“Well, sleepyhead,” Sherry said cheerfully. “I was just about to wake you. You must have been awful tired to sleep so late.”

“What time is it?” she asked. She didn’t wear a watch; her iPhone was almost permanently attached to the palm of her hand. That was her time source.

“My gosh, it’s after seven, and we have an early start today! I hope you didn’t completely unpack! We need you and your suitcase ready in fifteen minutes!”

Courtney frowned. “For what?”

“For our trip, silly!” And then Sherry grinned.

“We’re not leaving till tomorrow,” Courtney said.

“Last-minute change of plans, pumpkin,” Stu said as he came into the room, holding his coffee cup. “It’s all good—we’ll get there a day early.”

They were awful dressed up for a travel day. Sherry was wearing a designer sweat suit—it might’ve been silk—gold sandals and lots of jewelry. Her red hair was teased and spiky, her fingernails long and coral, her toenails matched. Stu looked pretty slick himself, for a short bald guy. “You told my dad the twentieth.”

Stu immediately frowned. “Okay, now, that really hurts. I’m your dad, pumpkin. I know the guy’s important to you, but could you cut me some slack here? I’m taking you on a first-class vacation. I want you to enjoy yourself and your family. Can you let me be the dad?”

“You told Lief the twentieth,” she persisted, thinking what is this pumpkin shit?

“Last-minute great deal on tickets, that’s all,” he said, standing up to his full five-foot-six. “I’m sure he’ll figure it out.”

She decided she’d just call Lief from the airport if her phone had charged enough. So far things weren’t disastrous.

“I don’t have time to shower,” she said.

“Just wash up a little and change,” Stu said. “We have a car on the way. We’re going to get the fun started!”

Courtney had a very bad feeling about this, but she was also backed up to the wall. Their bags were sitting at the door, they were all being nice to her, and all Stu seemed to want was to be referred to as her dad. She could do that. But the bad feeling just wouldn’t go away.

A fancy car with a uniformed driver showed up; Stu was doing this up big. When they arrived at the airport, he had the driver transfer the bags to a skycap. Stu took charge of the boarding passes and IDs and ushered them all to the first-class lounge. He told the boys to sit at a table, and there was a slight shoving match as they did so. Stu barked, “Boys! Remember our deal?”

They stopped at once, hung their heads and sat down quietly. Boy, she had never seen anything like that before. Maybe things were changing—Sherry was cheerful, Stu was disciplining, the boys were almost human.

A few minutes later, another couple came into the lounge, all smiles upon seeing the Stu and Sherry Lord family. They had two small children with them, probably about three and four years old. There were lots of hugs and handshakes, and then the woman, a very pretty woman, came right up to where Courtney was sitting, bent at the waist to be on eye level with her, and said, “You must be Courtney! I’m Ann Paget! I can’t tell you how much I appreciate this, Courtney! The au pair quit without notice and here we are, stuck! Believe me, Dick and I will make it well worth your while—I promise!”

“Huh?” she said, completely confused.

“And this,” Ann said, bringing forward the children, “is Alison and Michael. This is Courtney, kids. Say hi!”

“Hi,” Michael, the older one, said. The little girl just stuffed her hand in her mouth and buried her head in her mother’s thigh.

“Aw, it’s early,” Ann said. “They’re usually much more friendly and outgoing.” Then she laughed. “That’s something you’ll have to watch! These two will walk off with any stranger!”

“What?” Courtney said. She actually found herself thinking she wanted to stay confused, but the sick reality of it was coming through. “I don’t understand,” she said hopefully.

“Courtney,” Stu said. “Come with me a second, honey.” He took her arm rather gently, pulled her out of her chair in the first-class lounge. She looked over her shoulder to see Sherry herding Ann and Dick Paget to the bar for Bloody Marys as Stu led her farther into the lounge. He sat her down on a sofa far enough away from the group so that they wouldn’t be overheard. “Here’s the deal, Courtney. These people are very important to my business. He’s a well-known director. If I get him for this film, it could set me up for life. I’m ready to make a deal with you—help me out with this and you never have to have anything to do with me again. Screw this up for me and I’ll make sure you never see Lief Holbrook again. I have custody. I’m your biological father. He won’t even get weekends.”

“Help you out how?” she asked with a scowl.

“You call me dad, you help watch the kids. That’s it. We all have a good time and when it’s over, Dick and Ann will give you a big wad of cash for some babysitting. That’s all.”

“I want my dad!” she said.

“I’m serious, Courtney. If you screw this up now, I’ll fight Lief for permanent custody. I’m your biological father. I’ll win.”

“After doing this to me?” she asked.

“Doing what? Taking you on a sinfully perfect Hawaiian vacation? I’m sure the courts will lock me up for it!”

“Hawaiian vac— We’re supposed to go to Disney World! My dad has tickets on the same plane and a room at the same—”

Stu was smiling. “Here’s how it is, sweetheart. Help me out here. Help watch the kids so Dick and Ann can have some fun. It won’t be that bad. And after it’s over, you go back to the mountains with your knight in shining armor and I’ll leave you alone. I need this, Courtney. Like I’ve never needed anything.”

