Babysitter for the Single Dad Read online

  “It might not be her, Jenna.”

  “But I have to know what they are saying in the papers. She’s probably saying it to get back at him. Once you get to know him, you’ll know he’s not like that.” I have to calm down. Why would I believe deranged Ruth, who is not even supposed to be talking about anything that happened when she was employed? Why would I believe her against Elliott, who I know, who I think is a good man? He’s not a predatory star. I’m pretty sure of it. But I don’t like the seed of suspicion that this has planted in my mind.

  “How can I read the article? Where was it?”

  “Usual gutter press. The National Clarion.”

  “Of course. It’s just the kind of thing they would print, whether it’s true or not. Why let the truth get in the way of selling papers? I know how it will go. It will be nothing that can get anyone sued. All sly hints. I hate that Elliott is so vulnerable to gossip. He says you have to have a thick skin in this business and that most of the stuff that’s printed isn’t true—even the happy stuff about couples in love when they’re on the verge of splitting up.”

  I get out my iPad.

  “There’s probably nothing online,” Katie says. “It was last week sometime.”

  But there is. I find the article. I didn’t much care for Ruth before, even if I felt a bit sorry for her. But now I hate her on sight. And then I spot the sidebar of the website. There’s a picture of me on the beach, with a black bar across my chest. “Oh, my god!” When I click on it to read the article, my blood runs cold.

  “I’m so sorry, Jenna. I wish I’d never mentioned it.” Katie says. “I didn’t know they published anything else. That paper was just lying around when I got on the train a few days ago so I flicked through it and saw Ruth’s article. You weren’t in the paper at all.”

  CHAPTER 28

  Elliott

  I can tell something is different when Jenna shows up on the set with her friend. But she doesn’t say anything about what’s troubling her. Her smiles are forced, not reaching her eyes, and she’s not laughing and joking as she usually does. She’s not telling me what fun she is having in Paris with Sophie and her friend while I’m working.

  “What’s wrong?” I ask her when Katie is being shown the technical parts of the set by a cameraman who seems happy to show a new girl around. Jenna’s friend seems nice. And Martin seems to think so too.

  “I’ll tell you later.” Jenna looks like she might cry.

  “You’re okay? Not sick, or anything?”

  “No. I only wish I hadn’t seen something they published about us. That’s all.”

  What else could it be? “The Clarion?”

  “You knew, and you didn’t tell me? You just let me find out?”

  “I hoped you would never see it.”

  “I bet you did.” She gives me a filthy look, and not in a good way.

  “What’s that supposed to mean? I told you not to believe anything they write. You’re better not to read it at all.”

  “But they have my picture, Elliott. There, topless in the Clarion like some kind of porn star. Everyone can see it. Katie’s family, the people where I used to work, the teachers at my old school. Everyone.”

  “Not quite like a porn star. People know you weren’t expecting to have your picture in the paper. This kind of journalism is horrible, but you develop a thick skin about it in the end.”

  “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to this.”

  I want to hold her, but I don’t know who is around right now ready to take more pictures. That wouldn’t help at all. And they are calling me onto the set. Another take.

  “We’ll talk about it tonight,” I say.

  She nods miserably. Fuck! I don’t want this to destroy us. The hell if I’ll let the fucking Clarion do that.

  CHAPTER 29

  Jenna

  We are supposed to take Katie to dinner here in the hotel, she asks if we mind if she goes on a date. The cameraman asked her out, and it’s just as well, because Elliott and I need to talk.

  “Hey, no problem,” I tell her. “Do you like him?”

  “Yes, not quite a star, but I think it will be a fun date.”

  “A fun date and none of the drawbacks.”

  “No, sorry about that again. If I’d known…” She gives me a hug.

  And I change the subject, because it’s too gloomy to go there, and we need to find her something amazing to wear.

  She has already gone out on her date by the time Elliott comes home. “I had to have another meeting with Armitage,” he says. “About the plans for tomorrow’s shoot.”

  The director on the movie is picky, but Elliott has said he’s happy to work with a guy like that because he knows the end product will be good.

  “Do you just want to get room service?” he asks. “I want to keep you safe away from prying eyes. I know we can’t do that forever, but it would be good tonight to give us a chance to talk.”

  “I’m safe,” I say. “They are not going to turn me into a prisoner.”

  “No, me neither. But just tonight. If any journalist points another freaking camera at you tonight, I swear I’ll go berserk and that’s not a good idea.”

  I smile at him. He gets it. He’s not even worried I think Ruth’s story is true. And I can see that’s because it’s not. He’s only worried about me, and how having my topless picture in the paper affected me.

  “Okay then. Do you want to listen out for Sophie while I take a shower?”

  “I will, and then I’ll take mine. Pity we couldn’t save time and shower together.”

  “Pity,” I say, but I’m not sure it would save time, and Sophie is bound to wake up at the wrong moment. “Maybe we can do that tonight after she goes to bed?”

  “A rain check. I like it. But there’s no point in wasting water. We should get very, very dirty before we get clean. I have a Prius. I’m a patron of environmental charities. Trust me, I know about these things.”

