brow rose a little higher. “You really do make yourself useful, don’t you? No wonder the family seems to think the house would collapse without you running it.”
“I take pride in my work,” she said a little stiffly, not entirely sure whether he was teasing or mocking her.
“That’s the way I was raised, too. If you’re going to do something, do it well.”
It wasn’t exactly the way she’d been raised—more a philosophy she’d adopted for herself—but there was no need to go into that. “There’s a magnetic board on the side of the fridge. The Llewellyns usually leave a note there if they’ll be home for dinner so I’ll know to have something ready for them before I leave each evening. Sometimes they prefer to do their own cooking, but I usually cook two or three nights a week. You can write anything you need there and I’ll take care of it.”
Was she babbling? She did that sometimes when she felt uncomfortable.
Standing, Mitch carried his dishes to the sink, rinsed them and set them in the dishwasher without waiting for her to clear away after him. She could see this man was accustomed to taking care of himself.
“I’m not a picky eater, but I like to have fresh fruit on hand—any fruit, I like them all. I’ll leave some cash for you to add to the tab. Neither you nor Meagan should have to pay for my food while I’m here. As for anything else, I’ll have to make a mall run eventually and pick up some things—like shoes,” he added with a wry glance at his sneakers. “I don’t even know what else I need yet.”
Despite her tendency to accumulate relatively few personal belongings, the thought of losing everything she owned was daunting. She was sure Mitch had lost things that were important to him in the fire. Sympathy made her speak a bit more warmly. “All right. But if you think of anything, just jot it on the list. Really, it’s no trouble at all.”
He gave her another one of those smiles that made her pulse trip a little. “That’s very kind of you, Jacqui. Thanks.”
Hiding her reaction to him behind a rather brusque tone, she turned away to rinse her own breakfast dishes. “You’re welcome.”
“I think we’ll work out just fine as housemates,” he said as he moved toward the doorway toward the stairs. “No reason at all to be concerned.”
Housemates. Just the word made her mouth go dry. Which certainly seemed to her like a reason for concern.
Chapter Two
Later that morning, Jacqui finished making her grocery list. She had a generous household account to cover anything they needed, but Mitch had insisted on chipping in toward his food. She had intended to leave for the store more than an hour ago, but she kept getting delayed by things around the house that needed her attention—houseplants to water, furniture to dust, floors to vacuum, beds to change, laundry to do.
She knew every inch of this house like the back of her hand. It might belong to Seth and Meagan and young Alice, but she was the one who kept it running like a well-oiled machine, just as she had the house Seth and Alice had lived in previously. She was the one who’d done most of the packing, unpacking and arranging when the busy family had combined their households. They had decided which furnishings to keep and which to store, sell or give away, but Jacqui had supervised that process while the Llewellyns were tied up with their demanding schedules.
She had been greatly relieved that there’d never been any question of whether she would continue working for them after the wedding. With Meagan’s hectic schedule as a general surgeon and attending physician in the teaching hospital, Jacqui’s help was needed with the housework and with Alice.
They had established a routine that worked well for all of them. When the family was in town, Jacqui reported to work at around 9:00 a.m., after the senior Llewellyns had left for their jobs. During the school year, Alice had already been dropped off at school by that time; Jacqui picked her up every afternoon. Now that Alice was on summer break, the teen spent the days here at home or being chauffeured by Jacqui to various activities. Every day, Jacqui did the daily cleaning and laundry, ran family errands such as shopping and dry cleaning, then cooked dinner before leaving unless they’d notified her they had other plans for dinner.
Some people might have found her daily schedule boring, but she enjoyed it. She liked the family very much, and they paid her well for her services. Most of her weekends were free and she had time during her workdays to read and knit while doing laundry or waiting for the oven timer to buzz.
She was lucky to have found this family when she’d been looking for a full-time housekeeping job just more than a year ago. Her last employer had moved into a nursing facility and she’d needed a new position quickly. Only twenty-eight years old then, she hadn’t been the typical housekeeper applicant. Her résumé listed many jobs in several states, only the latter two of which had been housekeeping positions. But the Llewellyns had taken a chance on her, and she was satisfied their gamble had paid off for all of them.
On the other side of the glass door, Waldo barked for attention, his feathery tail swishing rhythmically. He missed Alice today, she thought, stuffing the grocery list in her bag. He barked again, giving her his best please-notice-me grin. Caving, she set her bag aside. There was no hurry to go shopping; she might as well play with the dog for a little while to make him feel less lonely.
Waldo expressed his gratitude with full-body wiggles and eager swipes of his big, wet tongue. Laughing, Jacqui pushed him down. “You silly dog. You act like you haven’t seen anyone in a month. I just gave you a good brushing this morning before I fed you breakfast. And Alice will be home in just a few hours. You’re hardly neglected.”
Panting, he leaned against her, gazing up with happy dark eyes. She sighed. “Okay, I’ll throw your ball for you. But do not get me dirty. I don’t want to have to change before I go shopping.”
She didn’t at all trust the grin he gave her in response to that admonition.
Half an hour later, she was still outside, tossing a tennis ball for the dog, who seemed to never run out of enthusiasm for the mindless game. He would have liked even more for her to throw the ball into the pool; there was nothing Waldo loved more than to throw himself into the water after a toy, especially on a hot July day like this one. But she left the gate to the pool firmly closed despite his blatant hinting. With a wet dog climbing all over her, there was no way she’d stay clean enough to go shopping.
“Okay, Waldo, last throw,” she told him firmly, raising the ball in preparation. Like his owners, she’d gotten into the habit of speaking to the big yellow Lab mix as though he could understand every word she said. And like them, there were times when she suspected he understood quite a bit. “One more time, and then I absolutely have to go do the shopping.”
“Aw, just one more?”
Her heart gave a thump. She turned to find Mitch standing in the kitchen doorway, leaning against the doorjamb as if he’d been there a few minutes. “Don’t encourage him,” she said with a faint smile of greeting. “He’d keep me out here all day if he could.”
“Can’t blame him for that.”
Giving the ball one last heave, Jacqui turned toward the house. Waldo collected the ball and then, sensing the game was over, moved resignedly to his water bowl. Jacqui followed Mitch into the kitchen and closed the door behind them.
She washed her hands thoroughly in the kitchen sink, saying over her shoulder, “You’re back earlier than I expected.”
“I try not to work full days on weekends, unless I’m on call. Usually have to go in for an hour or two, but more than that is just begging for burnout. Of course, there are plenty of times I get tied up there all day even then.”
“I can imagine.” She glanced at the microwave clock, noting it was just before noon. “Have you had lunch?”
“No. After that nice breakfast you made for us, I haven’t been hungry yet.”
“I’m