By the time she had finished unpacking and had changed into some jeans and a thick, wooly jumper, she realized that it was getting toward dinner time.

Morgan left her annex and stepped back through into the kitchen where she could see that Emma was sat in the living area, playing with all her dolls, the braids still in their hair from the day before.

“Morgan!” she shouted when she realized that it was her. “Look, I have everything set up for us!”

“That’s great, Emma,” she smiled as she walked over to her and sat down next to her on the floor.

She couldn’t hear or see Trent, but there was a part of her that knew he was watching them somehow. She hadn’t yet looked around the rest of the mountain cabin, but it was big and open, and she had the distinct feeling he may have been at the top of the stairs or in one of the adjoining rooms.

“Daddy says you’re coming to stay with us,” Emma beamed as she passed one of the dolls to Morgan and patted it on the head.

“Yes, I’m going to stay for a while,” she smiled. “Your dad needs some help because he has a lot of work coming up.”

“Oh, I know,” Emma said. “He told me all about it. He said you’re our new nanny.”

Morgan smiled and laughed.

“That I am,” she said. “And I’m really happy to be here. I think we’re going to have a ton of fun.”

“Of course, we are!” Emma beamed. “We have so much to do and play with. I can’t wait to show you all of my bears, and my bedroom, and the rest of my princess collection.”

She was so excitable it was almost contagious, and as they settled in to play, suddenly, Morgan was aware that Trent had reappeared.

She looked at him over her shoulder and smiled but he glared back at her as if he didn’t know what to make of it all.

“Dinner,” he said as he slapped his hands together.

“I can make it,” Morgan said as she got to her feet.

Trent looked at her as if surely, she must be joking, but he didn’t laugh, he just shook his head and reached into a drawer before he pulled out a stack of menus.

“Take out,” he said. “But thanks for the offer.”

Morgan felt her face flush red and she had to look away to stop him from seeing.

“Daddy can’t cook,” Emma said. “So, we have menus for everywhere in town.”

Trent cleared his throat and spread all the menus out on the counter.

“What are you thinking, kiddo?” he called over Morgan’s head to Emma. “Pizza? Thai?”

“Always pizza,” Emma said with a wry smile. “You know that.”

“Is pizza okay with you?” Trent asked, but Morgan could tell it wouldn’t matter what her answer was, she was clearly going to be getting it anyway.

“Sure,” she smiled. “Who doesn’t love pizza?” She grinned at Emma and Emma high-fived her.

“That’s exactly what I always say,” Emma said smugly and then she shot a knowing look at her dad.

“Okay,” Trent smiled. “I’ll call it in and go out and get it.”

“I’ll set the table while you’re gone?” Morgan smiled as she stepped closer toward the kitchen and he looked at her as if she were crazy again.

“Sure,” he said suspiciously, as if he couldn’t believe she was being so helpful. “Emma can show you where everything is.”

Morgan smiled and watched as he walked casually toward the door and turned back to look at Emma before he went.

As soon as he left and the door closed behind him, Morgan found herself sucking in a lungful of air and closing her eyes.

“Don’t worry about him,” Emma said as if she were reading her mind. “He’ll loosen up eventually.”

Morgan looked back to Emma with an amused smirk.

“What do you mean?” she asked her as Emma got to her feet and came into the kitchen and started to open up the cupboards and shakily lift out the plates.

“He’s not used to things like this,” Emma said. “And I once heard him say he doesn’t trust women.”

The statement was so bold and completely out of the blue that it took Morgan completely off guard.

“Oh,” she said as she tried to pick her jaw up from the floor. “He said that? To you?”

“No, he didn’t say it to me,” Emma said with a shake of her head, as if Morgan was super silly for suggesting it. “He said it to one of his friends back in our old town. He said that most women are trouble and he was swearing them off for good.”

“Oh,” Morgan had to hide her grin as she bent down to help Emma with the plates. “Well, I wouldn’t pay too much attention to that.”

“Don’t worry,” Emma said. “I really don’t.”

They looked at each other and laughed, and then Emma pointed up high to one of the cupboards she couldn’t reach.

“The glasses are in there,” she said. “If you could help me get them down?”

Morgan opened it up and got three out, and they took them over to the table and started to set it all together. Morgan couldn’t help but notice that there wasn’t anything really homely and comforting there, they didn’t have any placemats and there wasn’t a tablecloth in sight.

She made a mental note to look for some the next time they were in town.

“We never sit at the table,” Emma said as she pulled out a chair and sat at it eagerly. “Dad always lets us eat in front of the TV.”

Well, no wonder he looked at me as if I’m insane, Morgan thought. I’ve waltzed in here and already I’m changing everything up.

“I like sitting at the table,” Emma said as she looked at their handy work and gave it an approving nod.

“Good,” Morgan smiled. “So do I.”

 

When Trent returned, the girls were already sitting patiently at the table, flicking through some of Emma’s homework and drinking big glasses of orange juice.

Morgan turned to him and smiled and got to her feet.

“Here,” she said. “Why don’t you sit down, I can plate this up.”

