Page 21 of Mr. Wrong
When I opened the front door and found her hopping around on one foot, sock hanging out of her mouth, I felt a surge of relief. Every bit of reason and rationalization over why letting her go was for the best, flew out the window.
And then I realized who she is.
Who shereallyis.
She’s notmy Ellenore.
She’s my replacement.
I watch and listen, hands shoved into the front pockets of my jeans, while Landon makes his preciousinitial introductions.
“Cassie,” Landon says, reaching for her hand and tugging her forward. “This is Ms. Pierce, the woman I told you about.” When she doesn’t move or speak, impatience ripples over my brother’s face and I feel my neck stiffen and my hands yank themselves out of my pockets, ready to snatch Cassie up and take her anywhere but here. Before I can, Ellenore squats down, bringing herself to Cassie’s eye level.
“Hi, Cassie,” she says, holding out her hand. “I’m Elle.” She smiles when Cassie reluctantly slips her hand into hers. “It’s nice to finally meet you, your dad has told me lots of nice things about you.”
“Like what?” Cassie says, pulling her hand free, her forehead crumpled into a frown.
This ought to be good. Landon doesn’t know shit about his daughter. As far as I can remember, he’s never even been alone with her. There’s always someone else around—either me or Kill or Greta—to provide a buffer between them.
“Well…” Elle flicks a quick, nervous glance at me before re-anchoring her smile to her face. “He told me you love dinosaurs, that you’re a fantastic artist and that you want to be a ballerina when you grow up.”
Cassie’s frown falls away, replaced by a cautious smile she aims up at Landon before leveling it at the woman kneeling in front of her. “I can’t decide if I want to be a ballerina or paleontologist.”
Ellenore’s face spreads into a wide grin as she swings her over-sized bag over her hip and onto her knees. Opening it, she digs around in it for a few seconds before pulling out something small. Holding it out to Cassie she shrugs. “Who says you have to choose?”
Seeing the plastic dinosaur in Ellenore’s palm, Cassie snaps it up. “Stegosauruses are myfavorite,” she crows, turning it over in her hands to trace her fingertips along the toy’s plasticspines. “Look, Uncle Lex—” she says, her little face lit up like the Fourth of July when she holds the cheap plastic toy up for me to see. “Lookit what Elle—” She must see it on my face, how betrayed I feel because she stops smiling and turns away from me. “Thanks, but I have lots of toys already.” She shoves the toy back into Ellenore’s hand before looking at me again. “Can we make breakfast now?”
“Sure,” I say, reaching down to lift her up so I can settle her on my hip. “Nice meeting you,” I toss at Ellenore over my shoulder, even though I never gave Landon a chance to make an introduction. I’ll hear about it later but right now, I don’t give a shit.
Right now, I’m going to make Cassie’s breakfast and pretend none of this is happening.
Fifteen
Ellenore
“You’ll haveto excuse my brother, Ms. Pierce.”
I stand slowly, jamming my rejected dinosaur into my pocket. When I look at Landon, I find him watching the doorway Lex and Cassie just disappeared through. “I’m afraid Lex is having a hard time accepting the reality of the situation.”
I’m not sure what that means or why it makes me feel so defensive so I set it aside. “It’s okay. I’m here to work—not make friends.” Even as I say it, I feel my heart twist a bit in my chest.
Landon nods his approval. “I’m afraid I’m running late for a meeting but I can give you a quick tour before I go,” he says, holding out a hand to usher me away from the front door, he leads me out of the foyer, walking me past a gorgeous, curved staircase and under an antique, crystal chandelier.
Walking from one room to the next, I detect a warmth I didn’t expect. Large, airy rooms. Gleaming hardwood floors and stone fireplaces. Not one of those giant mega mansions you’d expect from someone who commands fifty-million a movie.
He shows me a room just off the kitchen. “This is where you and Cassie will be spending most of your time,” he says, leadingme through an arched doorway. Like the rest of the house, the room is big and bright, a large bank of floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the backyard. From here I can see the entire backyard. The pool. The pool house.
Great.
The room is empty, save for a large adult-size desk and a single student size desk.
“I have no idea what you’ll need but if you want to place an online order, I’ll make sure it’s paid for,” he says, indicating a stack of teaching supply catalogs on the desk that is presumably mine.
“Okay.” I can hear Lex and Cassie in the kitchen, the low tones of his voice mixed with her higher pitched chatter. The conversation frequently punctuated by laughter. Picking up the stack of catalogs, I tuck them against my chest and try to focus on the mega-movie star in front of me. “Is there a—”
“No budget.” He digs his hands into the pockets of his slacks and shakes his head. “I’m willing to follow your lead where Cassie is concerned,” he says, laughing a little at my expression. “I know I came off as an asshole during the interview process, Ms. Pierce, but now that the legalities are behind us, I hope that we can have an open and honest partnership, for my daughter’s sake.”
Open?
