Jennie Adams – Daycare Mum to Wife / Accidental Father: Daycare Mum to Wife / Accidental Father (страница 2)

Life had thrown a major curve ball today, but she hadn’t let that stomp her. She’d put on her bright clothes and had marched to the town council building. She’d done her best to calmly and rationally discuss the situation with that nasty man who’d delivered the overdue notice, Lang Fielder. It had been to no avail today but she wouldn’t stop at one go!

And then she’d knocked on half the doors in Randurra, looking for work. Jess still had the other half to knock on. She wasn’t stomped yet.

‘Da-a-ad.’ A girlish voice came their way. ‘Rob and Luke are going to fall into the water.’

‘Are not.’ A voice halfway to his father’s deepness replied. ‘We’re just playing, Daisy.’

‘Well, stop it. Don’t you know there’ll be approximately fifty thousand different kinds of germs in that pond?’ The girl called Daisy pushed a pair of glasses up her nose in a knowing and disapproving way.

Jess stifled a smile.

‘Maybe you can point me in the direction of childcare facilities in Randurra, if anywhere exists here that caters for a family group with this age range.’ Dan’s hand reached down to touch the silky hair of the youngest child, who’d come running to wrap her arms around his legs.

He met Jess’s gaze again as he pushed his mobile phone into the breast pocket of his polo shirt. ‘I thought I’d have time to check out various childminding possibilities. I didn’t expect to need this kind of care more than rarely, anyway, but it appears the Frazier family’s two-days-old sea change just ran into a typhoon.’

Randurra wasn’t on the coast, of course. It was inland from Sydney. Apparently that phone call had produced a metaphoric typhoon that meant Dan Frazier needed urgent childcare for the whole family.

Could Jess be so lucky? ‘I may be able to help you. What exactly do you need?’

‘Oh, I don’t need much.’ He gave one short bark of laughter. ‘Just the equivalent of Mary Poppins to fly down with her umbrella and volunteer to mind all my children while I travel to and from Sydney for the next few weeks, and for me to know they’ll all be safe with her when she’s a total stranger and I don’t like leaving them with anyone.’

He frowned again. ‘My sister used to cover the times when I had to work away from home, but I weaned right off needing that, and she’s got her own life to focus on now.’

There was no mother in the picture? Was Dan a widower? Jess’s mind boggled at the thought of him raising five children by himself. Peter hadn’t even been prepared to be a part-time father to Ella from long distance.

Some other part of Jess that really should know better also insisted on pointing out Dan’s single status.

A single status and almost twice your age, Jess!

‘So you moved here, you didn’t need childminding, and now something’s exploded?’ Better to ask about that. ‘Is it to do with your work? Did it make a very big splat as it hit the wall?’

‘That’s a creative analogy.’ He didn’t smile, exactly, but the creases at the corners of his eyes did.

Dan went on. ‘One of my clients needs to go through a potential change of ownership audit, and the prospective buyers want it done fast. I’m the company’s accountant so I have to be on hand to help answer all the number-crunching questions, and supply the necessary information and explanations to go with it. This is a large key client for me, and they want this change of ownership. It’s going to benefit the company tremendously and I need to hold on to their business, so I can’t afford not to help.’

His gaze shifted over her hair and returned to her eyes. ‘I moved the children here to get us all out of Sydney, into a decent-sized home that we could own ourselves. I thought I’d have all of January without having to think about work at all.’

‘You can’t blame yourself for the unforeseen.’ She touched his arm briefly.

She only meant to express understanding and perhaps a little of the compassion that Mary Poppins might have extended when she finished folding her umbrella.

But it didn’t end up feeling like only a touch. Dan’s skin was warm and…manly. A tingle shot up Jess’s arm.

Beneath her fingers, Dan’s muscles locked as though he, too, had perhaps been startled by the contact. For a moment their gazes meshed and a consciousness passed between them.

Jess hadn’t expected to feel such a strong connection. They had only just met. He was heaps older. She wasn’t going there again with any man after the way Peter had hurt her. She withdrew her hand.

Over by the pond, one young Frazier after another fell still and silent.

Four sets of hazel eyes locked onto Jess, and baby Ella, and their father.

