Page 26 of Always Be Mine

Lucy had been a little concerned when Craig mentioned that Meri could be difficult in the morning, but any worries she had dissolved almost immediately when they’d started discussing her stuffed animal collection. The rest of the morning had gone more or less smoothly as Lucy helped Meri choose her outfit for the day—it was purple—fed her a quick breakfast, and then, with what she gathered was a normal chaotic situation, rushed around at the last minute, grabbing everything Meri would need for a day of school.

Lucy tagged along for the drop-off and made a few notes on where to park and what some of the teachers’ names were, before Craig finally handed her a key to the house and disappeared, leaving her to her own devices for the day.

She didn’t have to be back at the school to pick Meri up until two thirty, so she headed back to the house to start making lists.

Craig and Meri’s house was small, but comfortable. And from the little Lucy had observed, in need of some major organization.

Sure, they’d been able to get Meri dressed and fed before school, but everything about the process was chaotic and stressful. It was true that she didn’t have any experience as a nanny or even running a household beyond her own one-bedroom apartment for her and Garfield, but what Lucy did have experience in was managing a busy restaurant and a staff of forty. She was an expert in organization and systems.

And that’s exactly what she was going to introduce to Craig and Meri’s life.

First up, the kitchen.

Lucy stood in the middle of the room and took a moment to assess the situation before putting her earbuds in and cranking up her favorite playlist.

A few hours later, Lucy had reorganized most of the cupboards and the pantry. She created a space to put Meri’s snacks and easy-to-grab items for her school lunches on one of the lower shelves as well as part of the fridge. She rounded up all kinds of loose papers and notices that had been sent home from the school and put them all in a clip on the fridge after clearing off all the expired notices, coupons, and other random papers.

It was only one room, but Lucy was already proud of herself. With more time to kill, she wandered into the living room and rounded up some of Meri’s stray toys that had made their way out of her room and a sweatshirt she assumed to be Craig’s. The little girl’s room would be a joint project, she decided. It was way too big of an undertaking to tackle on her own, and she had a feeling that Meri would have very strong opinions on where and how her toys should be stored.

There was a spare room across the hall from Meri’s that didn’t look like it was used for much more than storage. At the end of the short hallway was a door to the bathroom and across from that, Craig’s room. Lucy hesitated before setting foot inside. It felt like a violation of her new boss’s privacy to enter his bedroom, yet he hadn’t told her anything was off-limits and she did need to return his sweatshirt.

She twisted the knob and the door opened. She had no idea what she expected to find in the man’s room, but it wasn’t the emptiness she was greeted with.

There was an unmade queen-sized bed against one wall, with a long dresser against the other. No photos or pictures adorned the walls, and besides the one framed picture of Craig and Meri when she was a newborn, there was no other decoration of any kind in the room.

In fact, there was very little decorating of any kind in the house at all besides the pink and purple explosion of little girliness she’d found in Meri’s room. In the living room, there were a few photographs of Craig and Meri together, and one framed shot of what she assumed was Craig’s family at Christmas. She’d been expecting to find some sort of evidence of Meri’s mother somewhere in the house, but there was nothing.

“Hello!”

The voice jolted Lucy from her thoughts, and she quickly slipped from Craig’s room into the hallway. “Oh.” She spun around and jumped back as she slammed directly into a hard chest. “I’m?—”

“Sorry.” The man held up his hands, and Lucy pressed herself up against the closed door, her hands held out in a defensive stance in front of her. Her heart raced.

“Who are you and how did you get in here?” He looked vaguely familiar, like she’d seen him before, but she wasn’t about to take any chances.

The man started to laugh, but fortunately, took a step back before Lucy had to use her self-defense moves on him.

“I’m sorry,” he said again. “I’m Asher. I’m?—”

“Asher!” a familiar female voice yelled. “What are you thinking, scaring Lucy half to death?” Kat, Craig’s sister whom she’d met earlier in the ice cream shop, appeared at the end of the hallway. She crossed her arms and shook her head. “Sorry, Lucy. This is my brother, Asher.”

Of course. He looked familiar because he was in the family photo she’d seen in the living room. The man, now confirmed to be Asher, nodded and flashed her a grin. Now that she knew he was Craig’s brother, she could see some family resemblance. But only some. Where Craig’s smile was soft and welcoming, Asher’s was cocky. Which was why Lucy only slowly lowered her arms.

“Come on.” Kat grabbed the man’s arm in an effort to tug him down the hall.

“You were in Craig’s room, huh?” He wiggled his eyebrows in her direction. “Find anything interesting in there?”

“You’re an ass.” Kat smacked his arm and was finally successful in yanking him away.

As soon as she had space, Lucy took a breath. Craig had warned her that he had a big, and somewhat meddling, family but she had not expected them to just walk into his house and scare her half to death.

“I’m really sorry, Lucy,” Kat said when she joined them in the living room. “We did knock but no one answered.”

“It’s fine.” She shook her head a little. “I was just tidying up and?—”

“You didn’t find anything good in there, did you?” Asher nodded smugly. “I can’t imagine you did. He lives like a monk. It’s got to be the most boring bedroom in the world.” He glanced at his little sister. “Except maybe for yours.”

“Enough.” Kat smacked him on the arm, but she didn’t look angry. “We just wanted to come by to say hi and see if you needed anything. Honestly, we did try to knock, but usually we just walk in, and I didn’t even think that it might scare you. Really, I’m sorry.”

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