Masquerade (4 page)

Slade bit back a smile and nodded.

Bella put a plastic pink spoon into the sugar bowl and lifted it out again. “Daddy, would you like one or two spoonfuls of sugar in your hot chocolate?”

“None. You don’t put sugar in hot chocolate.”

“I do.” Bella put the spoon into her cup, then picked up the teapot and poured something into her father’s cup.

Slade took it from her. “Hey, this is real water.
You know you’re not supposed to take water out of the kitchen.”

Bella blinked her large brown eyes at him. “But this is the outside-of-the-kitchen water.”

“There is no outside-of-the-kitchen water.” He took a sip and then spit the contents back into his cup. “This is awful. Where did you get it?”

“Out of the watering can.”
Bella smiled proudly. “Because you said that’s the only water that goes outside the kitchen.”

Slade picked up his cup and dumped the contents back into the teapot. “Great. Now I’ve ingested Miracle Grow.” He picked up
Bella’s cup. “Have you been drinking this?”

“Just a little,” Bella said.

Clarissa immediately went to the table and dropped to her knees so she could get a better look at Elaina. “Did you drink any, sweetheart?”

Elaina nodded solemnly.

Clarissa turned to Slade. “Would Miracle Grow hurt them?”

Meredith’s tailored pumps suddenly appeared by the table. Clarissa hadn’t noticed her come back into the room, but she must have been there for some time because she said, “Shall I call the poison control center?”

“Yes.” Slade picked up the teapot, noting the water level. “We’d better.”

“I can call,” Clarissa said
, reaching for the cell phone in her purse. “I have the number programmed in my phone.”

“So do I,” Meredith replied tiredly. She took the teapot and left the room carrying it slightly away from her as though she didn’t want to spill any of its contents on her clothes.

Still sitting, Slade looked over at Clarissa with one eyebrow raised. “How come you have the poison control center on speed dial?”

“In
a time of crisis you don’t want to have to look up a number.”

“Oh.” From the tone of his voice
, Clarissa could tell that he hadn’t expected this answer.

“Why does Meredith have
it in her phone?” Clarissa asked.

“Well,” Slade cleared his throat, “not too long ago Bella got into some of those chewable multivitamins with iron. She ate half the bottle, and we had to t
ake her to the emergency room.”

“Oh.” Clarissa nodded.

“And before that Bella got into a liquor cabinet.”

“Oh,” Clarissa said again.

“And then there was the time she picked a bunch of poisonous oleander seed pods, put them in her dishes, and said they were beans. That was another night spent in the emergency room.”

“Oh dear,” Clarissa said.

“She’s an imaginative child,” Slade said.

Meredith came clicking back across the floor. “Poison control said it
isn’t a problem. Miracle Grow in water is too diluted to hurt anybody. Oh, and Vivian sends her regards.”

Slade shifted his weight and glanced back at Clarissa. “They only remember me because of my name.”

“Vivian asked if we’d be sending her a Christmas card again this year.”

Slade quirked an eyebrow. “I didn’t know we sent one to her last year.”

Meredith shrugged. “It only seemed proper after the way she helped us through the toothpaste affair.”

“The toothpaste affair?” Clarissa asked.

“The bubblegum flavored kind in the squeeze bottle,” Meredith said. “Bella pretended it was frosting.”

“All right, all
right.” Slade held up one hand, conceding the point. “Maybe we are on a first-name basis with the ladies at the poison control center.” He reached over and tilted Bella’s face so she looked up at him. “But that’s going to change from now on, right?”

Bella
smiled brightly. “Right.”

“Because what is rule number four?”

“We don’t eat anything Daddy didn’t serve us,” she chimed.

“What’s rule number one?” Clarissa asked.

With the same enthusiasm, Bella said, “We don’t put Daddy’s keys into the ignition.”

Clarissa nodded slowly. “I see. And exactly how many rules are there?”

“Sixteen,” Bella said.

“Seventeen,” Slade corrected. “I just made another one. No going to secret hideouts when Daddy doesn’t know where you are.”

“Okay, Daddy.” Bella reached over and gave him a kiss that melted the sternness from his face. He ran his hand over her hair in a gentle manner.

