“Cheers,” Tim replied, touching the lip of his glass to hers. “What is this?” he pushed the mass of green around on his plate with his salad fork.

  “I’m impressed. You knew which fork to use. Your grandmother taught you well, Timmy. Now try the salad, it’s shredded Brussels sprouts with a hot bacon vinaigrette and almonds,” she dug her fork in and popped a bite into her mouth to lead the way.

  “Brussels sprouts,” he repeated, staring at his plate.

  “They’re good for you,” she prodded.

  Scraping a few thin shreds onto the tines of his fork, he put it tentatively in his mouth and chewed, while Fiona watched him for a reaction.

  “Surprisingly good,” he admitted, taking a full bite this time.

  “Why surprising?” Fiona was delighted to see her boss take a sip of wine after his bite of salad.

  “I don’t know,” he shrugged. “You just seem too…carefree to be a good cook.”

  “I’m an actual adult, you know,” she chuckled, not offended in the least. Of all the observations that he could’ve made, “carefree” wasn’t so bad.

  “Apparently,” he took another bite, focusing on his food.

  “What did you want to be when you grew up, Timmy?” Fiona asked, topping off his barely touched wine. “You couldn’t have always dreamed of being a mortician and coroner.”

  Tim took a larger swallow of wine before he answered. “Don’t call me Timmy. I didn’t have much time for dreams when I was growing up,” he said quietly. “My grandmother insisted that I work hard in school so that I could make something of myself. She said losing my mother was no excuse for slacking,” he explained, focusing on his salad until the plate was empty. Fiona stared at him for a moment, then cleared his place.

  “Well, surely, if you were working that hard in school, you had some idea of a career path that you wanted to pursue, right? Hand me your soup bowl,” she ordered, holding out her hand.

  “I had goals, yes,” he replied, handing her the bowl, then watching as she put dumplings as fluffy as clouds in the bottom of it, and ladled a hearty beef stew over the top. She set the steaming plate down in front of him and served herself while he talked.

  “I wanted to be an accountant,” he said simply, bending over his bowl to inhale the rich, spicy scent.

  “An accountant? Why? You’re way too interesting to be an accountant,” she sat back down and handed him the basket of rolls. “The dumplings are wonderful, but if you want to sop up the juices in the bowl, use these,” she instructed.

  “I’m not interesting. It would’ve been a solitary pursuit. I didn’t much care for human company then, as I don’t now, and I wouldn’t have had to work with the public much. Numbers are orderly, I like things that are orderly,” Tim took another gulp of wine and stabbed a succulent-looking cube of meat.

  “Yes, you do,” Fiona chewed, looking at him. “Is that why you’re so meticulous about finding out what happened to crime victims and accident victims? Because you need the answers so that your world will be orderly?” she asked.

  Timothy looked up from his plate, seeming to freeze in place.

  “I…I never thought of it that way, but yes, I suppose that’s true,” he nodded.

  “More wine?” Fiona asked, unable to drop her gaze.

  “I probably shouldn’t,” he murmured.

  She filled his glass.

  CHAPTER THREE

  * * *

  “Okay,” Echo sat down at the table with Missy. “We have three interviews scheduled for this morning, and three more for tomorrow. If we don’t find a nanny for the girls by then, I’ll go back to the agency for more recommendations.”

  “Did you give their names to Chas to check out?”

  Missy’s husband was a Private Investigator, who was currently serving as an interim Homicide Detective for the Calgon Police Department. Their sleepy Florida beach town hadn’t drawn very many candidates for the position, so he was stuck with the job for a while.

  “Yep, he ran extensive background checks on all of them, and they’re all clear,” Echo assured her.

  The two friends had decided to pool their resources and share a nanny. Missy’s adopted daughter, Kaylee, was three, and Echo’s daughter, Jasmine, had just learned how to walk. Both mothers owned their own businesses, Missy had Cupcakes in Paradise and Echo owned a funky candle shop with an adjacent bookstore in an eclectic building downtown.

