Page 3 of Mountain Refuge

Both boys stared silently through the window.

“Hey, I’m Dani. Get in.” She smiled, thrusting the door open.

“We thought when Dad said Dani, we were getting a boy nanny.” One of them frowned. “You’re just another girl.”

“Thanks for noticing. My full name is Danica, but I go by Dani. Come on.”

After a quick glance at each other, they climbed in.

“Seatbelts.” She arched a brow.

“Dad doesn’t make us wear them.”

“I doubt that.” She tilted her head and gave them her best “I-won’t-take-any-nonsense look”—something her mother had given her a million times while growing up.

They scowled and clicked their seatbelts into place.

“So, who is who?” She pulled away from the curb.

“I’m Eric, and he’s Derrick.”

Which meant the opposite. She stamped their features into her mind. Eric had a cowlick on the crown of his head. Derrick’s left eyebrow arched a tiny bit more than his brother’s. She smiled. It was enough to know who was who.

“What are you grinning at?” Eric crossed his arms. “No one said anything funny.”

“I’m thinking of all the fun we’re going to have.”

“Yeah, like what?” Derrick tilted his head.

“Well, after your homework is done, I thought I’d let you two give me a tour of the grounds. Your father and I were a bit rushed during the tour earlier.”

“You scared of the woods?”

“No, why?” She shot them a quick glance.

“Sasquatch. One of our classmates said she saw one once.”

Derrick elbowed his brother. “That turned out to be a killer, dummy.”

“Did not!” The two wrestled, bumping Dani’s arm.

The truck veered into the opposite lane. She steered it back where it belonged. “Not in the truck, boys.” Her harsh tone snapped them to attention. “We can go bigfoot hunting if you want, but only after your homework is done.”

“We don’t have any,” Eric said.

“Yes, you do. I emailed your teacher.” She hadn’t, not yet anyway, but she intended to on a daily basis. Yes, being a twin herself definitely worked in her favor.

Her mother had almost bust a gut laughing when Dani told her about the job. She called it payback. Maybe so.

“There you go grinning again.” Eric scowled. “You stay in your head a lot, don’t you? Must be hilarious in there.”

A laugh escaped her. Maybe this job would be more fun than not.

After a snack of still-warm chocolate chip cookies and milk, the two boys settled down at the kitchen table to do their homework while Dani helped Mrs. White with supper preparations. “When they’re finished, they want to go into the woods at the back of the property. Do you think their father will mind?”

“Not if an adult is with them. They go out that way a lot.”

“We’ll take Monster.”