A Bundle of Mannies Read online

  He stiffened. The little boy in Graysen’s arms whimpered, and he patted his back and murmured to him before addressing me. “I did not take another job. This is my nephew, who I have guardianship over. My parents...were called out town suddenly, leaving me with no childcare myself. I apologize, sir. But I have no choice.”

  My mind worked quickly. “Does your agency have another option for my situation?”

  He shook his head. “This just happened, and Manny is out of state and unreachable. I’m so sorry. I appreciate that I’ve made things difficult for you.” He continued to pat the little boy’s back. He looked about two, with curly hair and chubby cheeks.

  “Well.” I had just one other idea. “Do you have a passport for your nephew…”

  “Seth.”

  “Do you have a passport for Seth?”

  “Yes... You aren’t suggesting I bring him along?” His eyes were wide. “I can’t ask you to allow that.”

  “You are not asking me anything. I, Graysen, am requesting you fulfill the terms of your contract. I assume the passport is at your home?”

  “Yeah…”

  “Fine. Get in the car and give the driver the address. We have a few moments to spare, so you can get the child’s documents and pack his things. But, Graysen?”

  “Yes?” He still looked a bit shocked, but at least wasn’t protesting.

  “I still expect you to follow my schedule to the letter and not neglect Eric. If necessary, the ship does have babysitting, and I authorize you to use it whenever you feel it necessary.”

  He nodded. “Okay. I’ll drive my own car to the house though.” Then he turned sideways so the toddler faced me. “Seth, say hi to Mr. Thermopolous—Kylos. We are all taking a trip together, won’t that be fun?”

  Oh yeah, it got more fun by the moment.

  Chapter Four

  Graysen

  Fuck. I did have a passport. It was one of the last things I managed to get my brother to take care of thanks to a really pretty lawyer who took all my money and caught his eye enough to want her to come back again. It felt scuzzy to be sure, but she didn’t care, and, somehow, she miracled the passport, saying it would be significantly easier in the long run to have it. So yeah, I had it. What I wasn’t so sure about was its current condition. My file cabinet had been hit by the water and I had yet to weed my way through it, focusing my energy in getting the house into a livable condition until it could be repaired.

  Not that I probably would end up needing it. The chances of Mr. Snooty being able to just add a passenger to a cruise last minute seemed improbable at best. That didn’t stop me from driving home. No. If there was a way to make this happen, I was going to. The only other option was renting a crappy hotel for the week, since I promised the crew my absence to expedite things.

  It only took a couple of minutes to get to my house, the crew already on the roof tossing shingles to the ground. I parked in the front and waited to get out until Kylos parked behind me. I needed him to watch Seth. There was zero chance I was going to bring him into the house with shingles flying everywhere. Shit, I probably shouldn’t be going in.

  I unbuckled the little guy and walked over to the car where Kylos sat. A light tap on his window had him getting out of the car. Oh he was going to be a fun guy to work for. I already cringed after seeing the insanity that was his son’s itinerary for the trip. Why bother being on a cruise ship if you were going to focus on strictly academic affairs? He was nine, for goodness’ sake.

  “Yes?” he asked as if my standing there with Seth wasn’t a huge sign.

  “Please hold Seth so I might go in and get the passport.” I held him out, and the man just tilted his head, giving me a quizzical look.

  “And his belongings,” he finally said. Did he think all of his words through that carefully? And why? He clearly didn’t give a shit about hurting my feelings.

  “I have those in the car,” I reassured, and he furrowed his brow. What the heck?

  “You planned to bring him on a cruise,” Kylos accused. What was with all of his jumping to conclusions? From what little I knew of him, he was extremely successful in his field, which meant he had to have some sense. Or maybe it was because of his dimples and light-blue eyes—not that I was looking. Nope, I didn’t notice his stunning appearance. Not at all.

