Why was she asking her? The way Diane’s gaze was fixed anxiously on Melissa, she seemed to expect an answer. Josh and Callie had come out of the other room and stood in the doorway waiting, like their mother, for her reply.
Melissa tried not to squirm. The thought of Diane and her children being dependent upon her for their well-being in the immediate future was truly scary. If they knew what kind of ditz she was they wouldn’t be asking her for help. But she couldn’t leave them to fend for themselves. Until Constance returned, they had no one else.
She couldn’t take them to her house or even tell her family about them. Friends were out, too. Diane trusted her only because she’d had to after Melissa had barged in.
Melissa couldn’t keep sneaking in here at night. Sooner or later Maxie would catch her outside and bark her fool head off. No, if she was going to bring food and other essentials to Diane and her kids she had to be on the spot. Then she had to find out where Constance was and get her to return home. Meanwhile she had to somehow delay Gregory’s cottage cleanup.
She put on a big smile so Diane and her kids wouldn’t know how nervous she was. “Don’t worry about a thing. I have a plan.”
CHAPTER FOUR
MELISSA KNOCKED on the front door of the farmhouse early the next morning. She was wearing her lucky skirt, a filmy sky-blue cotton number that fell to midcalf, with a white top. The air was scented by the jasmine entwining the pillars of the veranda, and from the paddocks came the soft grunting of the pigs.
The door swung open. Gregory’s black eyebrows arched. “Good morning. Are you out of eggs already?”
He had on a charcoal-gray suit with a crisp white shirt open at the neck. A blue silk tie was slung over his shoulder. Freshly shaved, he smelled faintly of lime and leather.
“I thought you were a farmer,” she declared.
“Only part-time. I’m a lawyer.” Gregory arranged the tie around his neck and flipped the wide end around the narrow one to draw it through the loop. “Thompson, Thompson and Finch, Main Street, Tipperary Springs.”
Melissa heard the thud of small bare feet running on hardwood before Alice Ann poked her head around her father’s leg. “You came back!”
“Hi, Alice Ann.” Melissa smiled at her. “How are you?”
“I’m afraid it’s not a very good time,” Gregory said. “As you can see, I’m getting ready for work. And Alice Ann is going to play school.”
“Are you going in your pajamas?” Melissa asked, bending down to tweak the girl’s uncombed hair.
Alice Ann giggled and pulled at the top of her Miss Piggy pj’s. “No.”
“Go get dressed, quickly now,” Gregory said. Then he turned to Melissa. “What can I do for you?”
“I’d like to apply for the nanny job, after all.”
Alice Ann had started to leave, but on hearing this she began to jump up and down. “Yay! Say yes, Daddy!”
Gregory hesitated, glancing at his watch. “I have to be at work in forty-five minutes and I need to drop this one off first, but I guess I could give you a quick interview.” He stepped back. “Come in.”
Melissa moved past him into the foyer. In the lounge room to her left unfolded laundry was dumped on one of a facing pair of dark leather sofas. The wood coffee table between them was strewn with papers, coffee cups and dirty plates. A toy barn with plastic fences enclosing small herds of horses, cows and sheep took up most of the area rug.
Gregory led her past that room and into the kitchen, where he waved her to a seat at the table. “Would you like coffee? Only instant, I’m afraid.”
“Instant’s fine.”
While the kettle boiled, Melissa helped him clear away the breakfast dishes so they would have a spot to sit. Her heart sank. This man didn’t need a nanny; he needed an army of maids.
Alice Ann skipped back into the room. She’d dressed herself in a lilac T-shirt, a mauve skirt that was back to front and dark purple socks. Her uncombed brown hair fell in a tangle below her shoulders. She carried her father’s yellow legal pad and pen from the sideboard to the table. Climbing on a chair, she said, “Come on, Daddy. Let’s start the interview.”
“Just a minute.” Over at the counter Gregory made coffee and got out milk and sugar.
“I’ll start.” Alice Ann picked up the pen and turned to Melissa with an air of great seriousness. “Will you tell me bedtime stories?”
Melissa replied, equally solemnly, “Definitely. I don’t always read with accuracy but I have wonderful expression.”
Frowning in concentration, Alice Ann painstakingly printed a couple of wobbly capital letters on the legal pad. She looked up. “What do you mean, ackracy?”
“Accuracy means correctness,” Melissa explained. “Sometimes I change the story as I go along to make it more interesting.”
“I like the sound of that.” The girl drew a big tick on the legal pad next to the letters she’d printed. She turned to her father. “Don’t you, Daddy?”
Gregory brought the coffee over and sat opposite Melissa. “I’ll be asking the questions from now on,” he said. “Go brush your hair, please.”
“Oh, but I don’t want to miss anything!” Alice Ann stayed where she was.
Melissa raised her eyebrows at this act of insubordination, but Gregory chose to ignore it for the moment, so she shrugged. “Fire away.”
“Are you prepared to live on the premises?” he asked.
“That suits me very well,” Melissa replied. “At present I’m staying with my parents because my house is rented out. I’ve been away for some months…on holiday.”
“I see. Well, my plan is to clear out the cottage this week and turn it into the nanny’s quarters. But the previous owners left a great deal of old furniture stored there,” Gregory said. “Until I get to it, the nanny will have to occupy the guest room in the house.”
“I’m adaptable,” she told him.
Gregory tapped his pen on the legal pad. “I’d like to hear about your experience caring for children. What are your qualifications?”
Ah, now that was her whole problem. She wasn’t trained for anything. “I’m really good at playing dress up. I can bake cookies, too. And make things out of play dough.”
Good grief, she sounded like a candidate for day care herself. She didn’t blame him for that skeptical expression. How would Ally respond to these questions? Her sister would be brisk and efficient. She would radiate competence. Melissa sat up straighter and placed her hands in her lap so she wouldn’t fidget. “I did a lot of babysitting when I was younger. Even now I look after friends’ kids all the time.”
“You wouldn’t spend the day playing,” Gregory informed her. “The successful candidate will be expected to perform light housekeeping duties such as cooking and cleaning, in addition to teaching school readiness.”
“I know my ABC’s,” Alice Ann declared proudly.
“You’re smart!” Melissa said to the little girl. Then she added to Gregory, “Is there to be no playtime?”
“I didn’t say that. If you’re efficient, you should have an hour or so in the afternoon.”
“Oh, I’m very efficient,” Melissa assured him. “Why, I can…” she racked her brain “…wash dishes and talk on the phone at the same time.”
Gregory made a note on his legal pad. Alice Ann did the same, laboriously printing random letters of the alphabet. Melissa craned