Clarissa watched them silently. They looked like a scene from a Norman Rockwell calendar
—father and daughter sitting by the pink tea set smiling at each other as though they were sharing some irresistible secret. It was hard to remember that this was the same man who’d been serving up those sharp
you-lost-your-daughter
comments only minutes earlier. He seemed so tender now.

Men. You could never figure them out. It was a good thing Clarissa had sworn
off men altogether. Who needed the aggravation of trying to second-guess them?

Bella glanced
over at Clarissa. “Is that lady going to take care of me?”

“We haven’t decided yet,” Slade said. “What with two crises in one afternoon, we may have scared her off
.”

Elaina giggled as though he’d told a joke. “My mom
my’s not afraid of anything.”

“Another good qualification for this job,” Meredith said.

Again, Slade shot her a look. “Why don’t you take the girls into the playroom for a few minutes so I can finish this interview.”

Meredith motioned to them.
“Come along, girls.”

Bella dragged herself out from underneath the table, and
Elaina trotted along behind her. Blitzer sniffed around the carpet where the girls had been playing. He must have found something of interest because suddenly a soft crunching noise came from that area.

Clarissa expected Slade to return to his chair and to his professional manner. Instead
, he stayed on the floor, leaned back with both arms stretched out behind him, and sighed in an almost defeated way. “You know,” he said slowly, “I never realized how hard parenting was going to be.”

“I know,” Clarissa said. “Just when you think you understand them, they come up with something else
that baffles you.”

Slade cocked his head at Clarissa. “You understand your
daughter? You must be doing a better job than I am. I always feel baffled.”

“
Bella adores you. You must be doing something right.”

“I hope so
.” He looked off into the distance with a wry expression. “Sometimes I don’t know how to get through to Bella. She doesn’t seem to remember anything I tell her—or at least not the seventeen important things.”

“She’s four years old. It’s amazing she can even count to seventeen.” Clarissa smiled sheepishly. “And you saw how well my daughter remembered to stay by her mother. I’ve told her a hundred times not to even talk to strangers, and here she went off with one to pursue a life of espionage.”

Slade’s gaze slid over to Clarissa, and he returned her grin. “Look at us. I’ve known you for a total of fifteen minutes, and we’re sitting on the floor sharing parenting woes.” He picked up his notebook from the floor. “As soon as I involved the children, I should have known the interview would end up this way.”

“Chaotic?”

“No.” He hesitated, then said, “Adults walk around wearing all sorts of masks, but kids have a way of stripping them off. If I’d had a few more moments with your daughter, I would have known all your family secrets.”

Clarissa laughed and hoped he didn’t notice it was nervous laughter.

“Who’s Aunt Renea?”

“Alex’s sister. She’s just sort of
. . .”

“Ah, there you go. You’re putting on a mask. I can see you doing it.”

“All right,” Clarissa said, “I’ll tell you. She’s the type of person who thinks she can do whatever she wants, whenever she wants, and is always surprised the world doesn’t spin around to accommodate her.”

Slade nodded. “I’ve known a few of those myself. You’re right not to let Elaina grow up like her.”

“Well, I’m trying, anyway.”

He
regarded Clarissa silently. “So, do you want the job?”

“Yes.”

“Good.” He held his hand out and shook hers. “I’ll see you Thursday morning.”

He stood up then and pulled her up along with him. “I have some
things to take care of before the trip, so Meredith will go over Bella’s schedule with you.”

Slade
walked Clarissa to Meredith’s office. Once there, Meredith gave Clarissa an employment contract, a copy of Bella’s daily schedule, a list of house rules, and directions to Bella’s preschool. She was shown the guest room, Bella’s bedroom, and where they kept the fire extinguishers.

Meredith also gave her a list of phone numbers, including Bella’s dentist, doctor, and the nearest emergency room.

Clarissa smiled weakly as she looked over the list. “I probably won’t ever have to use these, right?”

Meredith smiled back at her. “That’s the spirit.”

Clarissa must have looked concerned, because Meredith added, “Oh, you don’t have to worry too much. I’m in my office most of the day. If you run into anything you can’t handle, I’ll help you out. I mean, my week doesn’t seem complete unless I get to chat with the ladies at the poison control center.”