  “If I had, wouldn’t I have brought his passport?” I snapped. His accusation stung far more than it should. He didn’t know me from a hole in the wall. He at least had the decency to look a little bit embarrassed by his action, so that was something. “No, I was bringing him to my parents’ where he was going to spend the time I was away working. Just as I said.”

  “Oh.” Where were all his fancy well-thought-out words?

  “Yeah, so hold him so I can snag it.”

  He reached out and took Seth, holding him more like a piece of glass than a toddler. This man was just plain weird. Weird and hot. Possibly more hot than weird, but weird was definitely prevalent.

  “He won’t break.” I rolled my eyes as I pivoted on my heel and started towards the house.

  “I know,” he called after me as almost an afterthought. Or possibly a well-thought-out first thought. “I have a son.”

  Or a robot. I felt guilty as the thought came to me unbidden.

  I headed into the house, very relieved when I found the passport completely unscathed in the file I had reserved for his important papers. I needed to invest in one of those waterproof and fireproof lock boxes.

  “I have news.” The contractor startled me. Of course he did, and I doubted it was anything close to good news.

  “Not news I want to hear?” I closed my eyes waiting for the blow to come—and come it did.

  “There are some asbestos tiles on the bottom layer.”

  Asbestos. Cancer. The little knowledge I possessed came from the ambulance-chaser commercials on late night television.

  “And?”

  “And by state law, I need to call a specialist to remove them.”

  Fuckity fuck fuck fuck.

  “And they cost all the dollars.” Not all my dollars because, by that measure, they would be stupid cheap.

  “They do.” He tapped his foot against the doorjamb lightly as he bit his bottom lip. What was it with me talking to men who decided to choose their words carefully when I needed them right away? “I do know a guy who does this work and has a kid trying to get into art school. If he is in a good mood, and if his son is still a stress ball, I might be able to convince him to do it for disposal costs in exchange for help getting things in line to apply this year. He was just bitching to me about it, and you said you teach art.”

  Some days it paid to give your life story when getting a bid. It looked like this was one of those days.

  It took me a full minute to put together what he was offering. “Why are you so nice to me?”

  “Not that nice. The disposal won’t be that cheap, but I had a dad who made bad choices and no uncle to take me in. You are good peeps.”

  We spent the next couple minutes discussing his father who’d decided shooting a guy for money was a brilliant idea and how the contractor wanted to make sure I could give Seth what he didn’t. I told him I would help the man’s son to the best of my ability then left the house and the conversation with tears in my eyes.

  “You can’t find it.” The conclusion-jumping asshat misinterpreted my tears of happiness as incompetence to find things in my own home.

  “Come here, Seth.” I held out my arms, not ready to address Kylos’ comment directly. “Let’s get you in the car and to the ship.”

  “He should ride with us.” Eric stuck his head out the window as he offered what his father should’ve, earning him the look—the one I used to get when big trouble was just on the horizon.

  Oh yeah, this cruise was going to be super fun.

  Chapter Five

  Kylos

  As I made arrangements to add the toddler to the cruise roster, the driver followed our man
ny’s economy car into a nearby neighborhood of small houses with postage-stamp lawns, many of which could use a mow or maybe some turf. Most of the places were fairly neat, but a few needed serious work, including the one we stopped in front of. A crew of workmen swarmed over the roof, peeling back layers of old, damaged shingles. Looked like my manny was working the summer for home-improvement bucks. Teachers were underpaid.

  But mannies were not. With what he would make working for me, he could fix his shoebox up in no time. Of course, he had that little one of his own he’d have to make arrangements for. Did his parents watch Seth all the time?

  Before I could process his intent, I was holding the toddler while he ran inside the house to find the passport. I held him out in front of me, the little guy sucking on a finger and watching me as if he didn’t know if I was trustworthy adult. When Eric was that age, my omega was still alive and took care of most of the child care. Sure, I handled the little guy sometimes, I mean, I must have. But I was in school, working on my PhD as well as teaching classes to keep our heads above water, so to be honest, I wasn’t home much. And my late omega, who worked at home, made it his business to keep the baby from “bothering” me because I worked so hard.

