Gabby Duran and the Unsittables (4 page)

“Well?” the woman asked. “Would you like to hear my offer?”

Gabby imagined telling the story of this moment to the people she loved most. Carmen would accuse her of idiocy and Alice would worry about her safety. Both would want her to turn around and go
home. Satchel would vote for home, too. Much as he could handle anything on a movie screen, in real life he’d freak out if he stepped on a crack or spilled salt. This would have him
hyperventilating.

Then she heard Zee’s voice in her head.
It’s always better to know than not know. Always
.

Gabby smiled. Those were the words Zee said when they’d bonded as lab partners in fourth grade and wondered how much Jell-O powder it would take to turn the school pool into a gelatinous
dessert. Gabby had agreed then, and she agreed just as much now. Besides, hearing what the woman had to say didn’t commit her to anything.

Still, she felt she had a right to make a demand—a
request
—of her own. “First, I’d like to know your name,” she said.

“You may call me Edwina,” the woman replied.

“Because that’s your name?”

“Because it will suffice.”

Gabby still didn’t say yes. She took a moment to study Edwina. The triplets had thought she was ancient. She wasn’t quite that, but the deep lines along her forehead and down her
cheeks did peg her as older, maybe even seventy. The white hair piled into a tight bun beneath her chauffeur’s cap also aged her. Only her brown eyes seemed young and strong. They were sharp
and piercing, filled with keen intelligence. Gabby understood why the triplets had found the woman intimidating, but she highly doubted Edwina had ninja skills. She imagined her leaping into a
midair roundhouse kick and laughed out loud.

Edwina raised an eyebrow. “You don’t think I could pull off Ninja-Nana Annihilation?”

Gabby clamped her hand over her mouth, then asked, “How did you…?”

“No, I don’t read minds,” Edwina said, “not even to know you were wondering if I did. I simply surmised it from a combination of your clumsy attempt to subtly size me up,
your expression, and what I observed earlier.”

Gabby opened her mouth to reply, but she was too shocked for anything to come out. A hint of a smile played on Edwina’s lips.

“Magnificent work, by the way,” Edwina said. “With the triplets. You handled them beautifully.”

“I didn’t
handle
them,” Gabby corrected her immediately. “I played with them. It was fun. They’re really good kids.”

“For
you
,” Edwina noted. “As are many children who are impossible for other authority figures.”

Gabby screwed up her face. “I’m not an ‘authority figure.’ I’m just a babysitter.”

“
Just
a babysitter?” Edwina arched an eyebrow. “That’s not what I’ve heard. More like a
super
-sitter. Clients all over the world seek you out for the
most impossible babysitting cases.”

Gabby simply nodded. She was proud of her reputation and happy she could help people who needed her, but she didn’t like to brag about it. Starting with her own little sister—despite
Carmen’s claims otherwise—babysitting was just something Gabby was good at. It came naturally to her.

“Tell me,” Edwina said, narrowing her eyes. “What’s your secret?”

“I don’t have one,” Gabby said honestly. “I just love kids.”

“
All
kids?” Edwina pressed.

“Never met one I didn’t like.”

“No matter how…unusual?”

Gabby laughed. “The more unusual the better! That’s what makes babysitting so fun. Every kid is unique and different, so I never do the same thing twice.”

Edwina nodded thoughtfully, then stared at the road and didn’t say anything for what felt like ages. Gabby wondered if she’d put her foot in her mouth again, and if Edwina
wouldn’t offer the proposition after all. She was running their entire conversation back through her head when Edwina’s eyes snapped to the rearview mirror and caught Gabby’s
own.

“I have a job for you,” Edwina offered. “One boy, eight years old, ten minutes. I’ll pay you four times your hourly rate.”

Gabby sat straight up and leaned forward against the seat belt. “What?!”

“I believe you heard me,” Edwina said. “Should this job go well, I’ll offer you more.”

The “Yes!” was about to leap from Gabby’s mouth, but Edwina cut her off.