  “Are we doing the right thing?” Missy worried.

  “Well, daycare didn’t exactly work out,” Echo replied wryly, remembering their recent fiasco with a daycare provider who had serious family issues.

  “True,” Missy nodded. “Okay, when do we start?”

  “The first applicant should be here in about ten minutes,” Echo glanced at her watch.

  “Ready or not,” Missy sighed.

  “Aww…come on, it’ll be fun,” Echo encouraged. “If we find one that we really like, we can give them a cupcake and they won’t be able to refuse the position,” she joked, finally drawing a smile from her bestie.

  “Speaking of cupcakes…” Missy’s smile broadened into a grin.

  “They’re staying down?” Echo clapped her hands as her friend nodded happily.

  “Yes, and I think we have time for one before our first candidate gets here,” she turned and headed for the display case, which had just been stocked with fifteen different varieties of delectable cupcakes.

  Missy and Echo were about halfway through their morning treat when the bells over the front door jangled and a rather plain-looking young woman came in.

  “Good morning,” Echo greeted her as she hovered in the doorway uncertainly. “Are you Matisse?”

  “Yes ma’am,” the girl was visibly relieved. “I’m sorry, I know I’m early, but I’ve always been of the opinion that if I’m not at least a couple of minutes early, I’m late,” she smiled.

  “Matisse?” Missy asked, curious.

  “Yes ma’am. My parents love art and thought that Matisse would be a pretty name for a girl, even though the artist himself was male,” she shrugged.

  “It’s lovely,” Echo assured her. “Please, have a seat.”

  “Where are you from, Matisse?” Missy asked, forcing herself to participate.

  “Oh, a little tiny town you’ve probably never heard of, and please, call me Mattie.”

  “I do a fair amount of traveling, Mattie,” Missy encouraged. “Where is your little town?”

  “It’s a town called Natchitoches, in Louisiana.”

  Missy’s face lit up like a Christmas tree.

  “I’m from just south of there, LaChance. Echo, did you know this?” she demanded, thrilled.

  “Yes, I thought you might get a kick out of meeting someone from back home,” Echo beamed.

  Missy stared at Mattie happily. “But…and don’t take offense to this, honey…you don’t sound like you’re from my little area in Louisiana, yet you pronounced both the city and state names correctly, which never happens with outsiders.”

  “My dad was an officer stationed at Fort Polk, and when he retired from the military, we wanted to stay in Louisiana. So, I wasn’t born there, and I don’t have your adorable accent, but I grew up there,” Mattie explained.

  “Isn’t Natchitoches,” Echo struggled with the name. “Isn’t it an actual city, not a small town?”

  “Depends on your definition,” Mattie replied. “To us, anything outside of New Orleans is a town,” she laughed.

  “That’s the truth,” Missy nodded with a delighted smile.

  “So, tell us a bit about your experience as a nanny,” Echo brought the focus back to the subject at hand. She had the interviews scheduled close together, so they had to stay on track to fit everyone in.

  They had a lovely interview with Mattie and when she left, Missy turned to Echo feeling much more optimistic than she’d been initially.

  “She was great! If the rest of the candidates are even close to that wonderful, we’re going to have some hard decision to make,” she enthused.

  “I told the agency to send their very best,” Echo nodded.

  They’d had just a few minutes to catch their breath, when the door opened again, and an attractive young Indian man walked in.

  “Good morning,” Missy greeted him with a smile and headed for the counter. “What can I get for you?” she asked, moving behind the register.

  “I’m here to meet with Melissa Beckett and Echo Kellerman,” he said politely.

  “Oh,” Missy’s brows rose and her mouth dropped open.

  “You must be Kumar,” Echo rose and shook his hand. “Come have a seat over here. I’m Echo and this is Missy,” she led him to the table.

  “Uhh…nice to meet you,” Missy recovered, coming back to the table.

