Gideon could feel the cage bars closing around him, but he tried one last time to escape. “Surely there’s someone else. I have to work, and you know how I get when I’m past deadline. Leaving a four-year-old with me probably constitutes reckless endangerment of a minor or something.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. You’re perfectly capable of watching Isabelle for a few days. She’s a very well-behaved child, no trouble at all. She’s in preschool from eight in the morning until two in the afternoon, so you can work in your usual solitude during those hours.”
“And after two? What am I supposed to do with her then?”
“You’re an intelligent young man. You’ll manage.”
“I don’t want to manage. You can’t leave her here.”
“Fine.” Lenore gave him a wounded look. “Since I have no other options, I’ll take Isabelle back to my house. I’ll call my poor sister and tell her I can’t come to her when she needs me because it isn’t convenient for my son.”
He groaned. “Mother—”
She held up a hand. “It’s all right. I understand. You’re an important writer, and your time is very valuable.”
The cage doors slammed shut. Gideon was trapped, and he knew it. He sighed. “Go to your sister. I’ll watch the kid.”
If Lenore had harbored any doubt that he would eventually capitulate, it didn’t show in her expression. She pulled a folded sheet of paper from the leather purse dangling from her arm. “This is the schedule Nathan and Caitlin left for me with Isabelle’s preschool and dance class times.”
“Dance class?”
Ignoring his groan, she continued, “You also have the phone numbers for her school and her pediatrician, and a number where Nathan can be reached in an emergency. I’ve written a couple of numbers for myself at the bottom of the page, and you have my cell number, of course.”
“How long do you expect to be gone?”
“I’m not sure. I’ll let you know as soon as I can. Isabelle had lunch at school today, of course, and I gave her a snack after I picked her up. She’ll probably be hungry for dinner around six, and she should be in bed by eight. Try to make sure she eats healthily. Don’t let her have too many snacks or junk foods. Now I really must be on my way, since I have a two-hour drive ahead of me. I’ll just step in to say goodbye to Isabelle.”
His footsteps dragging, Gideon followed Lenore into his den. Isabelle sat curled on one corner of his suede-leather sofa, the cartoon she had selected playing on the television across the room. She looked away from the screen when they entered, her expression uncertain. “I’m staying here?”
“For a few days,” Lenore agreed, giving the child a bracing smile. “You’ll be fine, sweetie. Your big brother will take very good care of you.”
Because he wasn’t used to thinking of himself as Isabelle’s big brother—after all, he’d met the child for the first time less than four months ago—it took him a beat to realize that his mother expected him to
say something then. “You’re welcome to stay here, Isabelle.”
He didn’t blame her for looking less than enthusiastic. She was probably well aware that he was completely ill-equipped to care for a small child. Though he knew she was gregarious and talkative with other people—even total strangers—she had been rather reserved with him during the few occasions they’d been together. She had treated him with a somewhat wary shyness that had told him she didn’t quite know what to make of him, and since he’d never decided quite what he felt about her, he’d been content to leave things just that way between them. Distantly civil.
He’d certainly never expected to find himself babysitting her.
“I have to go, sweetie. Be good for Gideon, okay? And be patient with him,” Lenore said a bit wryly. “Sometimes he’s a slow learner. But he’ll be very nice to you,” she added, giving her son a meaningful look.
Isabelle wrapped her arms around Lenore’s neck. “Goodbye, Nanna. I hope your sister gets all better soon.”
Gideon still found it strange to hear his half sister refer to his mother by that grandmotherly nickname. It hadn’t been very long ago when Lenore hadn’t even wanted to acknowledge the child’s existence. Now here she was taking full responsibility for her ex-husband’s kid while her oldest son, the orphaned child’s legal guardian, was away on his honeymoon, and hugging her as affectionately as if she really were Isabelle’s grandmother.
It was no wonder, Gideon mused with a shake of his head, that most people in this town tended to think of Lenore, a tireless, generous community volunteer, as a near saint. They had no such illusions about him, however.
Ten minutes later he found himself alone with a four-year-old who gazed up at him expectantly, waiting for him to say or do something. He didn’t have a clue where to begin.
He glanced at his watch. It wasn’t even 4:00 p.m. yet. Too early for dinner. Four hours away from her bedtime. “So, uh, do you want a drink or something?” he asked awkwardly. “I have some soda, I think. And fruit juice.”
She shook her head. “No, thank you.”
“Oh. Well.” He looked around the room, which was decorated in Southwestern style with leather, distressed woods, pottery, western paintings and Remington bronzes. The walls were lined with shelves almost filled to over-flowing with hardcover and paperback books. It was a guy’s room, and there was nothing in it to entertain a child except the television she had been watching.
“I need to finish something in my office,” he said. “Will you be okay in here watching TV?”
She nodded gravely. “I’ll be okay.”