Trent shot her one of his stares and then he dropped the pizza boxes down on the table.

“We don’t need plates,” he said as he opened up the cardboard boxes and gave her a wink. “Straight from here is fine.”

He shrugged off his jacket and threw it down onto the couch before he moved back into the kitchen and opened up the refrigerator. He pulled out a beer and snapped the top of it open before he took a swig and then joined them at the table.

Morgan tried not to watch him, but she was fascinated.

He was like no one she had ever met before, and it he was intriguing. She just couldn’t figure him out. One moment, he was welcoming, and the next, he was cold and rude and acting like a complete jerk. He lifted a slice of pizza and helped Emma get it onto her plate before he went back to the box and took one for himself.

“Best pizza in Wakestone Pines,” he said as he slid the box across the table to Morgan. “Do you know it?”

She smiled and nodded.

“I sure do,” she said. “Although, I’m more of a Luigi’s kind of girl.”

“Oh my goodness, so am I!” Emma grinned as she looked wide eyed from her dad and then back to Morgan. “I love Luigi’s! Especially when we go and sit in there and to have their meatballs on the side!”

“Okay, okay,” Trent said as he looked sadly at the pizza in front of them. “Don’t be too mean, you’ll hurt its feelings.”

Emma burst out laughing and he looked down at his daughter so warmly that it made Morgan feel full already.

“So, I guess I’m going to be overruled from now on,” Trent said with a shrug. “Two against one, who can argue with that?”

Morgan laughed, and Emma leaned in and high-fived her again.

When Morgan looked up, she caught Trent watching her, and for the briefest of moments, she was sure he was looking at her as warmly as he had been at Emma. He quickly looked away and took a sip of his beer.

“So,” he said as he turned back toward the table. “School in the morning, which means bedtime as soon as we’ve had this.”

“Aww, dad, please let me stay up with Morgan!” Emma pleaded.

“Nope,” he said. “You’ve got to be up early, and I need to show Morgan around the house. Plus, it’s her first night here, she needs to settle in and we need to talk about what she’s going to be doing here.”

She felt a rush of relief when he said it, because already, she was starting to feel as if every single suggestion she was making was wrong and that she was stepping on his toes.

“Okay,” Emma said with a sigh. “But only because Morgan is the best and I want her to stay.”

Trent and Morgan looked at each other and he raised his eyebrows before he took another sip of his beer, and then the three of them continued eating their pizza in silence.

 

After Emma was fast asleep, Trent and Morgan sat in the main living area and he opened another beer. As she watched him, she could tell he was rough around the edges, but there was something hidden deep within him. She could tell he had hidden depths and he was clearly recovering from something. She couldn’t help but feel as if it had to be a broken heart.

“I can cook,” she said suddenly to break the silence. “I know you guys are used to take out, but I honestly don’t mind making a meal for you every evening, in fact, I would be honored to do it.”

Trent stared up at her and looked her up and down for a moment. He curled his lip into a suspicious smile, as if he doubted what she was saying very highly.

“I hired a nanny,” he said. “And I don’t even really know what one of those is…” he half-laughed.

“Well, let’s make it up as we go along then,” Morgan offered. “You concentrate on your work and let me take care of Emma and the house?” She felt nervous when she suggested it, but she had already made up her mind that she wasn’t going to spend her time there treading on eggshells. They needed to decide what she was and wasn’t allowed to do, and fast.

“Take care of the house?” he asked.

“Sure,” she said. “I’ll cook, clean, do the grocery shopping, get Emma to and from school, I can even run errands for you if you like?” She shrugged and waited for him to answer.

He paused for a moment, as if he had no idea why she was offering to be so good to them.

“I mean, Emma is out at school all day,” she shrugged. “What else am I going to do?”

He considered what she had said and then he nodded.

“Okay,” he agreed. “Why not… But I don’t want all of that other stuff getting in the way of Emma’s care.”

“Of course, it won’t,” she said. “In fact, I think it’ll help us all bond.”

He rolled his eyes as if couldn’t even bare to hear the suggestion, and as he was getting used to her being there, she could sense that he was getting cockier by the minute.

Morgan smiled and took a sip of her glass of water she had been cradling in her hand for so long it had started to go warm.

“I’m here in the morning,” he said sternly. “For the first few days at least, I should show you how things go, what time we leave to get down the mountain and so she’s in school on time, and then I’ll probably gradually start to pick up some more hours at my office.”

Morgan nodded as he rose to his feet and stepped toward the hallway that led up to the main staircase.

“Stay in here as long as you want,” he said as he waited and looked as if he wanted to say something else. When the moment passed, he cleared his throat and scratched the stubble on his chin with his knuckles.

“Good night,” she said with a weak smile.

Trent looked back at her and nodded his head, but he didn’t say a word. He disappeared up the stairs and she was left alone, before she turned out all the lights and went back to her room.

She had clearly found herself in a rugged mountain man’s home who had no idea how to share his space with a woman. But she was sure it would all be alright in the end. He was going to have to get used to it if he wanted help with Emma. And being as feisty as she was, Morgan knew she was the right girl for the job.