“Have you ever passed out? Because even though I think surgery would be really interesting, I’m afraid I’d pass out if I had to cut someone open and see all the blood and guts and everything.”

Seth grimaced around a bite of salsa chicken. “Alice.”

Meagan only smiled in understanding. “I’ve never passed out, but I have to admit the first operations I observed back in medical school were a little difficult. You get used to it, though.”

“I haven’t decided yet what I’m going to do. Since Mom and Dad are both lawyers, some people assume I’ll do that, but I’m not so sure. I think orthodontia is sort of interesting.”

Meagan’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “Orthodontia?”

Knowing he was about to be in trouble, Seth grinned mischievously. “I think Alice has a crush on her orthodontist. According to the way she described him to her best friend, Jessica, Dr. Samuel is hot.”

“Daddy!”

The outraged exclamation—accompanied by a classic eye roll—was exactly what he’d expected in response to his teasing. He laughed unrepentantly.

Meagan leaned a little closer to his red-cheeked daughter, lowering her voice to a conspiratorial just-us-girls tone. “Is he really cute?”

Alice sighed, then frantically fanned her face in illustration. “Totally.”

“Maybe I should take you to one of your appointments sometime,” Meagan quipped.

Seth felt his smile fade. “And maybe I should start looking for an older and uglier orthodontist for my impressionable daughter.”

“Daddy.” But Alice giggled this time, sharing a look with Meagan, and Seth tried to ignore the feeling that had come uncomfortably close to unwarranted jealousy at the thought of Meagan checking out Alice’s orthodontist.

The conversation wound around eventually to the search for a new housekeeper.

“I talked to the last applicant this morning,” Meagan reported. “Theresa Washington. I’ve added her name to the top three or four I think you should look at more closely. I’ll give you the envelope with all the applications and the names of my top suggestions before you leave this evening.”

Seth nodded. “I’ll call tomorrow and start setting up interviews for this weekend. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your help with this.”

Before she could respond, Alice spoke up, a frown on her face now. “I’ve already told you who you should hire, Dad. Jacqui Handy. She’s the one I want.”

They’d had this discussion the evening before when Alice hadn’t been able to stop talking about the applicant she had met at Meagan’s house that afternoon. He’d told her then—numerous times—that while he would keep her opinions in mind, he still intended to interview several people and choose the one he thought would be best for the job. He could see now that she was still determined to convince him to hire Jacqui.

“Meagan thinks she’s the best, too, don’t you, Meagan?”

Meagan corrected Alice hurriedly. “I’ve told you, it’s up to your father who to hire. I agree that he should meet Jacqui, but there were others I think are equally well suited to the position.”

“I will definitely want to interview several.” He looked at Alice as he spoke. As important as her opinion was to him, he wasn’t leaving the hiring of a housekeeper/nanny in the hands of his thirteen-year-old daughter. “We discussed this last night.”

She pouted. “You can talk to them, but you’d be wasting your time. Jacqui’s the best one.”

“Mrs. Keppler was very nice, too, Alice,” Meagan assured her. “I liked her very much.”

Alice groaned. “Too old.”

“You didn’t even meet her.”

“You told me about her. You said she has grandkids my age.”

“I thought that would be a plus. It means she has experience with teenagers. Maybe you could meet them sometime and make friends with them.”

“I have friends at school. I’d rather have someone younger to hang out with at home. Someone who’d take me shopping and wouldn’t try to get me to buy ruffly pink dresses.”

Catching the not-so-subtle shot aimed directly at him, Seth grimaced a little but kept his attention on Meagan. “Just how young is this candidate Alice likes so much? Alice hasn’t directly answered that question when I’ve asked.”

“In her late twenties. But she seems older—you’d have to meet her to quite understand.”

Tags: Gina Wilkins Billionaire Romance
Source: readsnovelonline.net