“Yes?”
Jacqui laced her fingers in front of her, mentally mapping a path to the conversational destination she hoped to achieve. “Milo is cute.”
Alice’s quick smile was both appreciative and suspicious. “Yeah, he’s okay,” she agreed a little too nonchalantly.
“But you know, of course, that he’s too old to be hanging out with a fourteen-year-old. He should be flirting with girls his age—not girls almost four years younger. Just as your own friends should be fifteen and younger.”
Alice exhaled sharply in exasperation. “Geez, Jacqui, we were just talking. But still, four years is hardly anything. Dad’s almost four years older than Meagan and nobody has even mentioned it.”
“It’s different after you’re eighteen. Trust me, those four years between fourteen and eighteen are a lot more significant than you think. Eighteen-year-olds have less supervision. They’re driving and dating and other things you aren’t quite ready for yet. You know your dad doesn’t want you hanging out alone with boys just yet, and I agree with him. Don’t be in too big a hurry to grow up and get involved with relationship drama. Have fun with your friends while you can still be just kids.”
“I wasn’t going out on a date with Milo. I just wanted to get a ride home with him. I’d have been perfectly safe. He said he’s been driving for two whole years.”
“It’s still better if you don’t ride alone with teen drivers just yet.”
Jacqui didn’t know how to explain that it was more than just the car ride—though that alo
ne would have been enough for her to turn down Alice’s request. She hadn’t liked the way Milo had looked at sweet, naive Alice—and that would have been hard to explain to the girl. For one thing, Alice was as likely to be flattered by the attention as alarmed by the boy’s intentions.
“You’re totally overreacting,” Alice muttered. “You don’t even know Milo.”
“I know a little more than you give me credit for,” Jacqui replied evenly. “I’ve been around a while longer than you have, Alice.”
Alice looked less than convinced. “I’m going down to play with Waldo.”
Smothering a sigh, Jacqui thought about how glad she would be when Seth and Meagan returned from their trip. Between Mitch’s unexpected stayover and Alice’s out-of-the-blue hormonal rebellion, this week was turning out to be much more complicated than she had ever anticipated. She wanted to go back to being nothing more than the daytime housekeeper and part-time cook, efficient but basically invisible. Life was so much simpler that way, with way fewer obstacles waiting to trip her up.
Speaking of hazardous pitfalls…
She crossed paths with Mitch on the stairs as she headed down a few moments after Alice and he was on his way up. Though the stairway was plenty wide enough for both of them, it felt suddenly smaller when she and Mitch stood face to face.
“I was just going up to log some computer time in my room before bed,” he explained with a smile. “Thought I’d do some real estate searches and answer a few emails.”
“I’ll be turning in early tonight, too.” She was suddenly very tired, and she was aware that the exhaustion was more mental than physical. “I’ll just finish up a few things in the kitchen and then I’ll go to bed when Alice does. Is there anything else you need this evening?”
He chuckled. “There’s that housekeeper voice again. No, Jacqui, there’s nothing else I need tonight. And if there were, I’d get it for myself.”
She nodded a little stiffly and took another step down. Because Mitch moved at the same time, and apparently misjudged her path, their shoulders collided. So much for having plenty of room on the stairway, she thought, pressing her hand to the wall for balance. Mitch caught her other arm as though to steady her.
“Sorry. You okay?”
“Of course. It was just a bump.”
“My fault. I got distracted—wasn’t looking where I was going.”
As she recalled, he’d been looking at her face when he’d moved. Was he saying that she was a distraction to him? Or was she being as silly and flustered as Alice by an intriguing guy’s attention?
Annoyed with herself, she started to move again, only to be detained by the light grasp Mitch still had on her forearm. She looked up at him with questioningly raised eyebrows. He stood now on the step below her, which brought their faces close to the same level. And he was looking directly at her mouth.
Self-consciously and without thinking, she moistened her lips. His eyes narrowed as though in response to what might have looked like an invitation, she realized hastily. Awkwardly, she took another step down, thinking she would hurry on her way, but all that did was bring her almost into his arms when he shifted on the step to accommodate her.
Mitch chuckled and caught her other shoulder with his free hand. “Hang on, we’re going to knock each other down the stairs if we keep this up.”
Pressing back against the wall, she tried to speak in the same light tone he’d used. “We do seem to be colliding a lot this weekend. It’ll be a wonder if I don’t cause you bodily damage before you find another place to stay.”
His grin widened. “Is that a hint? Trying to run me off?”
Studying his devastatingly attractive smile through her lashes, she muttered, “I probably should be.”