Page 9 of Surrendering His Heart (Buena Hills #4)

Christian pulled into his driveway and threw the gear shift into park, letting the Highlander idle as he jabbed the button on the dashboard to turn off the stereo.

The kids’ playlist filling the car the whole way home stopped mid-song, the hum of the motor becoming the only sound.

He swiveled to face the girls in the backseat.

“Once we get inside, I need you to wash your hands. After your snack you’ll have to entertain yourself while I meet with someone about the nanny position.”

Isla groaned. “I don’t want another nanny.” Her already stormy face grew even more tempestuous. Slouching low in her seat, the safety belt provided the only barrier keeping her from sliding entirely off her booster.

Facing forward again, he pushed a breath out through his teeth. “I know you don’t,” he muttered under his breath.

But he summoned his patience, letting the conversation drop. She’d been in a mood the whole way home from school, and he’d let her grumpiness get to him. No good would come from rationalizing with her right now. They were already in for a long afternoon.

Christian stared out the windshield at the garage door. He didn’t want to hire another nanny either. Annelise had been a godsend the last few years, not only taking care of the girls, but easing the household load on him as well. Isla and Penelope weren’t the only ones sad to see her go.

But what other option did he have than to keep looking?

His boss had handed Christian more backhanded comments less than two hours ago when he’d left the office early to pick up the girls.

Even after working out his situation with HR—not to mention the extra hours he logged once the girls went to bed every night—he couldn’t shake the feeling that Jim would latch onto any little reason to give him the ax.

Yanking at his tie, he shut off the car’s engine and grabbed his work bag from the passenger seat. Once outside the vehicle, he opened Isla’s door, then circled around to the other side.

“Hey, sweet girl,” he said, unbuckling Penelope’s five-point harness. “You ready for a snack?”

Penelope kicked her feet, anxious to be freed from the constraints of her car seat. “Okay!”

He chuckled and helped her down from the car. “What sounds good?”

She made an adorable thinking pose with one finger covering her mouth. “I want applesauce.”

“How about some toast with honey too?” Grabbing her hand, they walked toward the porch.

Penelope bobbed her head with exaggerated movements.

“Okay, little lady. Applesauce and toast coming right up.”

Isla waited for them on the porch, her backpack flung onto the welcome mat. Curly blonde strands stuck out from her ponytail, and she reminded Christian of someone who’d had a long day at the office.

Hmmm… she looked the same way he felt.

He unlocked the front door with the keypad above the handle. The clinking of metal dog tags welcomed them in as Princess Pumpkin bounded toward the entryway, barking out a greeting. She jumped, her front paws landing on Christian’s stomach.

“Did you miss us, girl?” he asked, giving her a long scratch behind her ears with both hands. “Let’s go inside. After my meeting, we’ll take you for a good walk. Would you like that?”

Christian grabbed her collar and guided her into the house. Isla followed, dragging her backpack inside by one shoulder strap. She was going to wear a hole in the bottom of that thing with how many times she towed it across the floor instead of carrying it on her back.

Pick your battles. Fighting this one right now would only make her testy mood worse, so he let the issue drop .

As he moved to shut the door, Pumpkin sprang to attention, bouncing her front paws on the hardwood floor. Her long whines filled the entryway.

“Pumpkin,” Isla said, petting the golden retriever’s side. “Are you hungry too?”

The dog’s airy whimpers turned to barks, and she continued to dance around the entryway.

“What’s gotten into you, girl?” Christian glanced out the door, unable to see anything on the grass in front of their porch. The Highlander blocked his view of the other side of the yard. “Let’s move away from the door so I can close it.”

Before anyone moved, Pumpkin broke out of his hold, taking off through the open door. Her tail whipped Penelope as she passed, knocking the child off her feet.

What had gotten into that dog? She was so mellow most of the time.

A low growl escaped Christian’s throat as he followed her out the door. Chasing their dog down the street hadn’t been in his plan for the day. Penelope’s cries reached his ears, and he backtracked to her. Swiftly lifting her into his arms, he resumed his purpose.

“Princess Pumpkin!” He winced. Why hadn’t he vetoed that name when Isla suggested it? Bella was a nice name for a dog. Or Boomer. But no. It had to be Princess Pumpkin. “Yo, Pumpkin!”

He rounded their car in time to see the retriever bounding toward a woman making her way up the driveway. The candidate for the nanny position, most likely. He gave her props for being punctual.

