When Mari’s phone notified her that London was initiating a FaceTime session, she nearly told Harper. But it was only three o’clock. That wasn’t when London typically spoke to Harper.

This call was for her. She was sure of it.

Glancing toward Harper, who was sprawled out on the floor of the art studio on her stomach, a red crayon in her hand as she colored in her favorite princess coloring book, Mari accepted the call.

“Hello,” Mari said as she sat on the couch, the same couch she’d sat on the night before when Hank had told her there could be nothing between them. Shoving down that memory, she focused on London, whose face filled the screen of her phone.

“How are you?” London asked. “How’s Harper?”

Mari glanced toward Harper, who was focused on coloring. “We’re great. We just finished swimming a bit ago, and now we’re doing some artwork.”

“Great.”

“Is…everything okay?”

London sighed. “You tell me, Mari.”

Uh-oh. Her eyebrows bunched as she forced a look of puzzlement. “What do you mean?”

“Yesterday evening I received a call from a woman named Simone.”

So, Simone really had spoken to London. Not good. Mari cocked her head. “Simone? The woman Hank’s dating?”

London’s eyebrows went up. “Yes.”

“What did she want?”

London’s lips compressed for a moment. “She told me some strange things about you, Mari, but I know you, so I wanted to talk to you about it.”

“Okay.” Mari dragged the word out. She could do this. She could play the confused, innocent party. She just had to believe that Simone was a crazy woman who would make things up about her. For all she knew, Simone had made things up about her. If Mari believed it, she could convince London as well. “What did she tell you?”

“Now, I know my ex-husband is a good-looking man…”

Mari lowered her eyebrows, like this was a ridiculous thing to say, like the way Hank looked was something she’d never noticed.

“Anyway,” London said. “This Simone woman seems to think you’re becoming…shall we say…enamored…of Hank.”

Mari’s heart did a kind of ka-thump. Because she was beyond enamored of Hank. So beyond. Reaching down to her thigh, she pinched it as hard as she could, nearly bringing tears to her eyes. Better to have tears shimmering in her eyes than to have her true feelings for Hank shining from them.

“What?” Mari said, putting as much fury into her voice as she could muster. Then she glanced at Harper, who was ignoring Mari and her conversation. Still, she lowered her voice. “That’s insane, London.”

London was a good actress. Would she recognize that Mari was putting on an act?

London frowned. “I’m glad to hear that, Mari, because I really don’t have time to deal with this right now.”

“There’s nothing to deal with,” Mari said. “I can promise you that.” And it was true, even though she wished it were different. She dropped her chin a bit as she focused on the screen. “I’ve met this woman. Simone? She’s kind of…” Mari grimaced. “Crazy. You know?”

London frowned. “Hank always did attract all kinds.”

Forcing a smile, Mari shook her head. “Well, he attracted a doozy in this one.”

London was quiet as she stared at Mari, and Mari could see the wheels turning.

“I told you how Hank can be,” London said. “Don’t forget that. Don’t do something that you’ll regret, Mari. Something that will make life miserable for all of us.”

Needing to understand what London would do, she asked, “What do you mean?”

London sighed. “You and Harper have developed a strong bond. I really, really don’t want to break that.” She stared straight into the camera. “Please don’t make me do that.”

“I would never…”

London cut her off, her eyebrows sharply raised. “Mari.”

Real tears filled Mari’s eyes, and she looked at Harper once again before focusing back on London. “I adore Harper. Of course I won’t do anything to jeopardize my job.”

London’s face seemed to relax. “I’m glad to hear it.”

Mari was ready for this conversation to be over. She blinked to clear her eyes. “Do you want to talk to Harper?”

Smiling, she said, “Absolutely.”

Mari brought the phone to Harper, who was thrilled to talk to her mother. Standing to the side, Mari listened carefully to the conversation, worried Harper would say something in innocence that London would misconstrue. But that didn’t happen, and Mari was pleased that London didn’t so much as ask Harper anything about Mari or Hank.

When their conversation was over, Mari disconnected the session and tucked her phone into her pocket, her mind in turmoil. London had made it clear that if Mari got involved with Hank, she would fire her. But she was falling in love with Hank, had begun imagining what a future with him would look like.

She also loved Harper, feared what being fired would do to her. Yet another worry was that if word got around that she’d fallen for her charge’s father, no one would hire her. Her career as a nanny would be over.

Thoughts flying, she asked herself what would happen if she and Hank ignored all of their concerns and went for it. Assuming a relationship between them succeeded, if the repercussions were too much, would that break them? And if it did, what would happen then? Would London fight to keep Harper out of Hank’s life to punish him? It would be bad enough for Mari to lose her job and possibly any future as a nanny, but what would all of that do to Harper?

Mari was being torn to pieces.

The only solution was to put aside her attraction to Hank and focus on why she was there. To take care of Harper. Soon enough she’d go back to LA and her life would go on. When it was time to return to Sacramento to accompany Harper on her future visits with Hank, Mari would have to deal with her feelings then. For now though, at that moment, she needed to stop thinking about Hank Parson in any terms except as Harper’s father.