Clarissa’s expression apparently didn’t change
, because after a moment Meredith patted her arm. “I’m joking, dear. You’ll do fine.”

The two women then walked to the playroom to retrieve Elaina. Clarissa was half afraid the girls wouldn’t be there, but both were playing happily beside an entire Barbie village. Elaina
pushed a shiny red Corvette up to the dream house. She was so enthralled that Clarissa didn’t let her know right away she’d come to end her playtime.

The room
was easily the size of Clarissa’s entire apartment and had a built-in playhouse on one side. An assortment of child-sized furniture sat in the middle, and so many toy shelves covered the far side of the room, it could have passed for Toys R Us.

Clarissa kept eyeing the room.
“I guess this sort of takes the anticipation out of Christmas morning, doesn’t?”

“Slade doesn’t mean to spoil her,” Meredith said. “He just tries to keep her busy. And to her credit, Bella is a sweet girl most of the time. It’s not her fault, really, that she goes through nannies like some people go through socks.”

“Oh,” Clarissa said, “then whose fault is it?”

“Some of
it is bad luck . . . bad timing . . . the nature of help . . . the nature of children—and, of course, some of it really is Bella’s fault. The way she used to run away from Gwen . . .” Meredith shook her head. “I didn’t blame her for leaving.”

“She ran away?”

“With only a day’s notice too. Gwen’s next employer called and asked for a reference. I didn’t know what to tell them. I mean, I didn’t blame her for quitting, but really, one needs more than a day’s notice to replace a nanny. Especially a nanny for Bella.”

Clarissa had
asked about Bella running away, not the nanny, and wasn’t comforted by this new piece of information.

“I’m sure you’ll do fine with Bella, though
,” Meredith said, appraising Clarissa. “You seem like a sturdy individual.”

“I’d, um, like to think so.” Clarissa’s gaze stopped at Bella, who
was making her Barbie dive into a plastic pool. Bella’s curls lay against the side of her face, perfectly offset by her golden-brown eyes. She looked cherubic and cuddly—not like the type who could intimidate a slew of nannies.

“Don’t let my grumblings worry you,” Meredith added. “Bella will probably be so busy playing with Elaina she won’t give you any trouble. And you know, when Slade starts work on his
next movie, he’ll need a full-time nanny for Bella. If this week works out, the job could turn into a permanent position for you.”

“Full-time?”

“Actors work terrible hours, and when he’s on location, it’s even worse. He can’t take Bella with him then—at least not after the last scenery disaster.” Meredith smiled and shook her head as though she found it amusing.

“Well, I hope
Mr. Jacobson thinks I’m capable of the job.”

“I’m sure you’ll do marvelously,” Meredith said, but
the look in her eyes said something else. Clarissa wasn’t sure what.

Chapter 4

Slade was standing by his bed, tossing shirts into his suitcase, when Bella walked into the room. She climbed up onto his bed and watched him
add a pair of shorts to the pile.

She frowned and slumped against his pillows.
“I don’t want you to go.”

He folded a pair of jeans
and put them in the suitcase. “I won’t be gone long. Only a week. And I’ll call every night.”

“What about Halloween?”

“Clarissa will take you trick-or-treating.”

This answer didn’t seem to satisfy Bella. She continued watching Slade with a frown. “What if you don’t come back?”

“I always come back.”

“Mommy didn’t.”

Slade’s hands froze in midair over the suitcase. He looked at his daughter, at her soft brown eyes, and then he dropped his clothes on the bed and sat next to her. “That’s different, Bella. I’ve explained this before. Mommy left because things changed between her and me. She didn’t think it was a good idea to live here anymore, but I love you and that will never change.”

His explanation hadn’t been enough.
Bella’s eyes filled with tears.

“Not that Mommy doesn’t love you anymore,” he
added. “She still does. It’s just that . . .” He groped for the words to make a four-year-old understand the things he still couldn’t quite comprehend himself. He rubbed his daughter’s back gently. “I’ll tell you what. Why don’t you come with me to Hawaii?”

Bella’s
eyes brightened, and she threw her arms around his neck. He couldn’t have said any more if he had wanted to because she began to sing, “I get to go to Hawaii!” over and over again.