The thought that Jacob and Lacey could be taken away from her, that she might not gain custody, was unacceptable. She wanted to howl every time she thought of the kind of life they’d have with their abusive father, Tony. The adoption should have been final ages ago, made easier because she was a relative. But Tony had contacted Child Welfare a few weeks ago and expressed concern that his children weren’t receiving the best care. In Nell’s opinion, his real concern was getting parole, and if he had to use his children to get it, he would. As a result of his bogus complaints, she and the children were now being subjected to an intense home study. It scared her to think of what would happen to Jacob and Lacey if he was granted custody after he got out of jail. Who would take care of them?
She was determined to be pleasant to Tanner. Mr. Tanner. She couldn’t afford not to be.
She slipped into Lacey’s bedroom, yanked off her wet clothes and dragged on her green silk blouse and black slacks. Her hope of impressing upon Tanner that they were a normal family had been blown out of the water when she’d attacked him on the fire escape. But at least she could look halfway decent while she showed him the apartments. Running a hand through her damp hair, she hurried toward the kitchen. Jacob had probably disappeared into his room, and she didn’t like the idea of Tanner exploring on his own.
Halfway to the kitchen, she skidded to a stop. Standing in the middle of her tiny living room, Tanner looked almost approachable in bare feet. Nell paused briefly to evaluate her new landlord. Jordan Tanner was a big man, over six feet tall, and yummy enough to make her want to take a second look. From the way his dark hair spilled elegantly onto his forehead, her best guess was his cut wasn’t the fifteen-dollar special from the local barber. The faint lines around his eyes suggested he was in his mid-thirties. His white dress shirt had damp splotches on it, and he’d loosened his conservative gray tie so it hung at a crooked angle. He’d removed his wet socks and shoes, and his bare feet gave him an oddly vulnerable appearance.
He turned as she walked into the room. Her toes tingled as he surveyed her from top to toe. “Sorry about earlier. I should have known better than to offer Jacob money. Seeing you on the roof rattled me.”
“Apology accepted. I probably overreacted.” There was no probably about it. She’d almost beaned the guy with her hammer. “Maybe we should start over. My name is Nell Hart.” She held her breath as she stuck out her hand. He could make her life miserable if he chose.
A smile broke out on his face, and she swayed toward him as her hand disappeared inside his warm clasp.
“So.” She pulled away and rubbed the goose bumps on her arms. “This is my apartment, obviously. It’s a two-bedroom. It’s not very big, but good enough for us. You’re welcome to look at the rest of the rooms.” She clamped her runaway mouth shut and led the way out of the crowded living room. His dazzling smile had loosened something inside her, like her good sense.
She wondered what he thought of her living space in the same breath that she wondered what difference it made. When they’d moved in, she’d painted the walls white, minimized the furniture and taken down the curtains to give the living room a bigger feel. But it was never going to be anything other than a small room with too many people using it. “They’re the kids’ rooms, so—”
“Kids? As in more than one?”
Her back stiffened as she knocked on Jacob’s door. “That’s right. Jacob and Lacey.”
“Two bedrooms, two kids. Where do you sleep?”
“We’re working on that. Jacob? Mr. Tanner would like to see your room.”
“Call me Jordan.”
She sent a weak smile over her shoulder. A shiver worked through her. Too much man, standing far too close and smelling delicious. Like spice and mystery. Breaking the cardinal rule of entering without permission, she burst into Jacob’s room.
Her nephew’s bedroom was in its usual frightfully well-organized state, except the blankets had been pulled off his bed. He’d made a tent in one corner by draping two blankets over his desk. She knew he was hiding inside; she could hear him breathing.
Nell felt crushed. He’d built his first tent the day after her sister, Mary, had died. He’d emerged to attend the funeral, but it took her another two weeks to coax him out again with the promise of ice cream and a visit to the science museum. For months after his mother’s death and his father’s incarceration, Jacob ferreted out quiet, dark spots to curl up in, seeking asylum. A habit he’d stopped until now.
She’d tried to hide her anxiety about the inevitable changes headed their way, but obviously she hadn’t succeeded. Jacob had enough to carry on his thin shoulders; she’d wanted to protect him from additional worry. Like her, he’d had to grow up too hard, too fast. “What’s going on, Jacob?”
“Just reading.”
“Everything okay?”
“Yes.” He sounded so forlorn.
Tanner leaned against the doorjamb and studied the room. “I remember making tents like that when I was a kid. This isn’t a bad room. Could use a second window.”
Or better yet, a replacement for the existing window so she wouldn’t have to cover it with plastic in the winter. Not that Tanner was ready to hear the gritty details. She had a feeling he was still trying to wrap his mind around the fact that his caretaker was a woman with two children. Just wait until he found out about her low rent. At least he’d made it sound normal that Jacob was hiding under his blankets. Maybe it was normal. Maybe she was overreacting.
“Lacey’s room is across the hall. It was clean last time I looked.” Melody had taken Lacey shopping for the afternoon. Nell had tried to coax Jacob to go with them, but he’d refused. She opened the door a couple inches, peeked in and breathed a sigh of relief.
The room was tidy. Sort of. If you looked past the brightly colored ribbons and scarves that festooned the walls and furniture. Lacey had wanted a complete refit, but the budget had stretched only to visiting secondhand stores to hunt for small pretties. She hated saying no to the kids; they rarely asked for much and had accepted her frugal lifestyle with such quiet dignity it sometimes frightened her. She wanted them to stamp their feet, to whine and demand that they get to be kids just like their friends. But they were still too scared, too battered from the curves life had thrown at them.
“It would make a great office,” Tanner commented, looking over her shoulder.
Nell’s mouth twitched. Instead of pointing out the room was already occupied, she snapped the door shut. “Would you like to see the downstairs apartments now?”
He looked at his bare feet. “Is there an inside staircase?”
As tempted as she was to lead him back out to the fire escape, she succumbed to her good sense. “This way.”
She trotted out of the apartment and down the two flights of stairs, taking a sadistic satisfaction in the knowledge that Tanner was doing the grand tour in bare feet. “This was your aunt Beulah’s apartment,” she explained as she unlocked a door on the first floor. “You probably know that.” Not that Nell had seen him in the two years she’d lived here.
“Auntie and I weren’t close,” he commented drily as he followed her into the apartment. “Not bad. Refinished hardwood floors. Lots of light. It’s changed a lot since the last time I saw it. That was years ago. Did you do the renovations?”
“I did the floors and painted the walls and helped install the new windows.”
He walked through the empty apartment, switching lights on and off as he went. “Even the kitchen’s half-decent.”
Nell busied herself with checking the tap at the kitchen sink. She’d discovered it dripping yesterday and had replaced