Strangers

Sabrina

Present for the child? Check.

Toothbrush? Check.

Vitamins? Check.

I put my list back in my pocket and my bag on my lap, smiling as I look around the mall from the bench where I’m sitting.

It seems like I’m all set.

I glance at my watch. I still have an hour to go, though, before I have to meet my new employer and the child I’m supposed to take care of.

David Brewster, eight.

I can still remember the picture Carol showed me – a boy with thick, dark brown hair, some of which cover his forehead all the way to his eyebrows, bright, blue eyes with a gleam of intelligence and mischief, dimpled cheeks and a charming smile showing slightly crooked front teeth, which I’m sure will straighten out given a bit more time and dental care. He’s a darling, to be sure. Given a few more years, he’ll break hearts here and there.

It’s hard to believe such an adorable face can cause so much trouble and yet, that’s exactly what Carol told me.

“He’s a troublemaker, that one,” she said. “A young rebel. The kind to drive a nanny out of her wits. Be careful.”

I almost laughed then. Be careful? Of what? Seriously, what’s the worst thing an eight-year-old boy can do? Put gum in my hair? A spider under my shirt? Throw a soccer ball at my chest?

I’ve been through worse. Much worse. I’m pretty sure I can handle a mischievous little boy.

I pick up the cup of juice that I set down beside me and take a sip, afterward taking a deep breath.

I guess starting from today, I’m going to be a full-time nanny.

I never thought I’d be a nanny for a rich person’s kid. Frankly, It’s not my dream job. I can’t complain, though. Beggars can’t be choosers. Besides, it’s not that bad. The pay is good. I’ll have a roof over my head and three meals a day. I’ll even have my own room, and it’s not going to be locked. Well, not from the outside. Best of all, I don’t have to fear for my life or be afraid of getting hurt. Carol assured me of that.

Carol. God bless her. She saved my life. If not for her, I…

Suddenly, I stop, the little hairs on my nape standing on end.

Someone’s watching me.

Quickly, I look around, trying to spot anyone suspicious or someone who might be one of Vince’s thugs. After all, I don’t expect him to come searching for me himself.

Who is looking at me?

I’ve changed my appearance in the last three months. I’ve dyed my blond hair Galactic Copper – at least, that’s what the hair dye box said, though frankly, I find it no different than the shade of a copper wire. I cut it short – not pixie cut, just short, about an inch below my shoulders. I started wearing Mystical Black contacts – again, that’s what it said in the box – to hide my bluish-gray irises, even though they hurt sometimes, like I have a huge grain of dust in my eyes. I even gained a bit of weight. Well, Carol said I was too skinny, like malnourished skinny.

When I look at the mirror, I can barely see Savannah Brown, only Sabrina James. The new Sabrina James. Still, I can’t be sure any of Vince’s peons won’t recognize me. For all I know, they can detect my scent like hounds.

Finally, my eyes rest on someone – a man in his forties with sunglasses, a beard and a leather jacket, standing beside the nachos stand across me. He’s suspicious, all right. Worse, I can’t see exactly where he’s looking but his head is turned in my direction and he isn’t moving so he might be staring at me.

Oh, shit.

Quickly, I grab my things, slinging my canvas bag over my shoulder and towing my suitcase on wheels behind me as I make my hasty retreat.

I know I may just be acting paranoid. That man might not have been staring at me at all. He might have been staring at someone behind me. Or he might have been staring at me but for a different reason – maybe I look like someone he knows or maybe he just likes the way I look, you know, checking me out.

Even so, it’s better to be safe than sorry.

See, that’s what happens when someone breaks your trust. You lose trust in everyone. You go from trusting to paranoid. There’s no in between.

Passing by a garbage can, I throw my cup away. As I do, I glance behind me, my heart pounding in fear when I see that man a few feet behind me.

He’s following me?

No.

I take my sunglasses, which are clipped to the neckline of my shirt, and put them on before walking faster, my sneakers squeaking on the freshly mopped tiles while heels clack and strollers roll on by.

Is he still following me?

I don’t know. I don’t want to know. I just walk faster.

Eventually, I spot the sign to the women’s room. I make a beeline for it, like someone lost at sea who has just found an island.

Come on.

Down the last stretch, I glance back. I don’t know why. My head just turned on its own.

He’s gone. No sign of him.

So, he wasn’t following me?

Well, that’s a relief. That’s…

I don’t finish my thoughts, my breath knocked out of me as I slam against a wall and trip back.

At least, I thought at first it was a wall but as I look up from where I’ve fallen on the floor, my sunglasses having slid down the bridge of my nose, I realize that it was a person I bumped into.

A man.

A hulk of a man.

“Are you all right?” he asks in a deep, coarse voice, like some rock star from a bygone age.

He is wearing a long-sleeved shirt and jeans, but he might as well be in one of those elastic weightlifting suits. His clothes do nothing to hide the bulge of his chest, the firm contours of his abdomen, the size of his ripped thighs, or the curves and dips of his huge arms. He’s big, all right, but he doesn’t scare me like Vince’s thugs. In fact, his form reminds me of a gladiator in an arena, an ancient warrior, the kind who could win one battle with a swing of his sword.

Even his face looks like that of a Roman statue. Above his aquiline nose are deep-set, startling blue eyes with thick, long lashes. Just now, those eyes are trained on mine with sympathy. His lips curve slightly upwards, as if to stifle a full-blown smile. His upper-lip is almost non-existent on top of his sultry lower lip.

Wow. A breathtaking masterpiece. Not the kind you’d like to mount on a wall but the kind you’d like to mount just the same.

The statue moves to offer me a hand.

No, not a statue. A man.

“I said, are you all right?” he asks again.

“Y-yes,” I say, grabbing his hand.

