Page 17 of Bang

If I were the shuddering type, I would've done it now. "Me."

"You? How so?"

"Accept the job, and I'll tell you."

She sighed. "But I can't."

She could.And she would.But hey, I'd play along. "Why not?"

"Honestly, I'm not sure you and I would get along."

"We don'thaveto get along," I said.

"Sure we would," she insisted. "You're Willow's guardian. And you'd be my boss. I'm just saying, it wouldn't be good for either one of us."

"And why's that?"

"Well, for one thing, you don't really like me."

She was wrong.I liked her well enough. In truth, I liked her more than I should. But there was no reason to give her the wrong idea, so all I said was, "Hey, I like you more than thelastnanny."

She gave me a look. "You mean the person that lasted only a month?"

"Yeah. Her."

"Gee, that's so flattering."

"I'm not here to flatter you," I said. "I'm here to offer you a job."

She bristled in my arms. "I'm not looking for flattery. I'm just saying if you don't even like me, why would you want to hire me?"

The answer to this was easy. "Because Willow likes you. And that's more important."

"Oh." Something in her expression softened. "Yeah, I could see that."

"Andyou'd be an improvement."

"You mean over the last nanny?" she laughed. "The one you hated?"

"I never said I hated her."

"You didn'thaveto say it," Cami said. "I could tell by the look on your face. You totally despised her."

"Yeah, well, I had my reasons."

"Which youstillhaven't told me."

"If you want, I'll tell you on the drive."

"What drive?"

"The drive to Bayside."

She made a sound of frustration. "Will you please stop that?"

"Stop what?"

"Stop acting like I'm going to take it. The truth is…" She bit her lip. "Well, honestly, I don't want to be rude or anything, but…well, I don't really likeyoueither."