Page 109 of The Nanny and the Nerd
Holy cyber skills!
Her gloriously hot nerd hacked his way into Delores Lambert DuBois’s life…for her! She wanted to kiss the man and poke him in the chest at the same time.
Still, this was crazy invasive. Her pulse kicked up as she felt her cheeks heat. “I am so sorry, Delores. I had no idea! I know how important your privacy is to you and to your family.” She tried to read the woman, but the lady didn’t seem upset in the slightest.
“It’s important, but not as important as my grandsons’ happiness and passion for gaming,” the woman answered.
“Wait, what?” Penny froze.She wasnotexpecting that—not from a woman who guarded her privacy so fiercely. For Pete’s sake, the last interview she gave was over a decade ago!
Delores nodded to Rowen. “Let’s allow the man to continue.”
He cleared his throat. “After an exhaustive search, I reached out to a gamer in our database in California registered under the name Edgar DuBois.”
“My grandson,” Delores interjected.
Rowen nodded. “He, in turn, spoke with his grandmother, and we struck up a deal of sorts.”
“A deal?” Penny echoed.
A smirk graced Delores Lambert DuBois’s lips. “In exchange for a meeting, Rowen agreed to supply my grandsons with every Gale Tech Game along with—”
“Moi!” a handsome older gentleman with salt-and-pepper-colored hair exclaimed brightly as he walked out of the house with a bottle of white wine and four glasses.
Penny gasped. “Is this Mr. DuBois?” If there were only a few photos of Delores in circulation, there were even fewer of her husband.
“Indeed,mon cherie! Call me, Auguste. And I cannot wait to get my hands on that early copy of AI-77,” the man said in a purring French accent as he poured everyone a glass of wine.
Penny could barely keep her head from exploding. Gaming had gotten her in the door with her author idol! This night just went from crazy to over-the-top bonkers.
“You’re a gamer?” she exclaimed, sharing a look with Rowen.
“Absolument! A proud gamer! You see, my grandchildren go on and on about these games. I’d listen, but I had no real understanding until I started playing myself. Now we talk every day as we blow up aliens. It’s invigorating,” the man finished, adding real verve to his statement, as he took the chair next to his wife.
“And Auguste is quite a player. You’ve got great rank on Zombie Apocalypse Overdrive Two, sir,” Rowen added.
Penny glanced between Delores, Auguste, and Rowen, putting it together. “We’re here because Delores Lambert DuBois’s husband and grandchildren play your video games?”
Rowen shrugged, but there was a cocky twinkle in his eyes. “Looks like being a gaming nerd has its perks.”
“Wow!” she exclaimed, then took a sip of wine—well, more like a giant gulp.
Okay, she finished off the entire glass!
“But we are not talking about blowing up Martians or zombies tonight,” Delores said, tucking a silver strand of hair behind her ear. “Rowen tells us that you are a writer, Penny—a very talented writer.”
Penny plastered a grin to her lips, trying to hide the terror welling inside her. What in the world did Rowen say?
“Yes, I mean, no. I’m not a writer like you. I’m not even published yet. Not even close.”
“What about the Denver Poetry and Short Story contest?” Rowen pressed gently.
“That’s a reputable competition. It’s an excellent place to start,” Delores commented.
Penny’s heart sank. “Rowen’s right. I entered the contest, but I haven’t figured out what to write. I’m worried it will be for nothing,” she confided, surprised how easy it was to let her guard down.
Delores shook her head. “No, don’t think of it like that. You must reframe it.”
“What do you mean?”
