“Yay! Gillian!” Max’s T. rex did a somersault in the air.

Another nanny? A girl, obviously, since who ever heard of a guy nanny, besides my mom and Mrs. G. Maybe she’d be hot. If not hot, at least cute. That would definitely make this babysitting gig more interesting. Depending on how well we hit it off—

“Slade? Did you hear the question?”

I blinked, refocusing on Mrs. G. “Sorry, I got distracted. Could you repeat the question?” I gave her my most sincere apology face, the one that worked on all my teachers when I zoned out in class.

Mrs. G. passed me the cookie plate again. “So the question is,” she continued, “if you and the other nanny were busy and then you noticed the kids were missing, what would you do?”

Damn. Was this the kind of stuff parents worried about? No wonder my parents had so many clients if people were this paranoid.

“I’d start yelling their names. Run around looking for them.” I noticed Max watching me closely. He stuck his finger in his nose and started digging. Great. Why didn’t his mom ask me how to deal with that? Cayenne pepper on the finger. My grandpa did it to me and it worked.

Then again, Dad said the type of stuff Grandpa did was the reason he’d never run out of clients.

“Um, check all their hiding places.” I took a bite of another cookie.

“And how would you know those?”

“From hide-and-seek,” Max piped up. He smiled at me, kind of shy. “He’d know where to look from playing hide-and-seek with us.”

“You like hide-and-seek, buddy?” I returned his smile. At least his finger was out of his nose.

Max nodded. “It’s my favorite game. Gilly’s, too.”

I relaxed into my chair and grinned at Mrs. G.

Point to Slade. And Max.

“Well, Slade, you’ve answered my questions satisfactorily. And your mom vouches for you. So, if you want the job, it’s yours.”

This job-hunting thing was cake. “So, about the other nanny?” I asked casually. “Who is she?”

Mrs. G. stood up to clear the coffee table. “You’ll meet her on Monday. She’s a nice girl. Very organized. I think you go to the same high school.”

Organized? Nice? Was that code for “troll”?

Nah, she’d be cool. I could think of lots of hot girls who fit that description. And I supposed one of us had to be organized, to plan the kids’ field trips or whatever.

This summer was going to rock. Easy money. Hanging out with a hot nanny. Maybe even hooking up with her, depending on how things went.

Mom was a genius, but I’d never tell her that.

Mrs. G. walked me to the door. Max followed, hovering behind his mom like a shadow. I kind of felt sorry for him. He was shy, and super serious. Maybe we could work on that over the summer.

“Thanks, Mrs. G. I mean, Mrs. Gonzalez. I promise I won’t let you down.”

Her eyes crinkled at the corners. “You can call me Mrs. G. And I know you won’t let me down. You and Trina are going to be perfect partners. I can tell.”

My hand froze on the doorknob. I felt like I was in a nightmare where I had to run from the monster, but my legs wouldn’t work. “Did you say…Trina?”

Mrs. G. was all smiles. “Trina Clemons. You know her from school, right? I’ll give her your cell number and email address. She can contact you with the plan for Monday.” She paused. “She has this binder full of great ideas for the kids.”

I knew all about Bird Brain and her binder from hell. I might as well just stab myself in the eye with a fork. It would hurt less than the pain I was about to endure working with Trina. Damn it. I should’ve mentioned the cayenne pepper idea.

“Bye, Slade,” Max chirped, hanging onto his mom’s leg. He grinned at me and I noticed his two bottom front teeth were AWOL. “I wanna play hide-and-seek with you.”

I couldn’t back out. Not on the kid. “Sounds great, Max-man. You can show me your best hiding places on Monday.”

I wondered how soon I could ask for a raise, because working with Bird Brain deserved hazard pay. One thing was for sure. She wasn’t going to boss the kids and me around like some tight-assed cruise director. Since I’d earned this job fair and square, this was going to be a partnership, not a dictatorship.

I’d make sure of it.

Chapter Three

Slade

Sunday, June 2

Alex and I hung out at the country club pool. I watched the girls, he watched the guys. Between the two of us, not an inch of lounge chair went un-scoped.

“This is, without a doubt, the best time of the year,” Alex said, as a guy who looked like he lived at the gym snaked by us in a Speedo.

“Without a doubt,” I agreed, my eyes following two girls in skimpy bikinis.

“So about this other nanny? Is she a Swedish exchange student? Russian? Tall and gorgeous?”

I groaned and stretched out my legs, hanging them off the sides of the lounge chair.

“Not exactly.” Trina was as exotic as Wonder Bread. She was soggy like that, too, sucking the fun out of everything.

“Yeah? What’s up?” Alex raised his designer shades to squint at me under the bright Colorado sun. He already had a tan, and his hair looked like he lived on a beach, but I knew the streaks came from a salon.

“Slade! Watch me!”

I turned to see one of the kids I’d taught at the rec center. I waved as he cannonballed into the deep end. He popped back up, spitting water out of his mouth, checking to make sure I’d seen him.

“Awesome, buddy!” I called out, giving him a thumbs-up. He returned the gesture then swam away toward his friends.

“Bet you don’t even remember his name,” Alex said.

“Ryan Marsh. Terrified when we started lessons, but swimming like a fish by the end.”

Alex snorted. “Impressive.”

“Yet I have no idea what brand of sunglasses you’re wearing. Now that’s impressive.” Alex had tried to give me a makeover a few times, but it always ended up with us starting a wrestling match in the dressing room and getting kicked out of whatever store we were in.

He snapped a wet towel at me. “So tell me about the other nanny. Does she drool? Have fangs? Three eyes?”

I might as well get this over with. “It’s Trina. You know, from school.”

“Bird Brain?” He smirked. “Dude. You’re in for a crazy summer.”

“Tell me about it.”

We’d called Trina “Bird Brain” after she went on some Save the Geese rampage. It was the first of many rampages for her. If there was an underdog cause, she led the charge, always forcing boycott fliers on everyone, running fundraisers and bake sales.

“At least she’s sort of cute,” Alex said. “Like a little fairy.” He snickered. “Not my kind of fairy. More like Tinker Bell.”

I gaped at him. Was he high?

“She is,” he insisted. “She’s got this waifish, dainty elegance thing going on.”

“You’re so gay.”

“No shit, Sherlock. I’m also a visual person, and some people are more interesting to look at than others. Trina’s interesting. Not like all the Barbie clones you go for.”

“I know what I like.” I always had. Blonde. Tall. Tanned. I definitely had a type and Trina wasn’t it.

It wasn’t just her appearance. She was wound so tight it would take Superman to unwind her. Not to mention that crazy binder that tracked her whole life. It made me want to hurl just thinking about it.

“So when do you two start your nanny dates?” Alex slurped from his soda.

“Tomorrow.” I groaned. “She’s already emailed me a schedule for the day. And texted me to make sure I got it.”

Alex stretched his arms above his head. “This is going to be such an entertaining summer. I think I’ll send Trina a thank-you card. Maybe flowers.”

“Shut up,” I growled. Maybe after a few days of hanging out with me, Trina would chill out. Alex said my aura relaxed people. I didn’t buy a lot of his New Age crapola, but I knew what he meant.