The Nannies (20 page)
The line edged forward. At the front was a lone guy in jeans and a tennis shirt. He paid his money and bought his ticket, then filed away to the left.
Kiley froze.
Holy shit. It couldn’t be. But it was.
Tom Chappelle.
That
guy.
He saw her. Didn’t move. Didn’t show any expression. Kiley felt stupid. She’d probably only fantasized that he’d recognized her at the country club pool.
But then he smiled, and walked toward her. She turned to see if some other, much cuter girl was standing just behind her. No. Only the high school kids.
“Hi,” he said as he approached. “I’m—”
“Tom,” she filled in. “From the hotel.”
He cocked his head sideways. “I know how weird this sounds, but for the past few days, I feel like I keep seeing you.”
Kiley tried to look casual and cool. “Do you always buy a ticket to your own movie?”
“It’s my first one,” he confessed. “I was at opening night at the Grove. But I wanted to experience it with a real audience. And I didn’t want to run into anyone I know.”
Kiley laughed. “Busted.”
He scratched the sexy day’s growth of beard on his chin. “Actually, I don’t know you. You ran away from me at the Hotel Bel-Air like I had a contagious disease.”
“Uh . . . ” Kiley could not think of one clever thing to say.
“So, why don’t we start over, how about it?” He held out his hand. “Hi. I’m Tom Chappelle.”
“Kiley McCann.” She shook his hand. Only this time, she kept her hand in his.
“You here alone or do I have to give your hand to some other guy?” Tom asked.
And then, all the witty gods smiled down upon Kiley McCann.
“It belongs to me, actually,” she said. “But I could loan it to you during the movie. For a price.”
He smiled as she edged up to the ticket window and bought her ticket. “Which is?”
“A cup of coffee. Afterward. There’s a donut place down the street where the owner doesn’t trust me.”
“You strike a hard bargain, Kiley McCann.”
“Call me Krazy,” she said. “With a K. All my friends do.”
Poor girls. Rich boys. Richer girls.
Friends with Benefits
A Nannies Novel
About the Author
Raised in Bel Air, Melody Mayer is the oldest daughter of a fourth-generation Hollywood family and has outlasted countless nannies. This is her first novel.
Published by
Delacorte Press
an imprint of
Random House Children’s Books
a division of Random House, Inc.
New York
Text copyright © 2005 by Cherie Bennett and Jeff Gottesfeld
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in
any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,
recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the
written permission of the publisher, except where permitted by law.
The trademark Delacorte Press is registered in the U.S. Patent
and Trademark Office and in other countries.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Mayer, Melody.
The nannies / by Melody Mayer.
p. cm.
Summary: Kiley, Lydia, and Esme, three teenagers from very different
backgrounds, befriend one another while working as nannies for wealthy
employers in Beverly Hills, California.
[1. Nannies—Fiction. 2. Friendship—Fiction. 3. Self-confidence—Fiction.
4. Wealth—Fiction. 5. Beverly Hills (Calif.)—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.M4619Nan 2005
[Fic]—dc22 2004028252
eISBN: 978-0-307-43395-4
v3.0
