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“Other than that and some serious student loan debt your girl took on, I've got nothing to tell you.She’s clean.”He snickered, adding, “Almost boring, she’s so clean.”

“Thanks a lot for looking into it for me.”I confirmed the address for him to send his final invoice, then ended the call.What was I hoping to learn?That she was, in fact, a serial killer?That there was an entire locked-down file from her teenage years before she became a legal adult?A family history of addiction and incarceration?The news should have left me feeling relieved, confident in the young woman currently moving into my home.

What was it about her that set me off?I pondered the question as I walked from the office, passing the kitchen and dining room on the other side of the tiled hall.I continued through the living room, reaching the stairs across from the wide double doors leading out to the front courtyard.Maybe it was the fact that she was so damn shiny and clean.Nobody was that innocent.Nobody was that damn perfect.

Sofia obviously didn’t agree with me.“Daddy!”she squealed when she heard me approaching in the upstairs hall.She barreled out of what was now Penny’s room, eyes shining, cheeks flushed with excitement.“Penny has an easel!She said she would teach me how to paint!”

“Did she?”I took her hand and led her back to the room where Penny hung clothes in the closet.Her three suitcases and two boxes were swallowed up by the large space.

She laughed gleefully over her shoulder.“All this room!I’ve never had a bedroom this big.Not even when I was renting with my roommates.And there’s so much sunshine,” she added, admiring the big windows overlooking the back patio and pool.

“I can’t wait for you to see my room!”Sofia bounced on the balls of her feet, clapping her hands.They weren’t so injured anymore a day later.“There’s a castle and everything!”

“I bet there is.I can’t wait to see it.Do you have a princess costume?”Penny asked as I lingered in the doorway, observing.

I couldn’t believe how easily the two of them were getting along.Not that my daughter was difficult in any way.I wasn’t interested in raising a brat.She was too smart, to put it plainly.She saw through bullshit.When the other girls had fallen over her and used baby talk, she couldn’t have rolled her eyes any harder.

“What kind of foods do you like to eat?”Sofia wrinkled her nose.“Marissa always wanted me to eat kale.”

“I bet Marissa just wanted you to be healthy.Between you and me…” Penny dropped her voice to a whisper.“I don’t like kale, either.But I do think there should be something green on the plate at lunch and dinner times.That’s a pretty good compromise, don’t you think?”

“What’s a com… pra… mise?”Sofia asked, sounding the word out carefully as she played with the lace trim on Penny’s comforter.She had already made the bed with, no big surprise, pink sheets, the comforter featuring a rose print—shabby chic or something close to it.Her style swung back and forth between a deranged cartoon character and an old lady.

There I was, eight years her senior, and she dressed like my grandmother.

Currently, she wore a cardigan over what I guessed was a tank top and a long, flowing skirt that reached her ankles.When she bent to pull some books from a box, I was drawn to the sight of her creamy tits playing peekaboo with the top’s hem.I couldn’t help it.I was only human.

Her head snapped up.Did she catch me?Way to go.What a great way to start things off.The girl hadn’t finished unpacking, and I was staring at her tits.

“Compromise is, like…” When Penny turned toward the bookshelves, I released a deep breath.She probably hadn’t noticed.I was being paranoid.“It’s like splitting up chores.When we were kids, we always had chores to do around the house.Me and my brothers and sisters.”

Sofia’s eyes lit up.“You have brothers and sisters?”

“Sure do.”Was she thinking about him?The brother she lost?“So, we had these chores.Our mom would assign them every week.There were certain things that I hated, and there were other things my brothers and sisters hated doing.Like washing the dishes or pulling weeds in the backyard.But we would all get in trouble if everything wasn’t done.So, we would sometimes switch with each other.That way, the chores still got done, but we didn’t have to do the things we really hated.We compromised.”

“Oh.I get it.”Sofia nodded sagely.They could be a couple of adults having a serious talk.“I don’t really want to eat green food at all, and you want me to eat it all the time, so I’ll eat it sometimes.”

Giving her a thumbs up, Penny beamed.“Exactly.You are very smart.”

I cleared my throat from the doorway.“Right.Enough vocabulary lessons for tonight.You know what time it is.”

Like clockwork, Sofia’s face fell.“But we’re still unpacking!”

“Penny can finish that after bedtime,” I announced, overlooking the way Sofia sighed.

With a crooked finger, I showed Penny to the bathroom and gave her the general rundown.“I’m sure you can figure it out.Sofia will help you find anything you’re looking for, right?”I asked, prompting my daughter to nod.

Penny clasped her hands in front of her with another one of those irritating smiles.“All set, Mr.Knight.You don’t have to worry about a thing.”

That was easy for her to say.It wasn’t that I worried about her as much as I had to wonder about her angle.Who was she?Why was she so unrelentingly positive and happy?She couldn’t be for real, which told me she was hiding something.It was an idea I couldn’t get out of my head as I retreated to my bedroom at the end of the hall.The bathroom door was open, meaning I could hear the laughter and singing going on in there.Normally, I would’ve closed my door for a little peace and quiet, but it felt right to listen in.The girl was new, after all.And this was my kid she was bathing while belting out Disney songs.

My phone rang, and I answered, staring down the hall.What was I waiting for?A shriek?It was Lex calling.“Hey, I’m in the area with Summer, and I have those Blu-rays for Sofia,” he explained.“I thought I could drop them off for her if you have a second.”

He’d offered to pull a handful of out-of-print titles from back when Landry International had a kids’ movie division.It wasn’t profitable enough by the time the eighties rolled around, so the division was shuttered.Over time, those films were no longer reproduced, but he’d pulled strings.“Sure,” I replied, grateful for a distraction.“I’m home now.”

“He wants to get a look at the nanny you hired!”That was Summer, calling out from the passenger seat and giggling when Lex grumbled.

“I wondered about the timing,” I admitted, and she continued to laugh.She was good for him.She called him on his bullshit and stood her ground.Lex had her to thank for his current success and come to think of it, I owed her a debt of gratitude, as well.The money I’d put up to fund their film along with our friends had brought back a nice return.