King of Pain - Tasha Black Page 0,39
replied.
A nanny. He thought she was a nanny. It was starting to come together.
They walked through a charming living room with a fireplace and headed upstairs.
“This is Noah’s room,” Axel said, indicating the room at the top of the steps with handprinted wooden letters that spelled out the little guy’s name.
Little as he was, Noah was feeling decidedly heavier in her arms after the trip up the steps. He had definitely seemed smaller when his enormous father had been the one holding him.
“My room is here,” Axel said, pointing to the door next to Noah’s. “And yours will be at the end of the hall.”
He opened the door to her room and stepped aside for her to enter.
Bright sunlight greeted her from a bank of windows that extended on both side walls and across the front of the house into the branches of a huge maple. She felt as if she were in some kind of tree house.
A full-size bed in a simple white frame with a matching dresser next to it took up most of the room, though a cozy rocking chair fit perfectly in the far corner.
It was beautiful, maybe the most beautiful room she had ever seen.
“I know it’s really small,” he said. “It used to be a sleeping porch, but the former owner converted it. The house just isn’t that big. It’s only me and him, and now you…”
“It’s perfect,” she told him. “I love it.” She looked around for a moment, pretending that she was really going to live here and sleep in this magical room.
But that wasn’t the case. The real nanny would probably be along any minute. She had to figure out a way out of here before that happened.
“He’s sleeping, isn’t he?” Axel asked, looking down at the baby. “Here, I’ll put him down this time.”
He took the baby carefully from her arms, which suddenly felt empty and cool without Noah’s sweet weight.
“I’m, um, gonna check out the living room again,” she lied as she catapulted herself down the steps.
She was almost at the front door when the phone rang.
It wasn’t a cell phone. This was a true, jangling ring, like the landline at her grandma’s house.
“Cozy Cradles Nanny Service,” the machine announced in a robot voice.
On pure instinct she grabbed the receiver.
“Hello,” she said softly into it.
“Hi there, ma’am, this is Elaine from Cozy Cradles,” said a polite voice on the other end. “I’m very sorry to tell you this, but your nanny has the stomach flu that’s been going around. We’re working hard to find a substitute but with the fall weather there’s a lot of illness, and we’re stretched pretty thin.”
“Oh, that’s fine,” Delilah said smoothly. “Don’t bother with a sub for us, we’ll be okay. What does she need? Just a few days before she can start?”
“Oh thank God,” Elaine said in a relieved way. “Yes, just a couple of days and I’m sure she’ll be ready to report for duty.”
“That’s just fine,” Delilah said. “You have a nice day now, Elaine.”
“You too,” Elaine said happily.
Delilah hung up just in time to see Axel heading down the stairs.
“Was that the phone?” he asked.
“Yes,” she said. “I saw it was my agency and I thought I’d better pick up, so the phone didn’t wake the baby. They just wanted to make sure I made it here okay.”
“That’s very nice of them,” Axel said.
“You picked a great agency, Mr...” she thought of the sign over the shop. He must be the owner. “Mr. Swann.”
“I hope so,” he said. “But please, just call me Axel.”
“Axel,” she echoed with a smile, remembering her mom’s old obsession with ‘80s hair bands. “So the shop out front is yours?”
“Guilty as charged,” he said with a smile. “I’ve always liked working with my hands.
It was hard not to think of what else he might like to do with those hands.
The living room suddenly felt very tiny and the space between them charged with electricity.
“So where are your bags?” he asked, clearing his throat.
“It’s um, just this,” she said, holding up her backpack.
“You don’t have a suitcase?” he asked uncertainly.
“Oh, well I did have one,” she lied. “But I left it on the train. I’m such an idiot. I’m sure I’ll get it back.”
“Was your cell number on your luggage tag?” he asked.
“Oh, I don’t have a cell phone,” she lied. All she needed was him asking for her number. She only had the burner phone from the con.
And no way was she giving him anything that could get him entangled in that mess.
It was bad enough that she had left the car at his shop.
“Want me to call Septa’s lost and found?” he asked.
“Oh gosh, no, I’m sure you have work to do,” she said. “Is it okay for me to use your land line to do that while Noah naps?”
“Sure,” he said. “I guess it worked out that I had the landline for Hannah.”
“Who’s Hannah?” she asked, looking around for signs of a woman. If the baby had a mother, she might be more perceptive than Axel was. It could make it much harder to hide out here even for a day or two.
“She’s the high school student who helped with Noah for the last month or two,” he said. “She doesn’t have a cell phone either.”
“Okay,” Delilah nodded, feeling better. He had told her it was only himself and Noah in the house. And now Delilah.
“Well, I’ll be at the shop if you need me for any reason,” Axel said. “Please make yourself at home.”
“Thank you,” Delilah said. “I will.”
He had no idea.
***
Thanks for reading this sample of Axel.
Will Delilah hold onto her cover story long enough to make it out of Tarker’s Hollow, or will the call of Axel and baby Noah be too much for her to bear? (See what I did there?)
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https://www.tashablack.com/axel.html
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