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18

COMING CLEAN

MATT

I can sense Pepper behind me when I turn around with Simon’s dirty diaper.

“There’s something I have to tell you before you agree to me being your nanny,” she says with a brave face. She obviously had to work up the courage to tell me this, so I’m not going to point out that I’m holding a diaper filled with stinky filth.

“Lay it on me.” I leave Simon on his back on his blanket, throw the dirty diaper away and wash my hands.

“I’m a fugitive.”

I freeze as the stream of water pours over my hands. Of all the things I thought she was hiding, that possibility never crossed my mind. I’m flabbergasted, but I try to hide my shock.

“What are you on the run from?” I turn off the water and walk back to sit next to Simon. I rub his tummy, because touching him calms me and makes him happy.

She lets out a deep breath. “I was framed for stealing money and selling trade secrets. There’s a warrant out for my arrest. My ID is fake, and the real me disappeared two months ago.” Her voice sounds defeated and void of her usual feistiness.

What she said in her dream makes sense now. “The first night you were here, you had a nightmare. You were crying in your sleep and saying you didn’t do something. When you wouldn’t wake up, I held you and told you I believed you, and you finally stopped crying.”

“You’re the reason that dream ended differently,” she whispers.

I pat the blanket in between my spread legs, and she sits. “We can make the real life ending a good one. I believe you didn’t do it.”

“Why do you believe me?” Her gaze finds mine again, and a tear breaks free to run down her cheek.

I wipe her tear with my thumb, then rest a hand on her thigh. “For one, if you did commit a crime, you wouldn’t have dreams trying to assert your innocence. Secondly, you wouldn’t be trying to make money to clear your name.”

She nods. “I didn’t do what I’m being accused of, I promise. I’d never break the law. Well, I did buy a fake ID, but that’s the first illegal thing I’ve ever done.”

I may not know the real name of the girl in front of me, but I know her . She wouldn’t steal money and commit corporate espionage. I have to help her.

“What happened?” I ask.