Page 21 of A Rancher's Heart
Dammit all, that means shehadkicked Caleb out of his room. “I guess Caleb must’ve given it up so I could have a private bathroom.”
In a strangely unlike-her gesture, Kelli looked everywhere but at Tamara as if she were considering hard before speaking, her face contorted with pain before her obvious attempt at maintaining control failed. “Caleb sleeps next to his office. And Ginny refused to move into the master bedroom because she said the lingering scent of brimstone kept her awake.”
Okaaaay. It seemed there was a whole lot more baggage tied up in this situation than Tamara had expected. “I don’t know that I want you to explain any of that to me.”
“Which is code for you’re curious as get out, but you’re going to be polite and not go asking for all the dirt your first day on the job?”
“Pretty much,” Tamara admitted.
“You’re right. We’re going to get along just fine,” Kelli said with a grin, patting Tamara on the shoulder as she left her at the edge of the parking area. “Those kids deserve a hell of a lot better than they got when it came to their mama, but Caleb is a mighty sweet daddy. That’s all the gossip you’ll get from me for now.”
Which was more than enough. “I’ll see you after lunch tomorrow?”
“If no one’s eating at the house, come join me and I’ll introduce you to JP. Then we can ride for a while.”
Tamara spent the next hour and a half getting everything ready for the evening. She wasn’t a fancy cook, but she knew how to make tasty enough meals that would stick to the ribs and should still interest the girls.
Speaking of which—she made a batch of cookies. No reason she shouldn’t sweeten the pot at the start of thegetting to know youbusiness. Especially since she intended on rocking the boat a lot sooner than they probably expected.
Dan grinned at her as he opened the bus door, the dogs who’d found their way over to sit with Tamara barking excitedly as they waited for Sasha and Emma to descend. “Hello, new nanny Tamara. Welcome to Heart Falls. You have a good day?”
“Yes, thank you,” she responded simply. “Have a great afternoon.”
Sasha stormed past, Emma taking the steps more cautiously.
Tamara turned her attention to Emma. “Your backpack looks absolutely full. Would you like me to help carry it?”
Emma was shrugging out of the straps when Sasha came barreling back.
“Comeon, Em. I need to show you something.” She caught her sister by the hand and dragged her forward.
Emma glanced over her shoulder at Tamara, but she didn’t tell Sasha to stop.
Tamara walked behind them as they stopped running not even ten paces away from her, Sasha speaking at high speed again. Everything about the situation made Tamara twitch, and she debated if her gut reaction was going to get her in trouble.
Probably, but who was she kidding? She could set all the goals for self-improvement she wanted, but right here and right now, she had to stick to her first instincts. She wasn’t going to letanyonepush around the kids who were her responsibility.
Not even each other.
The girls disappeared into their rooms, backpacks abandoned in the hallway. Tamara picked the bags up and carried them into the kitchen, dropping them on the island. Then she leaned against the counter and waited.
Sure enough it wasn’t long before they both came storming into the room, the same way she and her two sisters, Karen and Lisa, used to after getting off the school bus, starving.
“Okay, guys.” Tamara brushed her hands as if preparing for action. “We don’t have a real calendar yet, so I put up a piece of paper on the fridge. We’ll write down anything that comes home from school that we need to worry about. If you want to empty your backpacks we can make sure that we’ve got anything new—”
“Daddy has a calendar,” Sasha interrupted.
“He does,” Tamara agreed. “And it’s got everything he needs for all the Silver Stone things, and I’m sure it’s got a whole bunch of your school stuff until now, but this is one of my jobs. Like your daddy said, I’m here to make sure you don’t miss anything fun because it’snotup on the calendar.”
Instead of reaching for her backpack, Sasha folded her arms over her chest.
So. The battle was engaged.
Tamara turned to Emma. “If you empty your—”
“Emma doesn’t want to empty her bag either.”
Tamara raised a brow. “I wasn’t asking you.”
