Page 131 of The Nanny and the Hothead
“Madelyn suggested the guys help out,” Penny added with a coy smirk, then her expression grew serious. “I’ve been thinking a lot about Madelyn these days. There’s something familiar about her. Something I can’t put my finger on. Like we’ve met her before.”
Charlotte nodded. She’d noticed a strange familiarity as well when the woman ambushed her after the mermaid from hell incident. “I’ve wondered the same thing, too.”
“Madelyn Malone?” Harper repeated skeptically. “Um…the lady is ancient and loaded. So, unless you’ve been invited to play canasta with a bunch of grannies, who wear flowing scarves and carry purses that cost as much as a year’s rent, then I don’t think we’ve met her before this nanny match business started.”
Penny nodded. “You could be right. It could be my writer’s brain, crafting Madelyn into a character. I already put her in one video game’s narrative. She’s the perfect muse for that witchy-wise-woman-looking-out-for-you role.”
Harper cocked her head to the side. “Um, hello, my blonde friend! That’s pretty much what she is. She hooked you up with a cushy nanny job that bagged you a fiancé, and Char got a…”
“A what, H?” Charlotte pressed, eyeing her friend.
Harper looked her up and down. “Char, you’re the definition of walking on sunshine. That Madelyn can make a match. That is, she can match people who can stand children. That woman will never set her sights on me,” Harper added, cringing as a gaggle of giggling little girls zoomed past them.
“Hey, H, don’t be like that! You like Phoebe and Oscar,” Penny countered.
Harper shrugged. “Fine, I can stand two children on this planet.”
“What about your work?” Charlotte pressed. “You literally teach children how to play the piano every day. You are steeped in kid-life.”
Harper ran her hands down her face. “I know! That damned music major! Little good it did me. I thought I’d be playing in concert halls, not listening to a god-awful rendition of thirty-seven eight-year-olds banging out ‘Deck the Halls’,” H lamented when a clang rang out, followed by a steady, jarring beat that waffled through the air.
Charlotte scanned the street. “What is that?”
“It’s the gong,” H answered, shaking her head.
“The gong?” Penny repeated.
“It’s for the yoga shit,” Harper huffed. “That new studio Libby’s teaching at asked her to run a kids’ yoga activity here, and they wanted her to bring a gong.”
“Could a child be hitting it?” Penny asked, worry coating her words.
“No, I’d bet the last twenty bucks I’ve got that it’s Libby. I thought she would be okay on her own for a while. But I was wrong. I know you two have been busy banging nerds and hotheads, but I should tell you that Libby’s not in her right mind,” Harper finished as the gong continued to resonate through the night air.
“Are you sure that’s not some super angry kid?” Penny pressed, grimacing as the sound intensified.
“It’s not a kid. When Libby gets stressed, she loses it with the gong. She was fired from one of the studios for banging the hell out of it,” H explained.
Charlotte tried to think back to the last time she’d talked or even texted with Libby. But thanks to her crazy schedule, she’d barely communicated with anyone besides Mitch.
“Are you saying Libby’s lost her mind?” she asked.
Harper rubbed the back of her neck. “No, her chi.”
“She’s lost her chi?” Penny repeated as the clang of the gong grew louder.
Harper released an audible sigh. “Listen, that’s what she told me. Some guy has got her off her yoga-master vibe, and she’s lost her chi. And her big O, too. She can’t…you know…anymore. Not even with a battery-operated device,” H whispered as the clanging went on as if a caffeinated toddler had gotten hold of the gong mallet, and the harsh banging cut through the air like a shard of glass.
Penny gasped. “How do you lose that?”
“I don’t know. Her Zen is tapped? Her cooch is pooched? I’m not sure what you call it. But she’s been a little erratic.” H groaned. “All right! I have to go deal with this,” she said, then waved over her shoulder as she set off toward the yoga tent.
Charlotte made a mental note to check in with Libbs after the carnival.
“Do you think Libby will be okay?” she asked.
“I hope so, but I’m glad I’ve got you to myself for a second,” Penny replied, her expression growing serious.
Oh no!