  When he died, I had to do it all. But two-year-old Eric, with chubby cheeks and kicking legs like Seth...I felt as if I’d hardly known him. It seemed like I’d been holding the toddler for a long time, but I couldn’t look at my watch—yes, I still wore one. It kept perfect time and had been a gift—when the manny finally emerged from his home. His eyes were suspiciously shiny.

  “You can’t find it.” And was about to burst into tears because he’d screwed up and not packed it while making his plans to force me to take the kid. Or was I misjudging him?

  “Come here, Seth.” He reached for the toddler. “Let’s get you in the car and to the ship.”

  “He should ride with us.” Eric stuck his head out the window, stating the obvious.

  I passed Seth to his guardian and looked at my hands as if expecting to find them dirty or something. “Well, of course they will ride with us. Why else did we follow them here?” Honestly, sometimes Eric acted like his actual age rather than the one the tests placed him at. “Graysen, if you will give the driver your keys, he can transfer the luggage and car seat, and we can be on our way before we have to meet the ship in its first port of call.”

  He passed the keys off and ducked his head to enter as the driver held the door open, but then the manny straightened. “I once saw an old TV show where passengers who were late were transported by helicopter to the ship.”

  “Really?” Eric’s voice carried to where I waited while the driver handed Graysen a car seat and offered to help install it. “By helicopter?”

  Oh I did not encourage fantasies…

  “Yes,” went on the man I’d hired to help him with his summer studies. “Then they lowered them to the deck of the ship.” He grunted. “This car is not meant for these seats. Wait...we got it.”

  “Ohh wow,” Eric said as the driver straightened and headed off to handle the luggage. “That must have been so fun. I wonder if we’ll be late.”

  I settled beside him on the seat, facing the manny and his other charge. “Certainly not. I allowed plenty of time for any little glitches by others.”

  Graysen’s brow creased at that, but it smoothed quickly. “Glitches. Yeah, that’s the best term for my family I’ve ever heard.”

  “Well, be that as it may,” I said, opening my briefcase and retrieving my tablet again as the trunk lid closed behind us then we were once again on our way. I read over some notes for my various workshops and refined a few points I hadn’t been entirely happy with, glad to spread out a few of my files when Graysen pulled a book out of the satchel he had set by his feet and waved Eric over to sit beside him.

  “Let your dad get some work done. I know you’ve been reading for years, and probably much more sophisticated material than this, but would you like to hear a story?” He leaned close and whispered, “It will put Seth right to sleep. Two minutes, guaranteed.”

  I hadn’t read to Eric, well, ever. By the time his other dad died, when he was four, he was already a competent reader in his own right. But he nodded, a gentleman always.

  “All right.” He reached for the storybook. “Do you think he’d go to sleep if I read to him?”

  “Shall we find out?” Graysen unbuckled his seat belt and Eric’s and switched places with him. “He needs to be able to see the pictures. He’s very little you know.”

  “They are nice pictures.”

  Was that a note of longing in my son’s voice? Perhaps I’d done very well in selecting my manny. He was an art teacher and might be able to assist with an additional course of study. Art appreciation. They could use the Internet to visit museums all over the world.

  “Thank you, Eric. This was the first book I ever illustrated.”

  My head jerked up, and I blinked. “You are an illustrator? I understood you were a teacher?” Had I been deceived by the Manny’s Mannies?

  “Oh, I am. Mostly graphic novels. But my art doesn’t pay much, and neither does teaching, frankly. I do both. And now...manny! Eric, why don’t you start with the story about the robot and the frog. Seth loves that one.”

  I couldn’t really see the book from where I sat, but the topic was as pedestrian as I could imagine. One could only hope there was at least a moral to the story. Perhaps the frog learned from the robot about duty and loyalty. Or something.

