Jason loosened his tie and undid the top button of the blue shirt he wore, Sara stared at his big hands with the lean, strong fingers. He caught her gaze and asked, "Do I have an invisible sign around my neck that says, `Vicious when hungry', or something like that?"
Sara stared at the quirk of his mouth. He was laughing at her? Strange, she hadn't paid any attention to that beautiful, mobile mouth before. A sudden, dizzying warmth flooded her as she continued to look at it.
"Sit down and tell me about your day." Jason filled the electric kettle with water and plugged it in.
"I...I'll get Kelsey up." She had to get away, to let the funny feeling in the pit of her stomach settle.
He looked at his watch. "Another half hour's sleep won't hurt Kelsey. She can stay up with me tonight. I've brought some work home. How did those interviews go?"
"I didn't like any of them."
The defiant way she said the words caught Jason's attention. Setting two mugs on the counter, he turned and looked at her. "Oh?"
"I don't know much about these things, but none of those women felt right for Kelsey."
Her color was high. The way she clenched the pen in her hand made her knuckles show up white. Something had ruffled the little owl's feathers.
"What type do you think will be the right one for her?" Pouring hot water into the mugs, he added tea bags.
"She needs someone who will cuddle her and play with her. Someone who won't mind getting down on the rug and playing with her every now and them."
"And these women don't do those things?"
He watched Sara lift a notepad from the table and flick through the pages. "The first women talked of discipline, the second said she didn't like anyone interfering in her routine, the third said she'd worked for an Earl and knew how important manners were, the fourth and fifth looked as if their clothes had been starched with them inside."
Jason fought the urge to laugh. Sara's serious expression told him now wasn't a good time.
"That will never do," he said, in a voice that sounded choked.
Sara nodded. "Kelsey doesn't have to be the perfect child, only a happy one. She doesn't need someone to fill her life with rules and manners and discipline. Those things are important, but what Kelsey needs now, is love. None of these women looked capable of loving her."
Taken aback, Jason stared at Sara as she flipped the pages of the pad. She'd made notes on each woman?
"Most important of all, she needs someone who can tell her stories. Not one of the applicants mentioned reading to their charges, or telling them stories."
The indignant note in her voice made the corner of Jason's mouth lift.
"And stories are important?" he asked, as he brought the mugs to the kitchen table.
"Of course," Sara said quickly. "Very important. They stretch the mind, help the imagination to grow."
Jason stared at Sara, caught up in the sheer poetry of her words. "I heard the story you told Kelsey last night."
"You did?" She wondered if the intercom system had been left on in Kelsey's bedroom.
"I was on the balcony after the rain stopped, and her bedroom window was open, so I sat down and listened. You're a wonderful storyteller, Sara."
She felt herself blush. All four bedrooms opened onto a balcony that stretched the length of the flat. She hadn't thought Jason would have been out there. Her story had been a simple made-up tale about a goose that had decided to go to London on business, and taken his little gosling along with him. "Sometimes kids understand a situation better when they hear or read about it in the form of a story."
Sara sipped her tea cautiously. Had Jason been upset by the fact that in her story, the gosling hadn't started talking? The story had ended with the gosling opening its bill, and yelling, `Daddy!' much to everyone's delight.
Jason stood up, and Sara got to her feet as well. "Dinner....," she began, when he
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