Chapter
33
Around a quarter to eight the next morning, Kelli Adams blinked at the dregs of a migraine, checked her makeup, and then walked confidently to the door of a luxury row house in Georgetown, near Foggy Bottom. Gone was her conservative blue suit. Today she was dressed as a recent graduate of Catholic University, at least according to her Windbreaker.
Adams pulled her right hand into the sleeve of the jacket and used her knuckle through the fabric to press the doorbell. She heard a man shouting almost immediately. No one came. She rang again and this time heard feet stomping before the door swung wide, revealing a harried-looking professional woman in her thirties, carrying an eight-month-old baby boy in her arms.
“Kelli?” the woman asked.
“Hi,” Adams said brightly. “Dr. Lancaster?”
“Ellen,” Dr. Lancaster replied, extending her hand. “Come in?”
“Yes, please,” Adams said, shaking her hand, stepping across the threshold, and winking at the boy, who took to sucking furiously on his thumb.
“This is Evan,” Dr. Lancaster said. “He’s fallen in love with his thumb.”
Adams tickled the boy, said, “Hi, Evan. We’re going to be great friends.”
Evan giggled and ducked his head shyly.
“This is good,” his mother said. “We’ve tried a couple of other nannies before this. It’s difficult for him to attach at first, but he seems to like you.”
“That’s what you mentioned,” Adams said. “But we’ll do fine.”
“So good of you to be available on short notice,” Dr. Lancaster said, handing over her son. “The last one gave us no warning she was quitting.”
Adams began to rock the baby expertly in her arms. “I saw the ad go up on the jobs board and called you immediately.”
“Well, I’m glad you did. Your references gave you rave reviews.”
“Both families were wonderful to babysit for, but I am looking for full-time
work now.”
Dr. Lancaster’s hand covered her heart as if she were saying the Pledge of Allegiance. “Perfect. You don’t know what a hassle it is finding someone to—”
“Got to go, gonna be late!” cried a man in a business suit, crisp white shirt, and rep tie, who was hustling down the stairs while looking at his iPhone.
“Bill, this is Kelli,” Dr. Lancaster began.
“Charmed, but I’m due in Senator McCord’s office in twenty minutes,” her husband said, charging past and out the door.
Dr. Lancaster glanced after her husband, said, “Say good-bye to Daddy, Evan. And I have to hurry, too. Don’t want anyone dying of a broken heart, do we?”
“What time should I expect you?” Adams asked.
“I’ve left you a list on the kitchen table, my phone numbers, my husband’s numbers, Evan’s likes and dislikes, his routine. I pumped enough milk for the day. It’s in the fridge. Oh, and there’s medicine for the earache he’s been fighting. The rest is self-explanatory.”
“I’m sure,” Adams said.
Dr. Lancaster blew her son a kiss. “Mommy’s only working until two.”
She went out the door and Adams followed, cradling little Evan, holding his forearm, which she waved at his mother’s retreating figure.
Softly, she whispered in the baby’s ear, “Say bye-bye, Evan. Say bye-bye to Mommy.”
Chapter