One whisper drifted to Jess on the summer breeze. ‘Daddy’s talking to a girl.’

Another. ‘They’re practically holding hands. He hasn’t been near a girl since Mummy died.’

‘Shut up, Rob. Shut up, Mary.’ This came from the eldest boy. ‘Whoever that is, Dad’s not interested like that!’ The boy sent a sharp stare Jess’s way before he turned away, shoulders tensed beneath his T-shirt.

Jess felt put in her place, a woman far younger than this man and, indeed, why would Dan be interested?

You don’t want him to be interested, Jess.

And perhaps the boy hadn’t meant to sound so aggressive? He was probably used to dealing with all his younger siblings and occasionally got frustrated with them…

Had Dan heard those whispers? How long ago had he lost his wife? Had Jess misread his reaction when she touched him?

Had he wished she hadn’t touched him? Or reacted…as Jess had reacted to him?

‘Sorry about them. They’re a little excitable thanks to the move.’ Dan’s neck had reddened slightly.

So he had heard. At least some of it.

‘No need to apologise.’ She ignored the neck. Well, other than the tanned, muscled appeal of it. Jess had to ignore that, too. Because widowed didn’t necessarily mean emotionally available, even if the red was a result of consciousness of her, not simply embarrassment thanks to his children.

Not that it mattered to Jess one way or another, of course. Jess was very much not ready to jump into that particular pond again herself. She really needed this work and couldn’t afford to let anything so foolish as a sudden attraction mess it up, if she could actually get Dan Frazier to employ her.

She had knocked on half Randurra’s doors. She’d got nowhere. She had tried not to worry that she might get nowhere with the other half. Folks all seemed to have their childcare and other needs sorted out.

And perhaps Jess and Dan Frazier could help each other. ‘Dan, I realise we’ve only just met and I haven’t flown down with an umbrella like Mary Poppins. Actually, my brolly’s black with pink polka dots and half the spokes are bent out of shape because I got it jammed under the seat of the car one day.’ Jess drew a breath.

‘But I’m a qualified, practising daycare mum.’ An underemployed one at the moment. ‘I care primarily for younger children but I am trained to take school-aged children as well.’ If those opportunities came along. Jess spared a thought for the surly expression of Dan Frazier’s eldest a moment ago, but if there were any problems she could win him over, surely? ‘There aren’t any official “Before and After School” style of care facilities in Randurra for school-aged children.’

Jess didn’t want to tell Dan any more. She wanted to stick with ‘I think I can help you', be Mary Poppins for him, Jess style, and they’d both benefit.

Instead, she drew a breath. ‘There are two women older than me with grown-up children of their own who’ve recently become unemployed because the meatworks outside of town downsized. They haven’t been in childcare professionally before but they’re great women. I’m looking for more work, but I saw from the noticeboard at the supermarket that they’re both looking for work in that line, too, or a combination of that and housekeeping. So you’ve got some choice and I too would be happy to help out with housekeeping duties.’

‘If you have training with children…Are you saying you’re available?’ Dan’s gaze seemed to travel over each feature on her face.

When his gaze rested briefly on her mouth, her lips wanted to soften. Instead, she forced a bright smile. He was probably just thinking she was way too young for the job. ‘What exactly is it that you need for your children, Dan?’

He seemed to drag his gaze from her mouth and his brows drew together.

Dan Frazier was a little attracted to her. And from that look, he didn’t want to be.

Well, there you were. Jess didn’t want that, either. They were on the same page, even if she didn’t know his reasons for that fact.

He was heaps older than her, a widower and father of five and a potential employer. Did he even have to have any other reasons? Jess didn’t need any other reasons to stifle her consciousness of him out of existence than those she’d just listed. And that was without mentioning Peter.

‘I need someone to watch the children up to five days a week at my home for somewhere between the next three to six weeks or so. It would help a lot if that person could also take care of laundry and meals and some other basic housekeeping.’ Dan drew a breath. ‘This work I have to do is going to mean long hours at home for a while for me. As well there’ll be trips to Sydney maybe up to three days a week until it’s sorted.’ His hand rose to rub briefly at his breastbone before he dropped it back to his side.