  I continued to try to go over my notes, but as Eric and Graysen took turns reading the story aloud—the toddler asleep within the promised two minutes—I found myself not only fascinated by the flow of words but wishing I could get a look at the illustrations. And then...the driver was saying, “Sir, we’re here.” I had fallen asleep before I could learn if robots had lessons for frogs or vice versa.

  We were met at the VIP drop-off by a porter who loaded Graysen and Seth’s things onto a cart and trundled away while a concierge guided us through the pre-boarding formalities. We were on board and settled in our suite in twenty minutes, while most of the other passengers were still queuing up to present their travel documents and tickets.

  “Wow, this is really nice.” Graysen prowled through the two bedrooms and sitting area then out to the balcony off my bedroom. “I thought cruise rooms were postage-stamp size.”

  “Usually.” I laid out my desk as I preferred it, ready to get to work. I planned to write at least two chapters of my book in my free time on the ship. “But the accommodations were one of the perks offered me as keynote for the cruise.”

  “I’ll have to be careful with Seth when you have the balcony door open,” he mused, holding the toddler in his arms.

  “Oh, don’t worry about that. I likely will never even open it. It’s a working vacation for me.”

  He eyed the pile of electronics and papers on the desk and arched an incredibly straight brow. “Looks like all work no vacation to me.” Then he gave me a quirky grin. “But who am I do say? I work here, too.”

  He was adorable when he smiled like that, eyes twinkling and cuddling the little guy. It evoked a memory and a twinge of pain. I almost never thought about my late husband mostly because I didn’t like feeling sad. And didn’t want to make Eric sad. We were busy and content, and that was hard won.

  I jerked my gaze away from my employee and the children. “Yes, well. Hard work is one of the keys to success, something I try to instill in my son, and something I hope you will keep in mind in your interactions with him.”

  “Interactions?” His smile faded. “All right, then. Boys, let’s go get the lay of the land. Find out where all the fun things to do are!”

  As he ushered them toward the door, I called, “Remember the schedule.”

  The look he gave me chilled all the warmth of his previous expression. “Of course, sir. I’m here to serve you. Come on, Eric. I bet you’re both hungry, too.” He closed the door behind him, and I heard
his voice and Eric’s and the babble of the toddler fading down the corridor.

  Suddenly, I felt an unexpected urge to follow them. After all, I needed to eat, too, didn’t I?

  Chapter Six

  Graysen

  “So, Eric, what do you like to do?” I asked him as we stood outside Children’s Depot, the cruise’s childcare and activities central.

  I had Seth on my back in the toddler carrier. I had a feeling he’d be spending a lot of time in there on this trip. As much as they advertised things for kids at every turn, there were quite a few things that were not even close to child-safe, and the last thing I needed was to end up with Seth in a cast or worse.

  “Dad has my days pretty well laid out.” He didn’t even look at the list of drop-in activities I had settled us in front of.

  “And you are on a cruise.” Manny had said the key to being a good manny was to not undermine the authority of the parents. I’d already known this from my day job, of course. But his schedule was fucking ridiculous. This little boy was not a mini-adult, and he was on a cruise, one that had everything from coding classes to a bounce house room to a drama production for kids to put on a musical by the time we reached home port. Sitting in the suite, as nice as it was, to learn about geometry was a waste of the experience. Surely, we could find some enrichment opportunities his father would approve of.

  I’d ask afterward, naturally. Better to ask forgiveness and all that.

  “I kind of like theater,” he finally said, taking the paper describing the drama production from the pocket on the wall. “I was the cat in The Little Red Hen when I was in second grade.” He smiled as he went back to reading the paper.

  “I bet your dad enjoyed that.” Because he might be a snooty stick in the mud, but he loved his son, just showed it weird. Even as he sat there working his ass off in the car, I caught him smiling as Eric added more and more inflection into the story, eventually taking on different voices for different characters. Yes. Drama was an excellent choice for the young man.