  “I know you know all about getting dirty,” I say.

  “And lots of ways to do it.”

  “I can’t wait.”

  As I get out of my shower, I hear shouting in the suite. Who the hell is that? I only have the hotel robe in here with me. I put it on. I wish I could get dressed and go out to see. I open the door slightly. It’s a woman. “You think you can have my daughter looked after by that slut, you can think again.”

  Angelica!

  Before I can think about it, I’m out of there. “Don’t you dare call me a slut. And I look after your daughter better than you ever have.”

  Elliott looks wide eyed at my outburst, but he says. “You had better go, Angelica.”

  “I’m going, but I’ll see you in court,” she says, and sweeps out, as if she was on the set of a hammed-up play, extracting maximum drama from the moment.

  “I just put Sophie down in her crib to answer the door, but Angelica didn’t even bother to ask to see her daughter,” Elliott fumes. “That says it all, really.”

  But he’s avoiding my eyes. He looks worried.

  “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have come out right then. That must have looked bad. I didn’t think,” I say.

  “No. It’s okay. I’ve no idea how this will all play out. I can usually placate Angelica, keep her from doing crazy stuff, but she hasn’t threatened lawyers before.”

  “Maybe she doesn’t mean it.” I hope I haven’t caused trouble for Elliott. What if he loses his daughter because of me? He’ll never forgive me.

  “Who knows what that woman means? I’d better get someone on damage control.”

  “What was she doing here?”

  “She said she knew I was in Paris, and she’s here promoting her latest movie. She wanted to know if I wanted to get back together for old times’ sake. As if.”

  I’m horrified that she even asked. Did he think about it for a moment? Did he compare us?

  “When I said no, she said it would be good for the sake of our daughter. I think she means f
or the sake of publicity. She never cared about anything else, so there must be something in it for her.”

  “I’m guessing you didn’t accuse her of that…”

  “No. But I asked her when she had ever cared about our daughter. That’s when she called you names.”

  “She must have seen the article.”

  Elliott nods. “I guess so. She doesn’t really want me in her life. We only lasted one night together for a reason. We have nothing in common.”

  “But what if she wants Sophie, and she tries to use me to get her back? I’ll die if they try to take her away from you and she has to go to Angelica, who doesn’t care about her at all.”

  “You and me both, baby.”

  CHAPTER 30

  Elliott

  I’m hoping the whole situation with Angelica will blow over by this time next week, but I’m not betting on it. I place a couple of calls to my lawyers and my agent. I’ll let them handle everything. It doesn’t pay to be too emotionally involved, I’ve found to my detriment in the past. Jenna is just learning that.

  I kiss her as I leave for the set next day. We have just a few days left in Paris. After that, most of the filming will be at the studio in LA—more craziness—but I won’t be needed right away, and at least the media frenzy is slightly more subdued there. I guess they have more stars per square mile than anywhere else in the world. They can’t keep tabs on all of them all the time.

  “What are your plans for today?” I ask Jenna.

  “I’ll find out how Katie’s date went when she emerges and take her off for lunch for her last day in Paris. I saw a nice restaurant that was good for kids, too. If there’s time, we’ll take Sophie to the Tuileries gardens. There’s a carousel there.”

  “Have fun. I’ll catch you later.”

  I think about Jenna and her day now and again between takes, but most of that time is taken up debating with the director Armitage and my co-stars. None of us agree about the main scene we’re doing. In the end, Armitage pulls rank. He relents a bit, adding some of the elements I wanted. And we get on with it.

  After we’re done with all that, it’s quite a few hours since I looked at my phone. While we’ve been in Paris, Jenna has been sending me selfies of her and Sophie every day as they go about the city, and I need my fix.

  But instead there’s a text from Angelica sent forty minutes ago.

  “Don’t worry. I have Sophie.” My blood runs cold. I get right on the phone to her.

  CHAPTER 31

  Jenna

  After lunch, Katie pleads a headache and she goes back to the hotel room for a couple of hours until it’s time for her flight. Her date went well, too well, and she had far too much champagne last night. I venture out to the park with Sophie on my own, smiling at the thought of Katie and the cameraman. I want everyone to be as happy as I am.

  I’m just pushing the stroller down a side street when we are accosted by three heavily-built guys who come out of nowhere, closing in on us from both sides of the narrow street, tall buildings blocking the light.

  Before I know it, they have Sophie out of her stroller, and they are bundling her into the back of a big black car with dark windows. I shriek and open my mouth to scream harder. One of the guys clamps his big, fat hand over my mouth, and another gets hold of me and pushes me into the car, snatching my bag from me. He looks inside. “Her phone’s in here. I’ll hang onto this.”

  “Scream again, and I’ll have to gag you,” the first guy says, taking his hand off my mouth. I’d been wondering if I could bite him, but I wasn’t brave enough. Sophie is crying, and I hold her, trying to comfort her, but I’m shaking, too.

  It’s somewhat of a relief when the second guy says, “We have instructions to take you to Angelica’s place. She just wants to speak to you, so there’s no need for any more trouble.”

