Some Like It Hotter (Sweet Life in Seattle #3) (36 page)

“I have a whole list of potential candidates lined up for us to speak with today,” Natalie tells her, sipping from a glass of ice water with lemon. “Hopefully, one of them will work out.”

They’re in her sister’s dining room. Lindsay picks up the stack of nanny résumés Natalie printed up and flips through them. “None of these have photos.”

“I know. The agency didn’t forward any for some reason.”

Lindsay spreads the résumés before her on the table and studies them with a keen eye. From what she can tell, the nannies are all older women, which is good. They appear to have plenty of experience, and it looks like they’ve been vetted since each one has a page of outstanding references. Unfortunately, it’s not enough. “These are completely worthless to me without a photo.”

“I wouldn’t say
worthless
. I’m more concerned with what kind of experience they have.” Natalie glances over at Luca, who’s currently sitting in one of those baby saucer contraptions with all sorts of amusements attached. He’s grinning and drooling as he uses his fist to bat at a fuzzy bumble bee. “Although, what I mostly want is someone Luca feels comfortable with, and I can trust.”

“I know. And that’s what I want too. Just think of me as your guard dog. I’m here to sniff out any potential problems.”

“You know Anthony is fairly insulted by this whole thing.”

Lindsay nods. “I don’t blame him. I would be too if I were him. He’s a great guy, but he’s still a guy, and I imagine he doesn’t read trashy magazines, right?”

Natalie laughs. “No, I wouldn’t say he does.”

“So he has no idea how common the nanny spell is.”

Her sister sighs and picks up her glass.

“Hey, no worries.” Lindsay shrugs. “Just blame the whole thing on me. I don’t mind. I’m happy as long as I know in the end you guys are safe.”

“Just to be clear, I
trust
Anthony. I explained to him though how I
do
think you have good instincts about people.” Natalie considers her. “You’re just like Dad that way.”

Lindsay’s eyes flash over to her sister. She wonders if she should tell Natalie about the poker. It would be a relief to finally get it out there, but she decides this isn’t a good time.
I haven’t hit a single card game since I’ve been back anyway.
Her money is getting low, though. Of course, she doesn’t have a bankroll to play cards with either.
Hopefully, I’ll sell a sculpture soon
. Her agent, Emily, e-mailed her this morning and said the gallery in San Francisco was delighted by the piece that arrived from Berlin recently. It sounded like they were pretty certain they could find a buyer.

The doorbell rings.

“That must be the first one!” Natalie gets up to answer it.

Lindsay smiles over at Luca, who grins back. He’s quite a friendly little guy. “Don’t worry,” she tells him. “Your Auntie Lindsay is on the case. And you’re going to have the best damn nanny in the whole world if I have anything to say about it.”

“Come on in and have a seat.” She hears her sister’s voice from the other room. “I thought we could sit in the living room and just talk a bit.”

Lindsay stands as Natalie comes back into the dining room to get Luca.

“Would you mind carrying his saucer?” Natalie asks, reaching in to pull him out of it.

Lindsay grabs the saucer and the résumés and follows her sister into the living area. The women all take a seat while Natalie holds Luca on her lap. He’s squirming and reaching for the fuzzy bee again, so Natalie puts him back into the saucer. He immediately starts batting at it, laughing.

“What a sweet boy,” the potential nanny says. “What’s his name?”

Natalie grins. “His name’s Luca, and he’s six months old.” She motions toward Lindsay. “And this is my sister, Lindsay.”

The nanny introduces herself, and Lindsay leans back on the couch, studying this woman like Columbo. The nanny is heavyset and has short, wavy salt-and-pepper hair. Natalie chats about what she’s looking for, going down a list of questions. The nanny responds to all of them with ease.

The conversation goes well and after about forty minutes or so, they conclude the interview. Natalie tells her how she has a few more people to speak with, but that she’ll be in touch.

“What did you think?” her sister asks coming back into the living room after walking the nanny to the door. “She seemed all right.”

“Absolutely not.”

Natalie’s brows knit together. “Why? What’s wrong with her?”

“That nanny was
way
too attractive.”

“She’s sixty-eight years old.”

“I don’t care.” Lindsay holds Luca in her lap. She blows on his face as he giggles and tries to grab her mouth. “I’m your guard dog, remember?”

“You honestly think Anthony would have an affair with a woman old enough to be his mother?”

“And did you check out her rack?” Lindsay shakes her head. “Forget it. No way.”

Natalie laughs. “You’re completely insane!”

Lindsay motions toward her sister’s ample bosom. “Hey, we
know
what your husband’s tastes are like. The last thing we need is a nanny with a pair of double D’s—or worse—running around here.”

“You realize how offensive all this is, don’t you? You can’t just judge people like that or not hire someone for a job based on their body type!”

“Sure, you can. I’m doing it right now.”

“My God.” Natalie lets out her breath, still laughing as she sits on the sofa beside her. “I’m glad there’s no one around to hear this conversation. I’d be mortified.”

“Look, she was too strict anyway.”

This gives Natalie pause, and she appears to be thinking it over. “She
was
kind of strict, wasn’t she?”

“I thought so.”

“All that business about schedules for this and schedules for that.” Natalie looks down at Luca, who’s happily chewing on a cold teething ring Lindsay gave him. “Anthony and I both prefer to just feed him whenever he’s hungry.”

“I agree, so let’s move on. When does the next one arrive?”

Natalie and Lindsay spend all afternoon interviewing nannies—five in all. The youngest was sixty-seven, the oldest eighty.