I’d like to say I picked myself up but he did. Something in his grip tells me he can carry me like I weigh nothing.

Carry me.

Suddenly, my mind paints an image of him lifting me in his arms the way Superman lifts Lois Lane in the comic books. My heart skips a beat, my body already imagining his strength, his warmth…

“I’m so sorry about that,” he says.

“No, it’s fine.” I push my sunglasses to the top of my head as I gather my bearings, wiping the imaginary drool from the corner of my mouth and the imaginary dust from my knees. “It was my fault. I wasn’t looking where I was going.”

“Neither was I. Are you sure you’re all right?”

“Yup,” I say more confidently.

Apart from the fact that I feel like a battering ram made of rubber that just bounced off an iron castle gate, I’m fine. No bruises or anything.

“Let me get that.” He kneels down to pick up the canvas bag I don’t even remember dropping.

“No, it’s okay.” I kneel as well, trying not to get into a head butt with him, which I imagine would feel worse, as I pick up the spilled contents of my bag. “I…”

Just then, I hear a scream.

I turn my head and I find an old lady standing a few feet away with her face pale, one hand clasped over her mouth and the other to her chest as she looks down at the floor.

Is she having a heart attack or something?

At first, I’m confused, but as I follow her gaze, I see the plastic, hairy-legged spider on the floor and I realize what’s going on.

“Shit.”

I run toward it, picking it up.

“Don’t worry,” I tell her, holding it up. “It’s just a toy that must have catapulted out of my bag when I fell…”

She reels back, her eyes wide at the sight of it. She was about to fall, too, but thankfully, Achilles – I mean the stranger I just bumped into –caught her.

At the same time, a mall cop rushes over.

“I’m sorry,” I mumble. “I’m so sorry. I…”

“Just put that away, okay?” the cop tells me, eyeing the toy still in my hand.

“Right.” I put it in my pocket.

“Are you okay, ma’am?” the cop asks the old woman as he gets her from Achilles. “Do you need a doctor? Is there someone here with you?”

“I’m fine,” she says weakly. “I’m just a little startled.” She looks at me. “You shouldn’t be carrying those things around.”

“Sorry,” I say again, bowing my head slightly.

“It was my fault, actually,” Achilles says, opening his wallet to take out a twenty-dollar bill. “Please buy yourself some medicine or a drink or ice cream, anything to make you feel better.”

She nods, taking the bill, and the cop ushers her away.

I heave a sigh of relief, then turn to the man next to me. “Thank you. You shouldn’t have done that, though.”

“It was my fault,” he repeats.

So, he’s strong but he has a noble heart. He’s more of a knight then?

“Here.” He gives me the handle of my suitcase and my canvas bag.

“Thanks.” I take them and put the toy spider that was in my pocket at the bottom of the canvas bag where it won’t escape again.

“You don’t have more of those, do you?” he asks.

“Actually, I do.” I sling the canvas bag over my shoulder. “They’re presents.”

“Presents?”

“For a little boy I’m going to meet for the first time.”

“Oh.” He scratches the back of his head. “You know what? I don’t think you should give a boy those. You’ve seen the effect they have, right? Those are just trouble in a boy’s hands. Take it from me.”

“Right.” Why didn’t I think of that?

“Besides, they prefer the real thing.”

“Of course they do.” I pull the bag strap further up my shoulder. “Thanks for the tip. I guess I’ll think of something else to give.”

“Yeah, you do that.” He crosses his arms over his chest, making it look even bigger. “Just don’t buy anything noisy or flashy, you know, the battery-operated ones with lights and sounds. The kids love them but they drive some parents crazy and the batteries run out overnight. Oh, and maybe not Lego, unless the kid is twelve or older or super organized. The parts tend to get lost easily until you find them stuck to the sole of your foot.”

He points to his foot with a grimace.

I chuckle at his expression. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

I haven’t felt this comfortable around a man since I escaped from Vince, much less a stranger.

“And one more thing.”

“Yup?”

“Would you like some coffee?” he asks. “Or are you in a rush to meet this boy you’re meeting for the first time? He’s not twenty-five, is he?”

I chuckle again, shaking my head. “No.”

He lifts his hands. “No coffee or no…?”

“He’s not twenty-five. He’s much, much younger.”

“Oh. He’s twenty-four.”

I pout. “Very funny.”

He’s hot, funny, kind, and charming. He isn’t wearing a wedding ring, either, so he must be single. And did I say he’s hot? In short, he’s everything I want in a man.

Hold it. It’s too soon to go down that lane, sweetheart.

Shit. What am I thinking? I’m still recovering from falling for a man I thought had all those qualities and here I go again, losing my footing.

Get a grip, Sabrina.

“Um. Actually…”

“No coffee?” He turns his head to one side.

“Sorry. I…”

“Allergic to coffee? Because that’s something I’ve never heard before.”

I shake my head. “No. It’s just…” I glance at my watch. “Oh, shit.”

“You know, it doesn’t have to be coffee. It could be tea or…”

“Sorry,” I tell him, adjusting the strap of my bag. “I have to go.”

“Or nothing. That’s fine.”

“I’m really sorry but I have to get to work.” I turn around and start running off.

Shit. How did time fly so fast? Didn’t it stop when I met that hunk?

“Need a ride?” he calls after me.

“No, thanks.”

“I thought you were going to meet that boy?”

“Yup. That, too.”

“When do you get off work?”

Seriously, is he still talking?

“Never,” I tell him, scurrying off.

Thankfully, that succeeds in shutting him up and shaking him off. I can’t shake off the thought of him, though, as I get into a cab, grinning as I remember his smile.

Sabrina…

I know, I know. I’m just daydreaming. It’s not like I’ll ever see him again.

Too bad.