hello, you must be Rhiannon. Sorry, I wasn’t expecting you back for another few hours. I’m Rowan.”
The girl was still looking at me blankly, and I added, beginning to feel a little impatient, “The new nanny? I thought your mum told you.”
It seemed stupid to be carrying on this conversation through a car window, so I put the car into park and got out, holding out my hand.
“Nice to meet you. Sorry not to be expecting you, your mum said you wouldn’t be here until twelve.”
“Rowan? But you’re—” the girl began, a furrow between her narrow brows; then something cleared and she shook her head. There was a smile on her lips, and it was not a very nice one. “Never mind.”
“I’m what?” I dropped my hand.
“I said, never mind,” Rhiannon said. “And don’t pay any attention to what my mum told you, she hasn’t got a fucking clue which way is up. As you may have already realized.” She looked me up and down, and then said, “Well, what are you waiting for?”
“What?”
“Give me a hand with my case.”
I was getting more and more irritated, but there was no point in starting off on the wrong foot, so I swallowed my anger and wheeled the case around to the back of the Tesla. It was even heavier than it looked. Rhiannon didn’t wait for me to load it up, but climbed into the back seat, beside Petra.
“Hello, brat,” she said, though there was an undertone of affection in her voice that had been notably absent when she spoke to me. And then, to me, as I slid into the driver’s seat, “Well, let’s not sit here all day admiring the view.”
I gritted my teeth, swallowed my pride, and pressed down so hard on the accelerator that gravel spat from behind the wheels as we began to move up the drive towards Heatherbrae House.
* * *
Inside the house Rhiannon stalked into the kitchen, leaving me to unload both Petra and the huge heavy trunk. When I finally made it inside, Petra in tow, I saw that Rhiannon had already installed herself at the metal breakfast bar and was eating a giant sandwich she had clearly just put together.
“Sooooo,” her voice came out like a drawl. “You’re Rowan, are you? I must say, you don’t look anything like what I was expecting.”
I frowned. There was something a little malicious in her voice, and I wondered what exactly she meant.
“What were you expecting?”
“Oh . . . I don’t know. Just someone . . . different. You don’t look like a Rowan, somehow.” She grinned, and then before I could react, took another bite of sandwich and said, thickly, through the mouthful, “You need to put more mayonnaise on the fridge order. Oh, and where the hell are the dogs?”
I blinked. I felt like it should be me asking the questions, grilling her. Why did I always seem to be on the wrong end of a power struggle? But it was a perfectly reasonable question, so I tried to keep my voice even as I answered it.
“Jack was called away to take some paperwork to your dad. He took the dogs with him—he thought they’d enjoy the trip.”
That hadn’t been what he’d said at all, but somehow I didn’t want to admit to this haughty teenager that I hadn’t felt equal to the task of wrangling three small children and two Labradors.
“When’s he back?”
“Jack? I don’t know. Today, I imagine.”
Rhiannon nodded, chewing thoughtfully, and then said, around a mouthful of food, “By the way, it’s Elise’s birthday tonight and her mum’s invited me over for a sleepover. Is that okay?”
There was something in her tone that made it clear that I was being asked only as a formality, but I nodded.
“I’d better text your mum and check, but of course, that’s fine by me. Where does she live?”
“Pitlochry. It’s about an hour’s drive, but Elise’s brother will give me a lift.”
I nodded, pulled out my phone, and texted a quick message to Sandra.
Rhiannon safely back—wants to go to a sleepover with Elise tonight. Assume that’s okay but please confirm.
The message pinged back almost straightaway.
No problem. Will call 6pm. Give my love to Rhi.
“Your mum sends love and says it’s fine,” I reported back to Rhiannon, who rolled her eyes as if to say, Well, duh. “What time are you getting picked up?”
“After lunch,” Rhiannon said. She swung her legs over the side of the stool and shoved the dirty plate across the counter,