  I feel like I have no choice but to go with Angelica’s band of not-so-merry men. They are taking me to see Angelica whether I want to go there or not.

  We end up in the Champs Elysée, waiting in the drawing room of her apartment. It’s much more elegant than the guys standing around guarding the exits.

  “Good of you to cooperate,” she says when she sweeps in. “Sorry to be so heavy handed. I hope you weren’t too distressed by my intervention, but this is important.”

  I don’t say anything, holding onto Sophie. Whatever I say is likely to make things worse.

  But Angelica has plenty to say. She tells a different story about Elliott, one I don’t believe at all. About his sex addiction, his mistreatment of Angelica, his history with nannies.

  “I don’t believe it,” I say. “This is not the Elliott I know.”

  “It doesn’t matter if you believe it,” she says. “The media will lap it up. There’s enough here to fill their gossip columns for a week.”

  “He’ll deny any kind of addiction. I’ll deny your nanny story. It’s a pack of lies. You know that.”

  “It won’t matter once it’s out there. The public never believes denials, just like they never read the tiny paragraphs in the papers that they print when they are forced to retract something.”

  “Why are you doing this?”

  “One story is as good as another. The industry runs on publicity. Of course, I’d planned a different story until you got in the way. A story I can still tell instead of that one.”

  “What story?”

  “A parents reunited story. The media loves a happy ever after story almost as much as a scandal.”

  “You and Elliott? That will never work.”

  “That may be so, but it doesn’t matter to the Clarion. If they get their pictures of the cute baby with the mystery father reunited with the mother at last after some silly argument kept them apart, they’ll be happy. Believe me, that version will do a lot less harm to Elliott’s career. Suits me better, too. It’s about time I took a bigger role in Sophie’s life.”

  “You don’t mean that.”

  “Oh, I do. She’ll soon be at that age when I can take her shopping and to the shows. She’ll look so cute alongside me. Adorable! The media will take a real shine to mother and daughter.”

  “You don’t care about her at all. You’ve never been there to feed her or read her stories.”

  “I’ll have a nanny for that. One who Elliott won’t want to bang. A nice, middle-aged frumpy nanny. The old school type.”

  “He’ll never let you have Sophie.”

  “He won’t have any choice, whatever happens. But it’s up to you whether you destroy his career in the process or not. Good press or bad press? If you really care about him, you’ll get out of his life and go back to London. I’ll pay you handsomely, of course. Let’s call it severance pay. Twenty thousand should just about cover it, don’t you think? For your trouble.”

  “I don’t want your money.”

  “You’ve really got it bad if you turn up your nose at that kind of money. If you want to save him, you’ll end it and go back home tonight. I’ve got you booked on a plane with your little friend.”

  “How do you know my friend is going back?”

  “I made it my business to know.”

  “You’ve had me followed!”

  “I didn’t get where I am today without being ruthless. Don’t underestimate me. I mean what I say.”

  “I need to talk to Elliott.”

  “Talk away. I have your phone in safekeeping for now. But we’ll dial him right up. Tell him it’s over or the story of his sex addiction goes live this afternoon. I have a journalist coming at three.”

  I look at the clock above the fireplace. It’s two thirty. I put my head in my hands. I’m caught between a rock and a hard place. I don’t want to do any of this to Elliott. But either way, he is done with me. Even if he cares about me, as I think he does, he’s not going to stick around if I let Angelica destroy his career.

  “Okay, I’ve sent him a text. He’s bound to call soon,” she says. “And I’ll tell you just how to play it.”
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  CHAPTER 32

  Elliott

  “What do you mean, you have Sophie? If anything happens to her…” I am going to kill Angelica.

  “Like I said in my text, don’t worry. She’s safe with me. I’ve got a new nanny in mind. You won’t have to sort that out.”

  “Are you crazy? Where’s Jenna?”

  “Oh, she’s here, too. Speak to her.”

  This is freaking me out.

  “Jenna? What are you doing there with Angelica? Where the hell are you, anyway?”

  She ignores my questions. It’s like she’s reading a script, and she’s a very bad actress. “I have to tell you, I decided to go back to London. All the publicity is too much. I’m going back with Katie when she gets her flight tonight.”

  She sounds close to tears, her words catching in her throat.

  “What’s going on? What has Angelica to do with all this?” I hear panic and anger rising in my voice. Something’s not right here, but I have to keep calm.

  “It’s better this way.” There’s a muffled sob, and Angelica comes back on the line.

  “All this nonsense with you playing the single dad has to stop. Sophie is my daughter, and don’t you forget it.”

  I can’t stop myself. “It’s a pity you forgot it for months at a time, then.”

  “I’m going to change all that.”

  “I’ll believe it when I see it. Put Jenna back on.”

  “She doesn’t want to speak to you.”

  “What have you said to her?”

  There’s the sound of a door opening and closing. “You really should choose your bedfellows more wisely. I offered her twenty thousand dollars. She’s taking the plane home tonight. I’m sorry, but what can I say? Help is cheap.”

  I can’t believe Jenna would just run out like that for twenty thousand. I would have given her whatever she wanted. I need to see her.

  “Let me speak to her again.”