October Kiss. Kristen Ethridge

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      Pulling into the driveway after a long day of answering hundreds of emails and participating in conference calls, Ryan couldn’t believe how late it was. The Seattle sky wasn’t just dark, it looked pitch black. The time had gotten far, far away from him. He hadn’t meant to leave Poppy with the kids this long on their first day together, it was just…

      As he got out of the car, Ryan reminded himself to keep his focus. It was just…temporary. That was the word he was looking for. Temporary. Soon, all the craziness surrounding the presentation to Yamoharo Global would be in the past and the future for the entire Larson family would be sunny and bright.

      He walked in the house quietly, knowing the kids had to have been asleep for hours.

      Blankets and a feather boa were strewn over the staircase rail. In the entryway, Ryan gingerly stepped over a jump rope and something else that he couldn’t exactly identify, best described as doughy. A bomb might as well have gone off in his house while he’d been away. He didn’t know whether to call 911 or just be glad that the kids seemed to have made good use of all the toys he’d bought them.

      Poppy sat on the dining room rug, blotting up something with a blue towel.

      “Don’t worry…it’s just a little bit of blood.”

      “Ah…” Yup, he should have just called 911.

      “I’m kidding. It’s just juice.”

      The laugh Poppy gave seemed just a little too enthusiastic.

      “So, things went well then?” He couldn’t quite tell what the true state of affairs actually was.

      Poppy’s wide grin never wavered. “Completely painless.”

      “Don’t worry about the rug. Please. The kids asleep?” Ryan took off his jacket and laid it over a chair. One more thing out of place wasn’t going to make much difference.

      “One is. The other’s faking.” Poppy stood up and tossed the towel from one hand to the other as she walked. “I took them to the Harvest Festival, where Zach had an unfortunate arachnid incident, and Zoe’s favorite sweater is currently being digested by a goat.”

      The lift of her eyebrow finally gave it away. She was exhausted and overwhelmed.

      “Oh…” Ryan understood both of those feelings at the moment. His day had been exactly the same. The only difference was that the chaos had been caused by computers, not children.

      “They are…wonderful kids.” She dropped her voice and the tone became serious.

      He knew where this was headed. He’d heard it before. Last week, to be exact. And two months before that. And three weeks before that. “Oh no.”

      “Funny—and unique—and engaging…”

      Poppy continued the litany of attributes. Ryan knew they were only justifications for the explosive device she was about to toss at his feet.

      “Oh no…” The sound that came out of his mouth sounded more like a growl. He recognized it as the bellow of a wounded animal. He’d heard it on National Geographic before—he just never assumed he would hear it in his own kitchen, coming from his own throat. “You’re quitting.”

      “I just don’t think this is for me.” At least she had the grace to sound remorseful about it.

      This would go down in the record books as the fastest hire-to-quit time frame for any of the nannies he’d hired. “It’s only been one day.”

      “Is that all?” The circles under her eyes confirmed what he already knew about the events she’d put up with today. Ryan studied her face. The perfect brown waves her hair had been curled into this morning now drooped like water at low tide. Poppy seemed drained of all the optimism and energy she’d shown this morning when she’d bounced onto his doorstep with her homemade business card.

      “Okay, a long day…but, you know…” Ryan searched for the right words to reassure her, to make her see that in time, things would be better.

      He could not lose another nanny. As he’d told Poppy earlier, it was crunch time. He could not afford any more lack of focus. Yamoharo Global would not understand if the presentation in a few weeks’ time did not check every box, answer every question, and overcome every possible objection.

      His company’s future depended upon it.

      His kids’ future depended upon it—even though they didn’t understand that now.

      Everything depended on Poppy and keeping her here to look after the kids so he could focus a few weeks of time exclusively on what stood just around the corner.

      “The truth is—” Poppy looked around the room covertly as she rolled her eyes slightly and dropped her voice to a whisper. “I’m not actually a nanny.”

      “I know.”

      “I’ve never done this before—except with my sister’s kids—and they have to be nice to me, because we’re related.” She paused for breath and then looked right at Ryan. Her eyes went wide as she searched his face, seemingly looking for a sign of surprise. “Wait…what?”

      She’d been honest with him. Now it was Ryan’s turn to be honest with Poppy. Maybe if they built a foundation of truth between each other, they could make this work. He was always telling the kids that honesty was the best policy. Maybe it worked for nannies too. “Your sister told me on the phone the other day.”

      “And you still hired me? You must be really desperate.”

      “No, it’s just…” Ryan didn’t want to admit how truthful her observation was. He was desperate. Completely. And they both knew it. “Please…can you just hang on a couple more weeks?”

      She picked up juice boxes and disposed of them. “You don’t have any relatives?”

      “Well, sure we have relatives. We’re not those people,” he said with a chuckle, trying to lighten the mood. It didn’t work. Poppy continued methodically picking up kid trash and throwing it away. Ryan picked up two wadded-up napkins and took them to the trash can. “Just no relatives around here.”

      She paused. Maybe he would survive until the end of the month after all.