No Quick Fix (Torus Intercession 1)

“Oh, you’re lucky you brought the help,” I whispered to Emery, and his smile, full of relief when he turned, made me grin back.

He lifted his hand toward me, maybe to touch my face, but thought better of it and let it drop back to his side.

Lydia appeared then, with a few women in tow, and rushed up to Emery, and kissed him on the cheek. “Oh, I’m so glad you’re here.” She sighed, eyes flicking to me. “And I see you brought your new nanny.”

First they were surprised she wasn’t kidding, and then Lydia introduced Shelby, her best friend and maid of honor, as well as the other two, whose names I didn’t retain.

Shelby was the one who stepped close and offered me her hand, saying how great it was that I was comfortable in a traditionally female role. “It’s fantastic that your masculinity is not threatened working as a caregiver,” she told me. “I know lots of guys who could never do it.”

“I’ve never really cared much what people think of me,” I assured her. “I got over that in high school.”

Emery smacked me in the abdomen, calling me on my shit, because yeah, that had probably come off kind of assholey.

“Where do the kids go?” I asked Lydia.

“Oh, after dinner I have a room all set up with video games and movies for the girls,” she informed me.

“I know where it is,” Olivia told me, pulling on my hand.

“Oh, no,” one of the other woman said, taking hold of my arm. “The grown-ups need to stay here, sweetie. You have to leave him here with us.”

“I’m the nanny,” I explained to her, smiling. “I’m only here so Emery can visit.”

He opened his mouth to say something.

“I’ll get right to work, Mr. Dodd,” I declared, letting Olivia lead me away as April trailed behind us.

It was a nice room down a long hall, and I was certain it was chosen so the sound wouldn’t carry out to the other guests. There were two large screens; on one, Mario Kart was queued up, and on the other Netflix was ready to go.

“You guys wanna go back outside and walk around the property?”

“But it’s dark,” Olivia explained to me.

“I’ll protect you.”

We went out the side door, and the kids were thrilled to see that there were lightposts and even benches along the path winding through the property. I liked that there were strung lights near a fire pit and farther out over a small footbridge, a large picnic area complete with several tables and a barbecue grill now covered with a tarp.

We ran around and then lay down, all three together, on one of the picnic tables and stared up at the stars. I pulled up an app on my phone that showed them the constellations, and they were both amazed at how cool it was. Little kids were so easy to impress.

When we got back, it was time to eat, and since it was sit-down instead of a buffet, we had to all take a seat in the dining room at a long-ass table.

“Grant, I’d like you to meet Brann Calder,” Emery said, taking hold of my bicep and drawing me close.

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Cahill,” I greeted him, offering my hand as Emery kept hold of my arm. I had to wonder if he knew that he hadn’t let go.

“And you, Brann,” the tall man built like a linebacker said to me as he grasped my hand. He was smiling, yes, but it wasn’t hitting his eyes. “I was just explaining to Emery that I had a man come out to take a geological survey of a parcel of my land that butts up against his because we were thinking about doing some mining out there, and though we thought we might have found something, it turns out it was nothing but a small vein of silver.”

Even as I was listening, I knew it was crap. “So you’re mining on your land but not on Emery’s, since I know his wife didn’t ever want that done.”

“We won’t be mining anywhere, as getting that silver out of the ground would cost far more than it’s worth,” he informed me with a chuckle, “but yes, you’re right. We will always adhere to Andrea’s wishes for the land.”

“That’s good,” I said frankly, “’cause you wouldn’t want to go back on your word.”

“No, of course not,” he said, smacking my arm before reaching behind him for the stunning woman standing there. She had to be in her late fifties, early sixties, her thick white-blonde hair pulled into a low, messy chignon, and her minimal makeup accentuating pale, flawless skin. The black maxi-skirt she was wearing appeared effortlessly chic combined with the loose white shirt and minimalist gold jewelry. It hit me then that compared to everyone else, elaborately coiffed and over-dressed, her elegance was luminous. “Calder, I’d like you to meet my companion, Anne Stratton.”