“I don’t even babysit! I hardly ever have!”

“Come on, you’re a smart girl. Ann and Dick will never be far away. Just play with them, keep them out of trouble. It’s not like you have to change diapers or feed them!”

She looked at the boys. “Them, too?”

“They don’t need that much watching. Besides, I told them both if you complain about the way they act even once, they’re finished. If they’re good, I’ll take them on the Disney Cruise. Now, you’ll have to give me your cell phone.”

Her eyes welled. “No,” she said, pulling away from him.

“Will you stop acting like I’m a kidnapper? I’ll call your dad later, tell him where we are. Courtney, I swear to you, if you do this for me, I’ll never bother you again. It won’t be bad, I promise. Ann and Dick are good parents. They’ll be watching their kids most of the time anyway—they just need a hand keeping the kids busy and out of trouble. So we can talk, so we can go out to dinner and stuff.”

“Why?” she asked, shaking her head. “Why did you do this? You tricked me and you tricked Lief!”

“You heard her—the au pair quit. They were going to cancel and I already had two first-class condos on the beach. I need this director, Courtney. Work with me here.”

“I need to talk to Lief first…”

“No. That’s a deal breaker. You have to promise not to bring him into this—he’ll never go along with it and I need this time with the Pagets. You work with me, help me out, or we fight it out in court and you have to put up with us for the rest of your life.”

She felt a tear run down her cheek. To her absolute amazement, Stu wiped it gently away with his thumb. He’d never paid much attention to her, much less shown gentle affection.

“Listen,” he said softly. “I’m desperate, all right? I have some serious money problems and one small shot at working it out. I don’t want it to be this way with us, but I need a couple of breaks here. Call me Dad. Keep the little kids out of trouble so Ann and Dick can focus on business. That’s all I need, honey. Please.”

Part of her wanted to do it now—start screaming. Ask for help. Tell anyone who would listen that he had tricked her and was taking her away against her will. To a sinfully perfect Hawaiian vacation…? She might succeed in causing them to miss their flight, but after that? Could he be telling the truth? Just go to the beach with these kids in tow, do a little babysitting while the parents go out to dinner, and this nightmare part of her life was over?

“How bad can it be, huh? Ten days at the beach in exchange for me giving up custody? Come on.”

“But I have to talk to Lief.”

“I told you, pumpkin. You know he’s not going to go along with this. He’ll screw up my deal and I’ll be fighting him in court for years. But you’ll spend those years living in my house, I guarantee that.” He held out his hand. “I’ll call him later and let him know where we are. Phone please.”

She was torn. She didn’t really believe him, and she didn’t trust him. She wasn’t sure that if she did this for ten days, he’d set her free. But she was absolutely certain that if she didn’t play his game, he’d make her suffer somehow.

She put the phone in his hand. When Lief didn’t hear from her, he might alert the National Guard.

“Thanks, pumpkin. I owe you for this and I promise I’ll come through. Now go splash a little water on your face and get in the game. This is all going to come out the way you want it to.”

She sniffed and watched Stu walk to join Sherry and the Pagets at the bar where they had a Bloody Mary just waiting for him. And she went to the bathroom to get a grip, to talk herself into her ten-day sentence.

At the bar, Ann faced Stu with concern. “Is there a problem?” she asked. “Is Courtney having second thoughts?”

“Well,” Stu laughed. “She’s only fourteen, remember. She wanted to be sure she’d get her fair share of beach time, too. I’m sure it’ll work out that she’ll have plenty of fun.”

“Of course!” Ann said emphatically. “We always made sure our au pairs had their own time!”

“There you go,” Stu said, lifting his glass. “To a perfect vacation. And a perfect friendship!”

The ten-day sentence began with Courtney sitting in coach with four kids while the two fun couples enjoyed first-class. The little ones were well-behaved, thanks to being used to babysitters and the abundant supply of books and portable DVD players with their favorite movies and snacks. Aaron and Conner lasted about an hour before they started kicking the seats in front of them, scraping and making too much noise. Courtney knew she was taking a chance, but she couldn’t help herself—she exacted a little revenge on Stu and Sherry. When the flight attendant asked her if she was responsible for the boys she said, “Actually, I’m the au pair for these two little angels. The parents of those two are in first-class. Maybe you should get them?”

Stu came back, warned them sternly, frowned at Courtney and went back to his party. He had to come back three more times. He leaned his face close to Courtney’s and said, “You’re pushing me.”

“Quote—‘they don’t need that much watching,’” she said. “End quote. Indentured servants only have two hands.” Then she smiled into his annoyed eyes and mouthed, I hate you so much.

She did what was expected of her for six hours; Ann and Dick came to check on their kids but never had to be called out of first-class. By the time the plane landed in Maui, Courtney was exhausted, hungry and near tears, but Ann was impressed.

Stu had a stretch limo waiting, and Courtney helped herd all the luggage and children to the car. When they reached the condos, they parted company, and Courtney went with Stu, Sherry and the boys to their condo to settle in. Before they even had their luggage dropped off, Sherry walked next door and said to Dick and Ann, “Drinks on the beach in a half hour!”