anymore. He passed away recently.”
His gaze met hers and there was sincere sympathy in his eyes. “I’m sorry for your loss.”
“Thank you.” The words were quiet and polite, completely at odds with the pain and panic of insecurity trickling through her.
He nodded, then continued his inspection of her paperwork. “This all looks to be in order. Do you have anything else?”
Really? Apparently he was looking to hire Mother Teresa. She reached for her purse and pulled out her wallet. “Did you miss the part in the principal’s letter of recommendation where she mentioned my wings, halo and uncanny ability to walk on water? Here’s my current Montana driver’s license. Feel free to run a background check.”
Merry had kept her tone courteous and professional, though she wanted to be huffy and annoyed. Still, she prepared herself to be shown out of his house. Her recommendations were glowing. That wasn’t blowing her own horn, just a fact. If that wasn’t good enough for him, then maybe the extra money wasn’t worth the trouble. And good luck to him finding a weekend nanny in this town.
The man stared at her for several moments before the corners of his mouth curved up a little. He was fighting a smile. Hallelujah. The cowboy had a sense of humor.
“That won’t be necessary, Miss Matthews. The most important qualification for this job isn’t on here.”
“And that is?”
“Wren likes you. If you still want it, the position is yours.”
She looked at him for a moment, not sure she’d heard right. “You’re sure? As you probably guessed from what I said, I can sometimes be headstrong and a little outspoken.”
“I noticed. And you may have guessed that I am protective of my daughter. Maybe too much, but with her I’d rather be safe than sorry.”
“You love her,” Merry said simply. And it was quite possibly his most attractive quality.
“I do. Very much. Her mother died so she only has me.”
“She told me.” Merry remembered the conversation. She’d told Wren her own mom was gone, too, and that made them members of a club that no little girl wanted to join.
“Okay. That means you understand the situation.” He handed back her folder. “So, will you take the job?”
“Yes. I’d love to,” she said. “And I really wanted it. A chance to earn some extra money and the chance to get away for a couple of days at the same time. It’s been a rough year for me. So, yes. Thank you for the opportunity, Mr. Crawford.”
“If you call me that, I’ll be looking around for my father. It’s Hunter.”
“Okay.”
“May I call you Merry?” he asked.
“Wren already does so that works for me.”
“All right, then. I’ll give you the details.”
Hunter explained that his father’s private jet would take them to Rustler’s Notch, where they’d stay in a three-bedroom suite at the hotel. He told her the salary and the amount was exceptionally generous. Now it was her turn to fight a smile. She would be expected to keep Wren in sight at all times, which meant attending the rehearsal dinner and wedding festivities the next day.
“Oh, this is probably relevant information for you since my daughter is over the moon about the fancy flower girl dress she will wear. The ceremony is formal.”
The scenario he described was like a fantasy, until he dropped that bombshell. She didn’t have anything to wear to a formal wedding and there was no money in her extremely limited budget for a new dress.
“Is something wrong?” He was frowning at her.
“No. Why do you ask?”
“I don’t know. Just a funny expression on your face. Are you okay?”
“Fine.” She gave him a bright smile. And without missing a beat said, “That won’t be a problem at all.”
Nowhere in her personal references had anyone said she was a habitual liar but that was the second whopper she’d told him. The first being that she wasn’t judging him. How she wished this was a fairy tale. Then she could count on her fairy godmother spinning her a gorgeous dress out of unicorn sighs.
How in the world was she going to pull this off?
Merry left the Ambling A just as the sun was dropping behind the mountains. She was in a panic and did what she always did at a time like this. She called her best friend, Zoey Kubiak, who was the other educational aide at the school. Zoey was a semester away from a degree in elementary education and lived with her divorced mother in a little house that had been restored after the Great Flood of 2013. In fact, they’d met when her dad did electrical work for Zoey’s mom, Dora. She and her friend had sort of hoped their parents might click romantically, but that had never happened.
She pulled her dad’s beat-up old truck to a stop at the curb in front of the gray house. Envy, worry and pain twisted inside her and she missed her father so much. If only he was here so she could talk to him. But, as he’d always said, if wishes were horses beggars would ride.
Merry slid out of the truck and walked up the sidewalk to the front door. It was opened before she could even knock.
“I hate it when you declare an emergency over the phone then say I’ll tell you all about it when I get there.” Zoey had long straight blond hair and cornflower blue eyes. She was beautiful, loyal, supportive—like the sister Merry had always wanted.
She hugged her friend. “I have a big problem.”
“So you said. Together we will find a big solution. My mom is out for the evening so we have the house to ourselves. I put a casserole in the oven and a bottle of white wine is chilling. You’ll spend the night and whatever is wrong can be fixed. I promise.”
“I didn’t bring my pajamas,” Merry said.
Zoey shook her head. “Out of everything I said that was your takeaway?”
“I’m overwhelmed.”
“You came to the right place. We’re about the same size so you can wear a pair of my jammies.”
“You don’t happen to have a cocktail dress lying around, do you?” It was a joke, a throwaway remark, a sign of desperation.
“As a matter of fact, I do have a couple.” Zoey studied her face. “What’s wrong, Mer?”
“I think we’re going to need that wine for this.”
“Okay. Follow me.”
They went into the small but cute kitchen with white cabinets
