Sun-kissed (The Au Pairs 3)

old with freckles and a sunny smile, not a stick-thin lollipop-headed starlet notorious for her after-hours antics in a host of Hollywood nightspots. Jacqui grasped a handful of popcorn and stared reflectively at the screen. She had rented the Disney remake to pick up a few tips from the twin Lind says' attempts to get their parents back together. It was a bonus that Cody and Zoe loved the movie.

The web site guys had suggested trying to talk Anna and Kevin into counseling, but nothing as practical as therapy would ever appeal to Anna. And it wasn't as if Jacqui could just give Kevin a call and suggest such a thing--they hardly spoke to each other, because things had been a bit awkward between them ever since Kevin had tried to hit on her the first summer she was working for the family.

Anna's behavior was also becoming more erratic--the other day she'd asked Jacqui if she could tag along when Jacqui was going out after work to meet Mara and Eliza at Tavern. She had tried to talk Anna out of it, but Anna had insisted. Eliza and

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Mara exchanged alarmed looks when they saw Anna, but Jacqui merely shrugged. Their former and Jacqui's present employer had quickly downed four shots of Jagermeister and spent the evening draped over the twenty-two-year-old DJ. "Your mom is hot!" several guys told Jacqui. "She's not my mom; she's my--oh, never mind," Jacqui had said.

The next morning, Anna, still reeling from the effects of a brutal hangover, had asked Jacqui when they were going to do that again.

Never, Jacqui had thought. Anna's partying like a teenager sure didn't seem like the actions of a woman desperate to save her marriage.

But what if instead of making them figure out if they were still in love with each other, Jacqui could make them believe that they had never fallen out of love? After all, even though they hated each other's guts right now, like Dennis Quaid and Natasha Richardson in the movie, Anna and Kevin belonged together. Anna was the only woman who thought Kevin's law puns were funny (he liked to say that he had a "sunny deposition"), and Kevin was the only man who thought Anna looked hot in a billowing African muumuu.

Jacqui knew that

Anna was still in love with her husband--her demand for a divorce had just been a way to make him notice her, and even though Kevin was a workaholic, he did love his wife; he just never tried to show it. So what if she, Jacqui, orchestrated a courtship of sorts--doing nice things for each of them in secret, which they would assume the other person had done for them?

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Where would she start? First, she needed a recruit. She couldn't do this alone.

"So, you want me to help you send Anna romantic gifts but pretend they're from Kevin even though they're not?" Shannon asked when the two of them were in the laundry room sorting through the children's dirty clothing. "I mean, I know divorce is a sad thing and all, but I guess I don't understand why you'd want to be so involved."

Jacqui bit her lip. Could she really trust Shannon? She had no choice, really. She took a deep breath and told the younger girl the whole story--about the apartment in New York, the NYU rejection, how she needed the Perrys to stay together so she could finish her fifth year of high school and stay in New York.

"But remember, you can't tell Madison, okay? Anna doesn't want the kids to know," Jacqui warned. She knew how close Shannon and Madison had become. The two girls were glued together at the hip, and Madison was really blossoming under the friendship, looking up to Shannon like the big sister she'd never had.

"I guess I won't," Shannon said reluctantly, feeling bad about keeping something from a friend. She tossed a folded T-shirt into the laundry basket. "I'll help you, but."

"But?"

Shannon broke into a wide grin. "But you have to promise me you'll invite me to stay with you in the city at your apartment

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sometime. I live in Jersey, and it's sooo boring. My parents would never let me stay in the city, but if I told them I had a friend ..."

Jacqui contemplated Shannon's proposal. She could see where this was leading--Shannon turning Jacqui's sweet studio into a New York City crash pad of her own--inviting friends over, sneaking in beer, forcing Jaqui to host a bunch of fifteen-year-old brats in her private abode. In the end, it would be a small price to pay for living in the city, and Shannon couldn't come over every weekend, could she?

"All right. It's a deal." She nodded grimly.

"Cool. And remember, I need to sleep in the bed. No pullout couch for me. My back problem, you know."

The next day, Anna Perry discovered that someone had sent her an iPod programmed with all of her favorite Matchbox Twenty love songs. ("Matchbox Twenty?" Shannon had asked, wrinkling her nose in distaste when Jacqui had told her what to put on the MP3 player. "Ew!" "Just do it!" Jacqui had laughed.)

Anna and Kevin had not said a word to each other since he had served her papers. Kevin was still bunkered back in the city. Jacqui knew that Anna had tried calling him on his cell and at the office, but he never returned her calls. Perhaps the black iPod nano would give her a sign that he was having second thoughts. Of course, gifts wouldn't be enough in the long run. Jacqui knew

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she would have to engage Kevin in some way to make Anna believe he wanted her back, through a more personal approach, like actually asking her out on a date.

But for now, Jacqui noticed Anna was in a good mood all afternoon, humming "Push" as she went about the house. Score one for the plan. She ushered the kids into the Range Rover.

"Where are we going today?" Zoe squealed. After the excitement of yesterday's impromptu trip to Great Adventure, the kids expected something as fun every day.

"Just the beach. Sorry." Jacqui smiled. "Zoe, is this your book?" she asked, picking up a copy of V. C. Andrews's Flowers in the Attic. "You're reading this?"