Sun-kissed (The Au Pairs 3)

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William picked up a pancake and threw it across the table, hitting Zoe in the face.

"Ow!" the little girl screamed. She picked up a handful of berries from a bowl and pelted them at her older brother.

Chortling, Cody did the same, upturning the jug of maple syrup on the walnut table.

"Stop it! Stop it!" Shannon yelled.

"Food fight!" William cheered.

"Nooo!" Shannon yelled as Cody spilled his glass of milk on the floor.

Madison walked in, sweaty and red-cheeked from an early tennis game. Since the other night, when she had walked in on Jacqui and Shannon laughing about something they hadn't shared with her, things had been a little frosty between the two insta-friends. Shannon knew Madison thought she was keeping something from her, and since Madison was right about that, Shannon didn't know what to do about it.

"Uh--I just---they won't stop," Shannon said as a banana flew by, hitting the microwave.

"Yeah, I can see that." Madison shrugged. "Zoe, Bill, quit it. Leave Shannon alone. Come on, now. Clean up this mess. You know you're both being bad."

"You can't do that," Zoe said. "You can't tell us what to do."

"Yeah, you're not Jacqui," William said.

"So what? I'm older than all of you. Yo

u have to listen to me. You guys listen to Ryan, Sugar, and Poppy," Madison pointed out.

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In answer, William kicked his chair and Zoe knocked her plate to the floor. Cody giggled and did the same, shattering the porcelain.

"Stop it! Everyone stop or I'll sell all your toys and give them to children who'll appreciate them!" Madison demanded, letting them know she wasn't fooling around.

The kids shuddered, and one by one they ran off to their rooms to clean themselves up and do as they were told. They had no idea if Madison would carry out her threat, but they weren't sticking around to find out.

"Thanks," Shannon said.

Madison helped pick up the thrown fruit and handed Shannon a roll of paper towels so she could mop up the floor. "It's nothing. You just need to show them who's boss. I think they're all a little antsy since we haven't seen Dad in a while, and the last time that happened, he and Mom had split up."

Shannon was kneeling on the floor, scrubbing, and didn't reply.

"Do you know anything? Are Dad and Anna getting divorced?" Madison asked directly. "Anna's been acting really strange lately, and Dad hasn't been around all summer."

"I don't know," Shannon lied, wishing she could tell Madison the truth. "I think everything's okay."

Anna walked in as Madison was walking out. "Oh, Shannon, I do hope this isn't the way every breakfast is going to be," she said,

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noticing the stains on the slate counter. She was uncharacteristically cheerful and wearing a tight halter dress. Anna checked her reflection in the beveled mirror by the entryway.

"Are you meeting someone?" Shannon asked, smiling knowingly. According to the e-mail plan, Jacqui and Shannon, posing as Kevin and Anna, had sent e-mail invites from each of their mailboxes to set up a face-to-face appointment. Kevin thought Anna wanted to talk about making up, and Anna in turn was acting under the assumption that Kevin had asked her to lunch to discuss withdrawing the divorce petition.

"Yes, an old friend." Anna smiled mysteriously. "I haven't heard from him in such a long time, but Ward Pershing was one of the cutest young associates in the office. I used to die every time he borrowed my stapler. He said he would love to meet me for lunch at Babette's. How did he know it was my favorite place!"

Who is Ward Pershing? Shannon wondered, panicked.

Something wasn't right. As soon as she could, Shannon stole away to Anna's laptop. She called up the deleted mail, where her fake e-mails were stored. She scrolled to the one labeled Coffee, Tea or Moi? that read, You, me, Babette's, 1 p. m. Be there. Let's make up for lost time. Alas, the address line didn't read [email protected] but [email protected] . Shannon had mistakenly let the automatic function on Anna's mail system fill in Ward Pershing's e-mail rather than Kevin Perry's, and now Anna was going to meet an old crush rather