Page 67 of The Nanny Game Plan
“What what? Cray cray?”he caws again, demanding to know what’s going on. And why my crazy ass is out of bed lurking in the bushes in the middle of the night.“Cray cray cray?”
I motion for him to cut it out with a jerk of my hand, dropping my voice to a desperate whisper, “Nothing! Nothing is going on. I was checking to make sure Clover was safe. That’s it. But she’s fine, and I’m going back inside. Nothing to see here.”
The crow rattles at me again, a knowing sound that says he sees straight through my bullshit to the obsessed, lovesick madman beneath.
“Seriously, I’m going to bed,” I say, stepping away from the tree.
He cocks his head in a silent, mocking challenge.
“Iam,” I insist. “You smug little shit.”
Edgar throws his head back and cackles, long and loud, the sound echoing like gunfire through the silent air.
“Hello?” a feminine voice calls from overhead.
Shit!
I drop to a crouch like I’m taking enemy fire, my knees popping as I scuttle closer to the shrub, praying the dry leaves clinging to the tree will offer cover, and that Clover won’t spot me lurking in the shadows.
It sounds like she has her head fully out of the apartment window as she calls, “Edgar? Is that you? What are you doing out this late?”
Edgar emits a string of caws that seem to say,Nothing much, just watching your boss creep around in your bushes like a jealous weirdo. Right down here. By the tree. See? Look at him, in his ratty sweatshirt and give-up-on-life sweatpants. He’s a real cray cray, this guy.
“I hate you,” I mouth, hoping he reads lips. “I hate you, we’re not friends anymore, and I’m never letting Ava bring you breakfast treats ever again.”
He hops off the window ledge onto the dead grass beside me with another raucous cackle, clearly enjoying our falling out. A beat later, the side door leading into the garage opens, and Clover steps outside.
My heart lurches into my throat, throbbing out a panicked techno beat.
Fuck, that was fast! How did she get down the stairs that fast? I know her leg’s been feeling better, but I didn’t realize she wasthatmuch better.
Biting my bottom lip and cursing my luck, I freeze, torn between trying to stay hidden in the shadows and standing and owning up to my mistake.
It was a mistake to come out here.
A big mistake.
Because even now, with her boy toy upstairs waiting for her and a crow mocking my pain as he struts around my yard like he owns the place, the smell of Clover’s perfume is still enough to make me ache.
“I thought that was you,” she says. “What are you up to, Trouble?”
She moves away from the building, off the concrete, and onto the lawn. Just a few more steps and a slight turn to her right, and she’s going to see me.
Catch me.
I should just stand the fuck up already, but for some reason my body refuses to move. So, I suck in a breath and hold it, praying she won’t look my way as she adds, “Well, come on, Bratty McHungrykins. Come get your treat, but then you have to go home.”
Edgar flaps into the air, presumably heading over to Clover, though I don’t lift my gaze to see for sure.
Maybe if I don’t look at her, she won’t look at me, and all of this will be over soon. Maybe I can still avoid the mortification of getting caught spying.
“What a greedy little turd you are,” Clover says with a laugh.
The fact that she seems to have the same love-hate relationship with the crow that I do makes me smile.
“Now, go on, get out of here,” she says over the sound of Edgar gobbling down whatever she brought for him. “And don’t come back again after ten p.m., or I’ll have to tell Maybelline. I’m serious this time, Gremlin.”
But Edgar doesn’t depart without a fuss.
