Outpost. Yes, I imagine so.” She turned again to Tori. “I’ll do my best to keep the boys out of your hair today. I imagine you’ll want to unpack and find a home for your things.”
“That would be wonderful. Thanks.”
“Have you had breakfast?”
Tori noticed she didn’t include Sawyer in the query. “Before the crack of dawn, but thanks for asking.”
“Do plan to join us for lunch. Eleven thirty.”
“I’ll do that.”
Still standing in the doorway, Therese briefly touched her fingertips to the door’s polished wood, then raised a delicate brow at Tori. “You do recall our house rules?”
Ah, yes. The apartment door should remain open at all times when hosting male guests.
“I do. Thank you.”
While Tori hadn’t dated since Heath’s departure, she was in no hurry to again, so that wouldn’t be a problem. But although Sawyer’s unexpected presence wasn’t anything close to a date, she wasn’t convinced either Ray or Therese was particularly pleased with his putting in an appearance on her first day in their household.
Which didn’t exactly reflect the lay of the land that Sawyer had led her to believe.
* * *
Leave it to Therese to put him in his place in front of Tori. But what had he expected? He’d made himself scarce, then here he came barging back into their lives bearing gifts right smack on the day they’d acquired a new—and attractive—nanny.
No, not nanny. Childcare giver.
When the twins’ grandmother departed, he snagged a couple of paper towels from the dispenser above the counter. “Let me get that mousetrap out of here. You’ll want to clean the cabinet and put stuff in there.”
“But if there are mice...”
He reached into the back of the cabinet with a paper towel and pulled out the trap. Inspected it. Wrapped it up, then stood. “The cheese is hardened. It’s been there for quite a while with no takers. Ray probably forgot it was under there.”
She gave him a relieved smile. “That’s good.”
He glanced at the door still open to the hallway, amused at Therese’s unsubtle allusion to “house rules”—as if she thought he’d attempt to put the moves on Tori if left alone behind closed doors?
While Tori had called to let him know she’d applied for and then gotten the job, he hadn’t seen her since early last week, and she looked prettier this morning than he remembered. Pale blond hair framed her face, accentuating expressive eyes, and that smile she’d flashed in his direction a time or two made his breath catch. Was that why he’d shown up on her doorstep this morning with the excuse of dropping off a new game for the boys?
He looked down at the wrapped mousetrap in his hand, then back at Tori. “I don’t suppose you noticed that Landon can stretch the truth if it suits his purposes?”
Invented. Fabricated. Made-up. Nobody liked you to use the blunt word liar these days.
“I did notice. To my knowledge, science hasn’t proven anything of the sort as he claimed. I have no doubt there are people who are allergic to mice.”
“That’s something he’s gotten into since coming to live here. He cites studies or claims he saw it on some TV documentary. Makes it sound real legit. If you didn’t know better...well, you’d swallow it hook, line and sinker.”
“Why do you think he does it?” She looked at him earnestly, as if expecting him to have all the answers.
“I expect, for the most part, to buffalo his brother. There’s some competition there. Maybe he thinks he can win Therese’s and Ray’s approval, too.”
“Do they call him on that behavior?”
“I imagine they do when they catch him at it. I’m glad you picked up on it right away.”
He’d had the wool pulled over his own eyes more than a few times until Landon started in about some “fact” related to trapshooting that had absolutely no basis in reality. But he’d sounded so credible, knowledgeable, and someone who wasn’t a trapshooter would have let it slide by.
“I’ll make it a priority to work with Therese and Ray to get that habit nipped in the bud.” She frowned slightly, as if this issue was something he should have made her aware of in advance. “Is there anything I need to know about Cubby?”
“Nothing of that nature.” Or at least he didn’t think there was. But it wasn’t as if he’d seen the boys on a regular basis since their parents had died. Only enough to know that they weren’t fully the same kids they’d been a year ago. Which was why it would be good to have Tori here, an objective observer. “He can get emotional. Tends to play Therese with tears, which irritates Ray to no end.”
She nodded, but didn’t look surprised. Had she seen some of that during her interview and follow-up meetings with the Selbys?
“So,” he said, determined to broach the next subject. “Do you have a feel for when you might start at the Outpost?”
“Would you mind awfully much if I got through a week here before we make that decision? It may take a while to determine what schedule works best for the boys, the Selbys and me.”
While he needed her to start deep cleaning and organizing at the Outpost as soon as possible, readying the place for what he hoped would be a busy season, that would be one less week he’d have to pay her.
“Okay, then, we’ll talk a week from now.”
“Which brings up something else you need to know...” She lifted her chin slightly, as if expecting to be challenged on whatever she was about to say. With a glance to the open door, she lowered her voice. “I won’t be accepting your proposed dollar addition to the hourly wage the Selbys offered.”
He drew a quick breath. She was holding out for more? He hadn’t anticipated an underhanded maneuver like that.
“I’m not sure I understand,” he said carefully, “what you mean, Tori.”
She clasped her hands together, looking more sweetness and light than the hardheaded negotiator she apparently was. “It simply means that I won’t accept monetary compensation that obligates me to you. Not beyond, I mean, what you pay me as your employee at the Outpost.”
“Hold on a minute.” She wasn’t asking for more money, she was ditching her “obligation” to him altogether? “I thought when we last spoke that you understood—”
“That you were buying my services as a snitch?” Her smile was entirely too perky. “I understood that clearly, Mr. Banks. Which is why I almost walked away from this job opportunity you presented. That is, until I had time to rethink a few things.”
He frowned. He’d been snookered.
To his irritation, she laughed. “Don’t worry. I’ll look out for the twins and it won’t cost you a dime. Think of me as a human smoke detector. If there’s anything that concerns me about the safety or welfare of Cubby and Landon, I’ll quietly sound the alarm.”
“But you won’t be—?”
“Reporting to you? Nope.” She shrugged, as if that settled it.
His gaze flickered to the open door to ensure they were still alone.
“But...” Despite his reluctance to make an issue of something he’d picked up from his friend’s mother, he couldn’t help countering her smile with one of his own. “I can make sure the Selbys won’t retain you for long.”
Wariness lit her eyes. “Why would you want to do that?”
“Could be I’m not