  “It may seem a bit unorthodox for a gentleman to be applying for a position as a nanny, but you see, I come from a family where my parents are pediatricians and I’m working on my PhD in Child Psychology. Aside from that, I love children and have been working as a Pre-School teacher while I attend school. I have my CPR certification, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Early Childhood Development,” Kumar explained, entrancing the gals with his beautiful accent.

  “Wow, that’s really impressive,” Missy nodded. “How are you going to have time to be a nanny when you’re working on your PhD?”

  “I’m in the Independent Study phase of my work, which means I can keep my own hours, with the exception of a few hours twice a week in the evening, when I have to go in to work with my research team.”

  “How do you feel about the prospect of being with two little girls all day?” Echo asked.

  “I don’t find it daunting in the least,” Kumar smiled. “I have four younger sisters and I was instrumental in helping to raise the youngest two. My parents wanted all of us older siblings to know how to parent, so they led by example and worked with us on those skills.”

  “Have you ever changed a diaper?” Missy asked.

  “Many times, yes,” he nodded. “I also am able to prepare nutritious and desirable meals for children and would work with them at age-appropriate levels to assist them in achieving their milestones.”

  “That’s wonderful,” Echo grinned, exchanging a glance with Missy.

  The trio chatted for a while about Kumar’s family, goals and background, ending the interview on a very positive note.

  “Well, that just made our decision more difficult,” Echo sighed.

  “He was amazing,” Missy agreed. “Now what?”

  “Now, we interview candidate number three,” Echo shrugged.

  “Okay, but if number three is as good as the first two, I say we tell the ones who are scheduled for tomorrow not to come in for their interviews.”

  “I agree.”

  The door opened again, and Missy was shocked to see Fiona McCamish walk in. Surely, she wasn’t applying too??

  “Fiona, you’re not here about the job, are you?” she asked.

  When Tim had first hired Fiona, he insisted that she undergo a makeover so that her dark looks didn’t scare his clientele. Missy and Echo, who was his next-door neighbor at the time, had taken her under their wing and showed her how to let her natural beauty show. The young spunky assistant had a special place in their hearts.

  “Goodness no, I love my job,” she grinned. “I’m here to buy a special cupcake for Timmy.”

  Missy and Echo looked at each other and grinned.

  “Oh my,” Echo commented. “Do I smell romance in the air?” she sniffed dramatically.

  “If I have anything to do with it, yes,” Fiona admitted. “That man’s emotional walls are thirty feet thick, but I’m going to keep climbing over them.”

  “Do tell,” Missy headed for the counter to grab a cupcake for Fiona.

  “We had dinner last night, and after a couple of glasses of wine, he seemed to let his guard down a little bit. I kissed him on the cheek before he went home and he didn’t even faint,” she giggled. “I mean, I snuck it in there when he had his hands full and he blushed and shot out of the house like a rocket, but he survived and hasn’t been yelling at me this morning, so I count it as a win.”

  “He’s avoiding you instead?” Missy chuckled.

  “Absolutely, but I’m not going to leave him alone. The full-court press is on,” Fiona shot her a wicked grin.

  “Well, don’t terrify him too badly,” Echo advised, cracking up.

  Missy handed Fiona a bag.

  “Here, take this, it’s one of Beulah’s fancy specials with frosting flowers and pudding filling and all the good stuff that can be packed into a cupcake. It’s on the house because we believe in love around here,” she grinned.

  “I’ll let you know how it goes,” Fiona accepted the gift.

  “You’d better!” Echo called out as Fiona headed for the exit with a jaunty wave.

  “That poor man is not gonna know what hit him,” Missy mused.

  “Hurricane Fiona,” Echo laughed.

  Their third interviewee called to let them know that she’d accepted another position that morning, so they called it a day.

  “Do you really think that we need to interview again tomorrow?” Missy asked.

  “I’m satisfied with choosing between Mattie and Kumar,” Echo shrugged.

  “But how on earth are we going to do that? They’re equally awesome, but they’re like apples and oranges,” Missy sighed.

  “I have an idea,” a slow smile spread across Echo’s face.

