The Au Pairs (The Au Pairs 1)

week?" Sugar mused. "I don't think it's even open to the public." "Apparently even Brad and Jen RSPV'd."

"Awesome!" Eliza leaned forward between the front seats. She was dying to see some real celebrities again. Back when she was still living on 63rd and Park, she hardly ever noticed them. Spotting Julia Roberts hailing a taxicab or Sarah Jessica Parker pushing a stroller was just kind of the backdrop for her life. Good luck catching anyone US Weekly--worthy in Buffalo.

"This is your street, right?" Poppy asked, pulling into a private driveway a few blocks from the club.

"Uh ... actually "...

"You guys rented out your house?" Sugar asked, eyes wide. "Well ... um ..."

"What's the deal? Spit it out," Poppy ordered.

83

"I'm kind of staying with you guys," Eliza said sheepishly.

"What?" Poppy exclaimed as Sugar nudged her sister hard in the ribs. Sugar turned around with a sweet smile. "Excuse my sister, she doesn't know how to mind her manners. Of course you can crash with us tonight. You can borrow something. You're a size zero like me, right?"

"No--it's not that. I'm kind of... well ... Kevin called my dad the other day. He asked me if I could help out Anna with the kids this summer," Eliza finished lamely. "It's no big deal."

Except that it was. The twins remembered their father telling them about the Thompsons' troubles, not that they had paid much attention back then.

"Oh," Sugar said, putting two and two together.

"Excuse me?" Poppy asked, turning around in shock. The SUV jumped over a speed bump and the three of them flew up from their seats.

"Ow! Watch the road!" Sugar said, glaring at her sister. "Sorry!" Poppy said. "You're one of them?" she asked disbelievingly, looking at Eliza in the rearview mirror.

"Kind of," Eliza admitted.

There was an ominous silence.

"Huh. Well, that's gonna be fun, right? All three of us together again!" Sugar said cheerfully.

The SUV pulled up to the Perry homestead. Poppy pulled into the driveway and cut the engine. "We're home," she said brightly.

84

"So, I'll just run in and put on something patriotic and I'll meet you guys back here?" Eliza asked, swinging her door open.

Sugar and Poppy exchanged a quick glance.

"You know what, I'm soooo pooped," Sugar said, yawning.

"Me too," Poppy agreed. "God, it's been a really long night."

"Yeah," Eliza conceded.

"I think we're just going to go to bed. We have tennis really early tomorrow, right, Pop?" Sugar asked. "We'll see you later, Eliza."

"Night," Eliza said, unsteadily slipping out of the car onto the crunching gravel underfoot.

"Night," the twins called, already halfway into the main house.

Eliza made her way down the stone path and opened the door to the cottage ever so slowly. She was trying to be quiet. Really, she was. But she snagged her stiletto heel on the rug and went sprawling. She crashed into a bedside table with a loud thud.

The light clicked on.

"What the hell?" Mara asked, blinking like an owl without her contact lenses. She put on her glasses and glanced at the digital clock on the nightstand. "Eliza, it's two in the morning!"