Nancy’s Theory of Style (29 page)

Small ruffians ran everywhere,
occasionally stopping to stare at Eugenia.
Nancy
didn’t bother to listen closely to Mrs.
Kanbar’s history of the center, since Sloane had already vetted it.

They went to Mrs. Kanbar’s office and
she said, “At 10:30, we have circle time and then go into groups for the day’s
projects.” She handed
Nancy
a sheet of paper and a pen and said, “If you’re interested in the temporary
spot, you’ll need to fill out this form and give a deposit.”

“We’re definitely interested. It seems
very progressive and I love your whole-child philosophy.”
Nancy
quickly filled in the form, but she was
stumped at certain areas. “Eugenia, when is your birthday?”

Eugenia shrugged.

Mrs. Kanbar looked surprised. “You don’t
know her birthday?”

Nancy
smiled and said, “Her mother left her
with me like…a delightful surprise! She’s traveling now. But Eugenia is almost
five, so I’ll just do the math…”

“Are you sure?” Mrs. Kanbar asked.

“Of course! She told me.”

The school director looked at the child
and said, “Eugenia, how old are you really?”

The girl held up five fingers and then
four.

“I thought so,” Mrs. Kanbar said. “We’ll
say four, but a big girl four.”

As
Nancy
wrote a check for the deposit, which was far more than she anticipated, and
handed it to Mrs. Kanbar, who placed it in her desk.

“Eugenia, can you draw a picture for
me?” Mrs. Kanbar asked and gave a piece of paper and a crayon to Eugenia. She
said to
Nancy
,
“Let’s talk in the hall.”

Nancy
followed her there saying, “I hope her
age is not a problem.”

“I’ve known Sloane for some time and I
value her opinion. She explained your unusual situation, otherwise I wouldn’t
take a child without proper permission from her legal guardian. It puts the
school at risk.”

“It’s nothing I planned,”
Nancy
said, wondering why
she felt as if she was the one doing something wrong. “Her mother is
unavailable.”

“Eugenia’s very lucky to have an aunt
who cares so much.”

“Yes, well…”

“Our regular program begins at nine, but
we have early drop-off from seven-thirty.”

“Nine is fine.”

They stayed for part of circle time, and
Eugenia was bouncing with excitement on the walk home.

Nancy
said, “Hold my hand while we’re
crossing the street. I can’t believe you fibbed about your age.” She was
exasperated when Eugenia didn’t respond. “Time passes quickly enough. Enjoy
this idyllic fourth year of your life. The big oh-four.” She liked the warmth
of the tiny hand in her own.

“Auntie Nanny, Miss Wiggles said I
should have a kitten. She had a kitten when she was a little girl. Can I have a
kitten?”

“Miss Winkles has a lot of ideas. You
can ask your mother about a kitten.”

“A kitten can sleep in my liddle room.”

“Little. A kitten would shred my clothes
with its diabolical claws. No.”

“I will watch it and say ‘No!’”

“I’m saying no now. Did you like the
school?”

“Mrs. Candybar smelled like lemons, not
chocolate. Where were the candy bars?”

“I’m fond of citrusy colognes and hers
was lovely. I don’t know if she gives out candy bars. She probably thinks
parents should give candy bars.”
Nancy
saw Eugenia’s disappointment and added, “Aunts can give candy bars, too.”

“A boy said he liked my cape.”

“It is stunning. Capes are both an
underused and misused garment. They’re unique in that the lining is as
important as the exterior. You can swirl one, or throw an end over your
shoulder dramatically. It can be short, a caplet, or long. Floaty or heavy. It’s
very versatile.”

“You can wear a cape, too, Auntie
Nanny.”

“You get more interesting every day,
Eugenia.”

Derek was just getting off the phone
when they returned. “How was the school, Eugenia?”

“Mrs. Candybar showed us the play yard
and Aunt Nanny is going to give me candy and when can we get my kitten?”

Derek looked at Nancy, who was shaking
her head no. He said, “The designer’s coming by with invitation samples at
2:00, and the contract for the warehouse will be ready for you to review
tomorrow. GP called and said the sets will require two full days to set up.”

“It’s getting exciting, isn’t it?”

He smiled. “I can see why you enjoy it.”

After lunch, when they’d run out of
breath kicking the soccer ball in the park, Nancy and Derek sat in the sun that
had made an appearance and watched Eugenia practice tumbling. There was no one
else around and Derek’s hand moved to take hers.

She smiled. “I’ve been holding hands
more these last few weeks than I have all of my adult life.”

“Don’t you hold hands with Mr.
Chambers?”

“Oh, please. Todd thinks hand-holding is
gay. His buddies got more hugs and ass slaps than I ever did. What about you
and Prescott?”

“He isn’t as cozy as you. He does make
an excellent mushroom risotto.”

“Todd doesn’t cook. He had a giant
outdoor kitchen built and promised he would grill, and he did it a total of
three times. He preferred a conflagration to technique. Everything was burnt on
the outside and raw on the inside.”

Nancy
looked down at Derek’s his large,
lovely hands and thought of where and how they’d touched her. She said, “We
always talk about me, and never about you. Tell me about your life.”

“A life in service is not very exciting,
Madame.”

“Your drawings are wonderful. Did you
study art?”

He laughed and said, “I spent many an
hour in the comic book shop and I took classes. I never found the right story
to tell.”

“You don’t seem to have any trouble
telling the Pirate Girl story.”

