstairs and inspect all the photos closer.
There are none of Shelby. They’re all of the girls, and a few of Chad with the girls. One of them is a professional one that has to have been done recently. I’ve gathered from Law that Shelby left just two months ago. He said the other night that Shelby hasn’t contacted them at all, so it’s weird that Chad has already erased her from their home. Is this supposed to be easier?
I have mixed feelings about it. Maybe Shelby told him she wanted nothing to do with the girls when she left. Or is Chad cutting off the relationship because of what Shelby did? This is a complicated mix of things I didn’t think about. I’ll have to approach Chad about how to talk about her.
I go back upstairs to listen for the girls and remember the master suite. When Chad gave me a tour of the house earlier, he pointed at the doorway at the end of the hall and just said that’s where it was. He didn’t take me in, and that didn’t surprise me, but I really want to see it. In a house this nice, it’s got to be awesome.
I hurry down the hallway and carefully push open the door. Maybe the pictures of Shelby are here, in his private space.
The room is spacious, with floor-to-ceiling windows on one side. The shades are drawn, likely because Chad was rushing from the house this morning, so the room is dim. A huge bed occupies the far wall, and in one corner are a couple of cozy chairs and ottomans. A blanket is draped over one, but it looks unused. Maybe that was Shelby’s space. On the wall next to the door is a wide dresser, but it’s clear on top except for a tray with a couple candles and some spare cash and change. No pictures here.
The master closet is massive, and jealousy inducing, and the doorway next to it is an equally impressive bathroom. It has a huge, glassed-in, tiled shower as well as a large soaking tub. The long countertop has double sinks, and it’s clear of any items too. I can’t help myself; I peek into some of the drawers, looking for reminders that Shelby lived here. She can’t have taken everything from her bathroom. Three of the four drawers are completely empty. There’s no sign of her belongings in the cupboards either. She must have packed a massive suitcase. I do note that there are women’s clothes in the closet, though it’s emptier than I would expect for one so large.
The doorbell rings, making me jump and hit my head on a shelf in the closet. I swallow back a cry of pain and pull up the doorbell camera app that Chad gave me access to while I rub the back of my head. It’s just the FedEx guy dropping off a package. I frown and head downstairs, contemplating Chad’s situation. I open up the front door and pick up the package, setting it on a table next to the door for Chad.
I’m not surprised that Shelby’s leaving stirs up my curiosity. I have questions. Who wouldn’t? Why did she leave? Has Chad really not heard from her? How does someone walk away from two sweet girls? What kind of relationship did Chad and Shelby have to contribute to it?
I force all the questions out of my mind. They’re none of my business. I’m here to help Chad and the girls get through a rough time, and I don’t need to know about their family matters to do that—for the most part. This is a situation where I recognize it’s important for me to respect boundaries. I might be nosy, but I can also be professional when I need to be.
It’s just really hard.
Still, I send off a text to my old boss, Naomi. She has a doctorate in child psychology, and she’s the best person I can think of to ask advice about how to handle the fact that Shelby has completely disappeared from the Harrells’ life.