A little too punctual. She was a whole fifteen minutes early.

Princess Pumpkin jumped onto the newcomer, her tail whipping back and forth in her excitement. Hopefully, the woman liked dogs.

By the way she shrieked and pulled into herself, that would be a hard no. She turned her back to Pumpkin, raising a green-and-white box above her head.

Sticking his thumb and forefinger in his mouth, Christian let out a piercing whistle. “Down, Pumpkin!”

The dog lowered her paws to the ground .

“Sit,” he commanded, and she obeyed, though her tail still thumped against the concrete. “Good girl.”

He crouched in front of her, ruffling the fur on her head, then moved to scratch below her chin. Penelope did the same and was rewarded with a lick on her hand.

“Sorry about that,” Christian said without glancing up from the dog. “She doesn’t bite. In fact, she’s a real softy. Her only flaw is getting overexcited around new … oh.”

As the woman turned back around, he finally got a good look at her. His stomach flip-flopped over itself. Instead of the nanny applicant he’d expected, Hallie stood in front of him, her blue eyes wide as though she was questioning every life decision she’d made up to this point.

His breath caught, a silent curse running through his mind. He’d never sworn in front of his kids, and he refused to start now.

What’s she doing here? How does she know where I live?

“I’m sorry.” Apparently, that was the only thing his muddled brain could come up with right now. He stood. “Did she hurt you?”

Hallie shook her head a little too quickly. “Uh … no. It’s fine.” But she hadn’t relaxed, and she eyed Pumpkin warily.

The dog inched forward, sniffing at the newcomer’s flip flops. Hallie took a step back.

Christian’s tongue felt too large for his mouth. He hooked a finger underneath his collar, attempting to pull it away from his neck. “What’re you doing here?”

Oh, real smooth, buddy.

Where did all these nerves come from? It didn’t help that Penelope kept patting his cheek with her hand and giggling.

She was obviously oblivious of the tension swirling around them all.

They were caught in this weird cringey snow globe waiting for someone to come by with a hammer to break the glass and free them all.

With a small shake of her head, Hallie seemed to snap out of her frozen state. She held out the green-and-white box. “I know you told me not to but … I wanted to thank you for helping me.” Her eyes da rted from Christian to his daughter and back. “I hope you like cookies.”

“Cookies!” Penelope lunged for the box.

Christian circled his other arm around her to keep her from toppling out of his hold. “This one does, as you can see.”

Hallie gave a hesitant laugh, but she said nothing more. She became fixated on something at his side, and he realized that Isla had emerged from the house.

“I washed my hands, Daddy. Can I have a snack?” Her expression turned suspicious when she noticed Hallie. “Who’re you?”

The smile Hallie gave the child was polite, but her obvious discomfort grew. “My name is Hallie. What’s yours?”

Isla ignored her question, instead looking up at her father. “I don’t like her.”

“Isla,” Christian warned.

Hallie’s brows shot up to her hairline. “Oh … um … it’s nice to meet you too.”

Isla glared at her. “Are you my new nanny? Our last one quit, and we don’t want another one.”

Christian set a hand on his daughter’s shoulder. “Isla, that’s enough.”

This is not going well. She made it sound like Annelise left for some horrible reason, not because of her educational pursuits.

He summoned all his calm, despite his desire to scoop both girls up and disappear into the house before this escalated further.

Good thing he’d had lots of practice remaining composed around people.

Isla was bent on testing every ounce of it, however. Yanking her shoulder from his grasp, she spun toward him. “No! I won’t have another nanny. She’ll leave just like everybody else!”

Christian opened his mouth, but Isla wasn’t finished.

“Go away!” she screamed, turning on Hallie. “We don’t want you here! You’ll never be my nanny.” She lunged forward, landing a swift kick in the middle of Hallie’s shin.

“Isla!” he gasped.

Hallie winced in pain at the same time Isla took off toward the house. Pumpkin’s barks echoed through the air as she sped after the girl. In all the chaos, Penelope broke down crying.

Tilting his head to the sky, Christian pinched the bridge of his nose with his free hand. Was it too much to ask that someone else be the problem solver for once? He was tired, dang it!

He rubbed Penelope’s back, shhhing softly in her ear. Once her wails had downgraded to quiet sniffles, he switched his focus to solving the next problem.

But when he turned to Hallie, his eyes landed on another car parked at the curb. A woman, who looked to be in her late thirties, stood frozen outside her vehicle, watching the commotion.