Page 134 of The Nanny and the Hothead
Was she losing it?
Her thoughts spiraled.
Yes, it was bad manners to blurt out like that and probably crazy awful karma to wish to be struck by lightning or swallowed by a hole in the ground. But what choice did she have?
She took stock of the people staring at her.
Yes, she should have gotten Mitch’s permission to submit his image. But she hadn’t expected the committee to accept her into the workshop—let alone get blown away by the portrait! Agreeing she’d attend was her only chance to end this conversation without an act of God and without Mitch getting a whiff of her offer to study abroad. She’d tell him about the opportunity, and she’d apologize for submitting the photo of him without his knowledge. But not like this, and not now.
“Charlotte?” Mitch said gently when a little boy ran up to them.
“Auntie Janine, let’s go to the bouncy castle!” the child exclaimed, tugging on the woman’s hand.
Charlotte stared at the smiling boy as her skittering pulse slowed. She’d never been so glad to be in the vicinity of a bouncy castle.
“Aunt duty calls! Congratulations, again, Charlotte. I’ll be sure to let them know,” the professor said, then disappeared into the crowd with her nephew.
“Congratulations?” Mitch repeated, watching her closely.
Act cool.
Charlotte waved him off. “Photography stuff—a little workshop. It’s nothing. Why are you out here?” she asked, changing the subject, then checked her watch. “The carnival’s got another hour to go.” She chanced a look at Penny, who stared at her wide-eyed. And OMG! Between her bff and her boss, this conversation was like juggling hot coals. She gave her friend a minute shake of her head, and Penny pursed her lips. The woman got that she wanted to keep a lid on the workshop. But that didn’t mean she liked it.
Penny had been the one who’d encouraged her to tell Mitch about London—and she would. God help her, she would! But when he focused on her like she was the brightest star in the sky, the idea of leaving him and Oscar for two weeks was the last thing she wanted to discuss. Not to mention, those two weeks would overlap with the crunch time for Mitch to finish the rough draft of his book. She could not panic. She’d figure it out. She’d find a way. She’d make it work. She always did.
“There’s been a change to the schedule,” Mitch said, keeping his tone even. But under the glow of the sparkling lights, she caught a glint in his eyes.
“Is something wrong?” she pressed, praying he hadn’t noticed she was on the cusp of begging the universe to wash her away in a flood. Or maybe she could request that a giant bird pluck her from the ground. The lightning and the sinkhole clearly hadn’t worked out. And she was quickly running out of creative ways to extract herself from the conversation.
Mitch didn’t answer. Instead, he peered past her, then waved. She looked over her shoulder to find Rowen, Phoebe, and Oscar headed their way. “Nothing is wrong. On the contrary, something is about to be very, very right,” he added, his voice doing that gravelly thing she loved.
She was ninety-nine percent confident the man didn’t have the workshop on his mind. That was a plus, but something was still a bit fishy. Her chef wasn’t one for surprises.
“What’s going on, Mitch?” she asked, but before the man could reply, the children bounded toward them.
“I get to sleep over at Phoebe’s house tonight!” Oscar exclaimed, beaming. “We’re going to practice for Outdoor Lab sleepaway camp and sleep on the floor in our sleeping bags. It’s a few weeks away, and we need to be ready.”
“Isn’t that awesome, Penny?” Phoebe chimed. “Uncle Row says that Oscar and I can build a pillow fort and eat cookies all night long.”
“It does sound awesome. Everything except eating cookies all night long,” Penny replied, raising an eyebrow.
“Phoebe, I didn’t agree to the cookie part. And you know the new cookie rule,” Rowen chided.
Phoebe kicked the ground. “Sorry, Oscar! We can have two cookies each,max. I’m on cookie lockdown,” the child lamented.
“That’s okay, Phoebe,” Oscar answered, undeterred by the cookie limit. “Then you won’t throw up everywhere.”
“When did this get decided?” Charlotte asked, done with the cookie-vomit talk. She glanced from Rowen to Mitch. The chef was rocking a cat-who-ate-the-canary smirk. And while she was grateful for the shift in the conversation, she was totally in the dark when it came to Oscar sleeping over at Phoebe’s place.
“Yeah, we’re more than happy to have Oscar spend the night. But when did you make these plans?” Penny asked, eyeing her fiancé.
“Mitch and I worked it out about an hour ago. Mitch has anotherengagementto attend to that could run late. And he needs Charlotte to photograph theevent,” Rowen answered, sharing a look with Mitch.
These two were up to something!
Charlotte observed as Penny cocked her head to the side. Her friend was in the dark, too.
“Why don’t you and Phoebe head over to Louise and get a sandwich. I don’t think either of you has had dinner yet,” Mitch said, ruffling his son’s hair.