“Before you answer, there’s a caveat. You must agree beforehand that you will tell no one about the experience. Not your mother, not your sister, not your friends.”

Gabby fell back into her seat. This changed things. “I don’t like to lie,” she said.

“Nor do I,” said Edwina. “It’s an admirable quality. However, I’m afraid the circumstance requires it. So what do you say? Are the terms acceptable to
you?”

A million conflicting thoughts whirled through Gabby’s brain, but only one got bigger and bigger until it stood front and center in her mind.

Gabby’s mom, Alice.

She worked so hard to provide for Gabby and Carmen and still be there with the girls all the time, but it was a struggle. Though Alice never complained about it, Gabby knew her mom always felt
the pressure to earn more money in less time. And yes, Gabby’s income helped, but between school and her French horn and homework and time with her friends, she could only work so many hours.
If Edwina really would pay four times her rate, that could make a huge difference in the Durans’ lives.

There was something else Gabby wanted, too, but she knew she shouldn’t get ahead of herself. Right now Edwina was offering just the one ten-minute job. A nice bonus. A little extra she
could put aside and use for something special.

Gabby checked her watch, then picked up her phone.

“Your hourly check-in text to your mother?” Edwina asked.

Gabby wasn’t even surprised anymore by how much Edwina knew. She simply nodded, typed,
All good, but running about an hour late b/c of plane stuff. Love u!
, and pressed Send. She
felt a twinge of guilt, but it faded. She was doing a little wrong for a greater right. Or at least the opportunity for a greater right. She looked into the rearview mirror and met Edwina’s
eyes.

“I accept your offer.”

Edwina nodded almost imperceptibly and remained silent for the rest of the ride.

Five minutes later, they pulled onto a tree-lined lane with wide sidewalks and houses with lovingly manicured yards. It was early evening, but a dozen different kids still raced around on foot,
bikes, or skates. The charming cookie-cutter homes were all spread far enough apart to offer privacy but close enough that neighbors would grow naturally friendly.

The road ended in the swell of a cul-de-sac. Edwina pulled up in front of a green house with white shutters, where a gray Persian fuzzball of a cat rose languidly in the window, stretched, then
hopped out of sight.

“Aw!” Gabby cooed. “They have a kitten!”

“Of sorts,” Edwina replied.

Gabby understood. The cat had looked small but was probably full-grown. Still, it was really cute. Maybe she and the eight-year-old would find a string and play with it for ten minutes. Easiest
assignment ever!

Still playing proper limo driver, Edwina exited the car, then came around to open the door for Gabby. The two walked through the gate in the white picket fence surrounding the front yard, then
up a flagstone path to the door.

Edwina made no move to knock or ring the bell. She didn’t have to. The second they neared the house, the door swung open to reveal a smiling young couple so beautiful, fresh-faced, and
happy they might have stepped off the pages of
Perfect Parent
magazine. They even held hands just to answer the door. Gabby liked them immediately.

“You must be Gabby!” they said in unison.

Exact unison. Even their inflections matched. It was the vocal equivalent of being with Ali, Lia, and Ila all over again.

Odd, but sweet.

“I am. Gabby Duran. Nice to meet you.”

“No, it’s nice to meet
you
,” the smiling dad said.

“Please come in!” the smiling mom offered.

“Can we get you anything?” the dad asked. “Water? Coffee?”

The mom’s smile strained a bit, and Gabby noticed her squeeze his hand a little harder. “John, honey,” she said tightly, “Gabby’s still a little girl. Little girls
don’t drink coffee. All humans know that.”

“Of course!” John laughed, but it sounded a little forced. “I was just kidding. So was my wife, Lisa, when she said ‘all humans.’ I mean, who talks like
that?”

Lisa stiffened as if she’d realized she’d made a horrible mistake, but the moment passed so quickly Gabby almost thought she’d imagined it, and a heartbeat later Lisa was
laughing right along with her husband.

Loudly. And for a strangely long time.

Edwina sighed and rolled her eyes. “May we see the boy?”