“Jesus, are there
no
hags left in this world?” Lindsay says with disgust as Natalie comes back from walking the last candidate to the door. “Every one of those women was
far
too attractive.”

“I’m exhausted.” Natalie flops down on the couch. She reaches over for Luca, who’s starting to get fussy, taking him from Lindsay’s lap. “And you truly are insane. You know that, right?” She settles back down on the couch, adjusting her clothes to nurse the baby.

“I’m not insane. I’m just trying to help you find a suitable nanny.”

“That last one was eighty years old, and you thought she was too hot?”

Lindsay snorts. “Trust me, she’s still got game.”

“Come on.” Natalie rolls her eyes. “She was a totally nice grandma type.”

“Oh, really? How many times did she mention how she thought Anthony was handsome?”

During their last interview, the grandma nanny walked over to the fireplace mantel to look at some of the family photos. She kept staring at the pictures of Anthony, commenting on them even after she sat back down again.

Natalie opens her mouth then tilts her head. “Huh.”

“Exactly. Grandma had the hots for Anthony.”

“I don’t know.”

“I’m telling you. Plus, we need to see photos of these women in advance. This whole thing is a waste of time otherwise.”

As they’re discussing this, the front door opens, and Anthony comes inside, home from work. Lindsay wonders if his ears are burning. He’s wearing a white
Star Wars
T-shirt with an X-Wing fighter on it and the Death Star in the background. Anthony is a professor of astrophysics at the University of Washington. He’s also six years younger than Natalie. Lindsay’s never seen two people better suited for each other.

“Hey,” Anthony says, walking over to them in the living room. He leans down and kisses Natalie hello. “How is everyone today?” he murmurs.

“We’re fine.” Natalie smiles up at him.

Anthony takes his leather satchel off and sits down beside Natalie on the couch. He reaches over to gently stroke Luca’s hair, as he’s fallen asleep in Natalie’s arms.

Lindsay watches the two of them together. Such a beautiful family. It squeezes her heart. She’s so happy her sister found a love like this. Anthony truly is a good guy and definitely enough man for her sister.

He turns his attention toward her now, his dark eyes flickering with a mixture of bemusement and annoyance. “So, how did the interviews go? Are you going to be able to save me from the nanny curse, or am I doomed?”

Lindsay doesn’t bother to correct him that it’s ‘spell’ not ‘curse,’ instead brings her shoulders up with chagrin. “I’m sorry, but I’m afraid it’s not looking good.”

“What do you mean?” He turns to Natalie, and his voice softens. “You didn’t like any of them?”

“None of them were quite right,” Lindsay tells him, though Anthony is still looking at Natalie.

“What did
you
think?” he asks her.

“I have to agree with Lindsay. I just didn’t feel a connection with any of them. Not because of the curse or spell, or whatever.” She gives Lindsay a look.

He nods. “That’s okay. We’ll keep looking. I’m sure we’ll eventually find someone.”

“I hope so.” Natalie sighs. “This whole thing is already tiring.”

“It’ll be worth it in the end, though.” Anthony offers to take the baby from her to lay him down for his nap. As he heads upstairs, Lindsay follows Natalie into the kitchen.

“It’s kind of early for dinner.” Natalie goes over to the stove and lifts the lid on a pot of chili she has cooking. “But do you want a sandwich? I’m going to make one for Anthony.”

“No, thanks, I’m not hungry. Plus, I’m making dinner for Giovanni tonight.” Lindsay leans against the counter. “It’s his first day of work at the hospital, and I thought he’d enjoy coming home to a hot meal.”

“That’s nice of you.” Natalie flashes up at her. “How’s it going over there anyway?”

“Weirdly okay.”

Her sister nods. “I have to admit, I wasn’t too thrilled about Giovanni at first—or any of this, really. He’s one of those larger-than-life kind of men I’ve always found sort of intimidating.”

Lindsay considers her sister’s description and realizes there’s truth in it. He
is
kind of like that. She smiles to herself thinking about him. He’s serious in so many ways, but you can’t deny his passion is big.

“He’s really grown on me,” Natalie continues. “Plus, he’s amazing with the girls and Luca. They’re all crazy about him.”

“I know.” Lindsay is still smiling. “He’s all right.”

“I noticed something else when you guys were staying here.” Natalie gives her a sideways glance as she stirs the chili. “He’s very affectionate with you.”

“I guess.” Lindsay shrugs and pretends to act indifferent. She picks up one of Luca’s baby toys and slides the rings around.

“I think he has real feelings for you. Of course, I shouldn’t be surprised.” Natalie turns down the heat on the stove. “They all fall in love with you in the end, don’t they?”

Lindsay doesn’t bother answering and continues to fiddle with the baby toy. What Natalie said is mostly true. Men fall in love with her easily, and they always have. But she’s not so sure about Giovanni. “I don’t know. Giovanni is a tough nut to crack.”

“I’ll bet. Plus, I think you have feelings for him too.”

She looks up. “What do you mean?”

“You giggle quite a bit when he’s around,” Natalie says with a grin.

“I do not.”

“Yes, you do. It was fascinating to watch. Every time he came near you, it seemed like you were giggling.”

Lindsay scoffs. “Please. I do
not
giggle.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you act that way around a guy before, not even when you were in high school.”

“I like him. So what? I already told you that.”

Natalie laughs, but it’s a knowing laugh. “I didn’t realize you liked him
that
much. Are you in love with him?”

Lindsay puts the baby toy back down on the counter and decides to be completely honest. “I don’t know. It’s crazy, but I think I might be.”