I’m glad you decided to come out of retirement for us. Heather definitely needs an experienced hand. How soon can you start? We could do with you right now.’
She’d been planning to visit one of her old school-friends who lived in Exeter after the interview. She hadn’t seen Caroline for years and was looking forward to a week of coffee and gossiping.
‘Oh. I’m not sure I…Don’t you want some time to think? To check references?’
His mouth pulled down at the corners and he shook his head. ‘If you’re good enough for the Bright Sparks Agency, you’re good enough for me. And besides, I’m desperate.’
Her chair scraped on the slate floor as she stood, but before she’d even managed to say she needed time to think, the back door slammed open. She was facing the oposite direction but, from the grim look on Luke Armstrong’s face, she had no doubt that his experienced-hand-needing daughter had just made her entrance.
‘Heather, this is—’
A red fleece swept past the kitchen table and out into the living room. Moments later heavy feet pounded the stairs in a distant part of the house.
Luke shot to his feet, his eyes blazing.
‘I’m sorry about that. She’s having a difficult time adjusting at the moment. I—I’ll explain later.’
With that, he forged out of the room. More heavy footsteps. Must be genetic. She couldn’t have made that much noise if she were wearing lead boots. Muffled shouting. A door slammed. Then footsteps in tandem.
Luke nudged Heather into the room. Her eyes were on the floor and her bottom lip stuck out like a toddler’s. ‘Luke says I’ve got to say hello.’
‘Heather!’ The rising volume of his voice had Gaby shaking, but it seemed to flow off the girl. Her chin jutted more decidedly into her chest.
‘Heather, I would like you to say hello to Gaby. She’s going to be looking after you when I start work.’
Gaby spluttered. ‘Actually, I—’
At the sound of Gaby’s voice, Heather lifted her head just enough to peer out from under her fringe. ‘Oh, it’s you. The crab lady.’
Luke looked between the pair in astonishment.
Gaby waggled a hand in the air while she waited for the words to come. ‘We met…earlier…on the jetty.’
If it were possible, his face got even more thunderous. ‘Heather! I’ve told you never to—’
‘God! Take a chill pill, Luke. I was only crabbing!’ Then she spun on her heel and stomped off again. Luke looked as if he’d been slapped in the face. Gaby swallowed.
He slumped down on a chair and rubbed his face. The start of his next sentence was muffled by his hands. ‘I don’t know how much Mrs Pullman told you, but we’re facing a rather difficult set of circumstances with Heather.’ He looked up at her, his eyes pleading. ‘Please, don’t let that little outburst put you off. She’s a good kid underneath it all. But she’s had a lot to deal with in the last few years.’
Gaby smiled gently at him. ‘It’s okay. I know about the trial and…everything.’
Luke let out a long breath. He seemed very relieved not to have to run through the details. ‘Good. If that hasn’t put you off, I don’t know what will.’
‘Oh, I—’
He didn’t seem to hear her.
‘She took her mother’s death very hard. And then she had to deal with me being…away. We’ve only been living together again for a couple of months, so we’re still getting to know each other again, really.’ He looked down at the table, as if he hadn’t meant to say all of that in front of her.
The silence stretched. If only there were something to say, something she could do to make it all go away. This was the point at which her alarm bells should be ringing. That little tug at her heartstrings always meant trouble. She’d promised herself she wouldn’t fall completely in love with her charge again this time.
If getting inside a child’s mind was her strength, the fact she let them too far into her heart was her weakness. Too many times she’d been left heartbroken when a family moved overseas or didn’t need her any more.
She was older and wiser now; she should be past this. And maybe, if David hadn’t kept putting off the issue of children, she would have been. It was probably down to the overly-loud ticking of her biological clock that she was ignoring all the old warning signals. If she had any sense, she would excuse herself and return to London—leave this family to someone who could look at them objectively, help them without getting too emotionally involved. It would be better for Luke and Heather in the long run too.
‘I’d better go and see to my errant daughter.’ He pushed the chair back and stood up.
He looked so lost, so unsure of what to do, that Gaby put a hand on his arm to stall him. ‘Let me go.’ The least she could do before she left was help defuse the current situation.
He started to shake his head, but then he said, ‘Okay. Heather’s room is on the left at the top of the stairs.’
She crept up the stairs, stood outside the door, took a deep breath and knocked gently.
‘Go away! I don’t want to speak to you!’
‘Heather? It’s me—Gaby.’
‘Oh.’
‘Can I come in?’
The door edged open and Heather poked her nose in the gap. ‘It’s a bit messy.’
Gaby smiled. ‘I wouldn’t worry about that. You should have seen my room when I was your age. My mum used to have an awful go at me. In the end I just shoved it all in the cupboard and hoped no one opened the door. If they had, they would have been buried in an avalanche of clothes and toys!’
Heather gasped and her eyes got even bigger and rounder.
‘Believe it, kid, you’ve got nothing on me.’
The door swung wide and Gaby walked in. She perched on the edge of a bed decked in pink and frilly bed-clothes. Heather grimaced. ‘He thinks I’m still a baby.’
‘I’m sure he doesn’t think you’re a baby. He was probably trying very hard to make things nice for you.’
Heather made a gagging noise and rolled her eyes, but when her face returned to normal her expression had softened. ‘Are you really going to be my nanny?’
‘Well—’
‘I don’t need looking after, you know. I’m all right on my own.’
Did no one in this house ever let you finish a sentence?
She swivelled to face Heather. ‘I know that. But your dad has to have someone in the house while he’s out at work. He’s not allowed to leave you alone,
