He grinned back at me from the edge of the pool where he was leaning. “Come on in, sunshine, the water’s fine,” he said, waggling his brows at me.
“Oh, no you don’t, lover boy,” Allie called from her chair. “I know what happened last time you two were in my pool!”
“Yeah, I nearly got molested by your Nanny!” Brandon yelled back.
“You’d have liked it!” a gravelly voice yelled out from the upstairs window.
Every single one of us jumped and stared upwards to see Nanny’s face, surrounded by a halo of frizzy hair, staring back down at us.
Jackson came outside laughing just then. Allie looked at him in confusion. “I thought Nanny said good bye and left a couple hours ago?”
He nodded. “She did say goodbye, but the only place she went was to the spare bedroom to take a nap. Poppy’s up there, too. She just called me to tell me they’re staying the night and we’re to take them to Bob Evan’s for breakfast in the morning.”
“She called you from the house?” Allie asked.
Jackson nodded again. “Yup. From your cell phone, too.”
Allie just sat there for a second before she jumped up in a panic. “Ohmigod, Jackson, my phone. My PHONE! She can’t have my phone!”
“Jesus, Allie, calm down, it’s not like there’s anything on there that…no. You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me, right?” Jackson said, dread lacing his words.
“What?” Emma asked.
Luke’s shoulders were shaking behind her and I could hear Brandon laughing as well. I guess we were a little slower on the uptake but it all crystallized pretty quickly.
“Holy shit the bed, Fred! Nice wanker, Jacks! Poppy, look here, Allie’s got herself a biggun’!” Nanny hollered.
Allie groaned, Jackson snickered.
Brandon, being Brandon, yelled back, “Hey, Nanny!”
She popped her head back out the window. “What’s up, hotstuff?”
He winked at her. “Mine’s bigger.”
To his surprise, she winked back. “Nah, you’re pretty even. I was hiding in the shower when you changed.”
I busted out laughing when Brandon started sputtering and Allie shrieked, “NANNY! OH MY GOD!”
Yep. Life was good.