“I merely carry out Eugenia’s dictates,”
he said and rubbed his thumb on her wrist, sending tingles up her arm.

“Tell me about your family. I know you
said your mother raised you and your brother by herself. How did she do that?”

“She worked as a medical secretary and
became an office manager. Peter and I would like her to retire and move in with
his family.”

“Are you close to them?”

“Yes, but I had to go where I could find
work, Mrs. Carrington-Chambers.”

“What is your mother like?”

Now he smiled. “Very affectionate and
loving, but firm. She was adopted by an older couple and keeping us together as
a family was very important to her.”

“So you were poor?”

“Not as poor as many. We had food and a
roof over our heads and our mates. We were happy playing ball or having a
swim.”

“I think you must have been a
well-groomed, beautifully mannered boy who loved school trips to the museum.”

He smirked. “I will not disillusion you,
Mrs. Carrington-Chambers. I think you were an idiosyncratic towheaded girl who
demanded to have everything exactly as she wanted it.”

“I was a delightful child!” she said and
laughed. “What is Miss Winkles’ apartment like?”

“It is like a curiosity shop. I enjoyed
the adverts with the Winkles Triplets. Everything was three times as fast, or
three times as good.”

“Or three times as fun, if you believe
the rumors. Miss Winkles always has something snarky to say about my family,
but I heard that she and her sisters would pass men around like the flu.”

Nancy
was leaning against Derek, drowsy with
warmth and happiness, when a couple approached the park. She pulled her hand
away from his and got up suddenly. “Time to go.”

But when they got back to the apartment,
and Eugenia was napping on the sofa, Nancy and her assistant went to the
kitchen and closed the door. She said, “Just this once.”

“Because it’s a special occasion,” he
said as he urged her back over the small table.

“We eat at this table,”
Nancy
said.

“The laundry room?”

They kissed and touched down the hall
and left the door ajar. She had his trousers down and he had unsnapped her bra,
when she stopped suddenly. “Did you hear that?”

“No. What?” His lips were on her neck
and his hands came up to her breasts.

“I thought I heard Eugenia.”

“She’s fine. She’s sleeping.”

But
Nancy
had already grabbed her sweater from
atop the washing machine and was putting it back on as she left the room. She
went to the living room.

Eugenia’s eyes were closed and she
breathed evenly.
Nancy
arranged a light blanket around her. “I guess she was just dreaming,” she said
to Derek who’d pulled on his trousers and joined her.

“Can we go back?”

“She’ll be in school tomorrow. We can
wait.”

Nancy
didn’t call Bailey until seven in the
evening, when she hoped he would be out at dinner and wouldn’t pick up. She
left a brief message, saying, “Thank you for your invitation, but I’m afraid
I’m not available on Wednesday. Ta-ta!”

He called back five minutes later. She
answered on the fourth ring.

“Hi,
Nancy
, it’s Bailey. I just got your message.”

She didn’t respond.

Finally he said, “I guess I should have
called earlier. I had a great time on Saturday.”

“It was nice,” she said calmly, and then
more enthusiastically, she added. “It was so much fun dancing with GP. I’ve
loved him forever, and I finally got to chat with Junie, who’s been so tied up
with work. You know her, don’t you? She’s really lovely.”

“Yeah, we’ve met,” Bailey said. “When
can we go out again,
Nancy
?”

“Why don’t you tell me what your
availability is and I’ll check my schedule?”

“Friday,” he said. “There’s a dinner
party---”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I’m busy Friday.” She
wondered if she could get Derek to watch Eugenia again. He and Prescott were
probably busy most weekends.

“Saturday…”

“No, that doesn’t work for me. How about
next Tuesday?”

“Tuesday? Great. I’ll find something
special to do.”

The next morning, Eugenia crawled into
Nancy
’s bed with a
picture book. She snuggled close to
Nancy
and quietly turned the pages.
Nancy
put her arm around the sweet little body and nuzzled her fine hair and warm
cheek. “Why are you up so early?”

“I have to go to school.”

Nancy
glanced at the clock. It was 6:50. “We
have lots of time. We have more than two hours. Be patient. You have to learn
to wait.”

“I don’t want to wait.”

“Neither do I, baby, but sometimes
you’ve got to wait for good things. You should always do something productive
while you wait so it’s not a waste of time. Would you like me to read to you?”

Eugenia nodded and handed
Nancy
the pirate book.

Later, when
Nancy
dressed, she did something she never
did – change her clothes over and over again because she didn’t know what was
the right attire for a pre-lunch mini-sexathon with a gay assistant.

She settled on a black lace bra and
matching thong under a demure black sheath dress with a satin trim at the waist.
It was feminine and chic without being too scarily girly for him. Since she was
walking to the school, she wore mid-heeled shoes, and hoped she didn’t look too
nunnish.

Or maybe he would like that. Maybe he
wanted to be scolded and spanked. She’d never had the urge to spank Todd, but
she’d frequently wanted to slap him.

Eugenia wanted to run all the way to
Three Bridges. She’d dash ahead, her red cape flying back behind her, and then
Nancy
would call out,
“Come back!” and “Don’t go past the corner!” and “Wait right there, missy!”

Other kids were arriving with their
parents and au pairs.
Nancy
examined the children carefully, trying to suss out potential biters,
hair-pullers, or chronic nose-pickers. She saw several shady characters. She
held Eugenia’s hand and said, “You don’t have to go to school here.”

 
“I want to,” the girl said and ran to a
cluster of kids playing with a rubber ball.