  “Oh boy…what are you up to now?” Missy smiled at her best friend, relieved that no matter how it worked out, she was going to have a top-notch nanny for her precious girl.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  * * *

  Missy’s pillow was deliciously cool beneath her head, and she turned over to gaze at her handsome husband, who had just slid between the sheets.

  “I met with the prospective nannies today,” she said softly.

  He turned to face her and smiled, pushing a lock of hair back from her face. “Yeah? How did that go?”

  “Well, the third interview canceled because she’d already accepted a position, but the other two were so amazing that we canceled tomorrow’s interviews.”

  “Well, that’s great news,” Chas smiled, leaning over to kiss the tip of his wife’s nose.

  “Yes and no. Now I don’t know who to choose. Echo said she had an idea, but she hasn’t told me what it is yet, so I wanted to get your opinion.”

  “Sure, who are the two candidates?”

  “Mattie…Matisse, and Kumar, do you remember doing the background checks on them?” Missy asked.

  “Yes. Both looked great on paper. I’d be satisfied with either, since you’ve met them and have a good feeling about them.”

  “You don’t have a problem with a male nanny for two little girls?”

  “Not in the least. Kumar’s background is entirely suitable. Does it bother you that he’s male?”

  “No, which surprises me honestly. When he walked in the door, I thought he was a customer,” Missy giggled.

  “I guess you’re more open-minded than you thought, huh?” Chas teased, kissing her.

  “Thankfully, I am,” she grinned. “So, either one works for you?”

  “Either one,” he confirmed. “Can we go to sleep now?”

  “Just one more thing,” she promised.

  “Yes, my love?” Chas chuckled, adoring her, despite the fact that she was keeping him awake.

  “So, we narrowed Baby’s furniture selections down to two styles, the Shaker and the Minimalist; which one do you like better? I need to let Buster know so that he can start working on it.”

  Chas groaned and burrowed into his pillow. “I’ll leave that up to you, sweetie. I trust you,” he yawned.

  “I think you liked the Minimalist better, right?” Missy persisted.

  “Definitely,” was the slow, soft response.

  “But did you think the legs on the dresser were too short?”

  “They’re perfect.” Another yawn.

  “Okay, now…Cherry or Walnut wood? Or we could go white I suppose. I mean, white is nice and fresh, so I guess we could do that. What do you think?” Missy asked.

  No response.

  “Chas, honey? How do you feel about white versus Cherry or Walnut?” she asked again.

  A soft snore emanated from her sleeping husband.

  “You poor baby,” she giggled, running a hand through his thick, silky hair. “Walnut it is, then.”

  **

  “Okay, so what’s the grand plan?” Missy asked, when Echo wheeled Jasmine’s stroller to their favorite table.

  She’d brought Kaylee with her this morning at her best friend’s request and the little girl was currently in the kitchen with one of her favorite people, Beulah. The elderly woman had discovered the child wandering around her backyard, covered in blood, after the murder of her parents. Missy and Chas had gone through a lengthy process and adopted the tot after the tragic event.

  “I’ve asked both Kumar and Mattie to be here this morning, to meet the girls. Once that’s happened, we’re going to have a group discussion about what to do,” Echo announced.

  “What?” Missy stared at her as though she’d taken leave of her senses. “Are you expecting them to compete against each other or something?”

  Echo laughed. “No, silly. I actually have two jobs to fill, not just one, so I’m hoping that whoever doesn’t get the nanny job may want to work at the candle shop. Joyce is getting overwhelmed running both stores, even though they’re adjacent to each other. We keep getting busier and busier. Joyce’s marketing really seems to be hitting the mark.”

  “Would a nanny want to work retail though?” Missy wondered.

  “Maybe if the pay is the same. It’ll be a bit costly for me, but it could work out well. They’ve already had a background check, so I know I can trust them, and I like them both.”

  “Well, we’ll have to see what they say, I suppose. What if neither one of them wants to work in the candle shop and they both want the nanny job?”