“Of course!” John and Lisa chorused. They turned around but didn’t release each other’s hands. So instead of simply pivoting, they walked awkwardly around each other in a
large circle while Edwina sighed and tapped a foot impatiently.

“This is ridiculous,” Edwina finally snapped. “Gabby, come with me.”

She walked briskly down the hall and opened a door, revealing stairs leading to a basement. The stairs turned before they made it all the way down, so Gabby couldn’t see much of the room
from where she stood. Still, she could tell it was finished, with sky-blue painted walls and a thick sandy-brown carpet. Music wafted up, and Gabby heard the jangling of a bell—maybe the cat?
Gabby hadn’t seen it since she came inside, so maybe John and Lisa had let it downstairs. She also heard boyish laughter.

“Your charge is down there,” Edwina said, nodding down the stairs. “I’ll fetch you in ten minutes.”

“Got it,” Gabby said.

She stepped onto the staircase, and the door instantly slammed behind her.

Click
.

Had Edwina locked her in?

For the first time, Gabby felt a prickle of unease and wondered if she’d made a big mistake coming here.

“Hey, did you hear that?” she heard the boy ask. “Is that my babysitter?”

Feet pounded across the floor and onto the stairs, and a moment later a towheaded mop top appeared on the landing just below Gabby. He was small for eight, but everything else was exactly what
Gabby would expect from a kid with lots of energy. The shins of his jeans looked like they’d lost a brutal battle with a grassy field, his T-shirt had a juice stain down the front, and his
hair stuck up wildly on one side. The cat had followed him, and now looked up at him curiously, as if wondering when they’d get back to whatever they were doing. The boy, however, was all
about Gabby.

“It
is
you!” he said with a giddy smile. “I’m Philip. Are you here to play with me?”

Gabby laughed at her own misgivings. Philip was a great kid—anyone could see that. Why would Edwina imagine she’d have to pay Gabby four times her hourly rate to spend ten minutes
with him?

“I am!” Gabby assured him. “And I’m so excited! What do you want to play?”

“Oh, I know all kinds of games!” Philip enthused. He slipped his little hand in Gabby’s and pulled her with him back down the stairs. The basement was all playroom: huge and
carpeted, with stacks of toys, scattered beanbag chairs, and lots of empty space to run around.

Gabby shrugged her purple knapsack off her shoulders and knelt down, so she and Philip were eye to eye. “Tell you what,” she said. “We don’t have a ton of time this
playdate, so how about you show me your
favorite
game.”

“Okay!” Philip agreed. “I call this one The Brand-New Babysitter and the Giant…”

Philip’s voice dropped three octaves as he said the word “Giant.” His deep rumbling tone filled the room and shook the very walls.

“…Drippy…” the booming voice continued, but now Philip’s skin started to bubble and pucker. His clothes seemed to melt
into
his skin, like they
weren’t fabric at all but part of a body that was now changing…and growing by the second.

“…SLUG-MONSTER!” Philip’s deep rumbling voice finished with a shout. He had swelled until he was taller than Gabby herself, and his human body had bubbled and oozed away
entirely, leaving a massive curl of gelatinous ooze topped by two googly eyeballs on long stalks. These hung down close in front of Gabby’s face, and the
creature-formerly-known-as-Philip’s mouth opened in a drooling, saber-toothed grin.

“So…what do you think of my game?” it asked.

E
dwina sat at the kitchen table, casually thumbing through e-mails on her tablet. None of the sounds wafting up from the basement fazed her. Not
the pounding of racing feet, not the wild jiggling of the locked door, not the bloodcurdling screams.

John and Lisa weren’t faring quite so well.

“I really wish you wouldn’t drink that stuff,” Lisa told her husband as she paced the floor. “It’s so high-octane.”

John lowered the red gasoline container from his mouth and said pointedly, “At least I’m not the one biting my nails.”

Lisa removed her hand from the candy dish full of metal fasteners. “They’re screws, actually,” she said tightly. “And I can’t help it. I eat when I’m
anxious.”