Code Name: Nanny (SEAL and Code Name #5)(50)

“Gabe is busy, honey. Why don’t you help Patrick for a few minutes until I come back?”

Sophy studied Summer’s navy pantsuit. “What about your suit? You’d look cool in a bikini. You know, one of the little knitted ones like Tracey’s mom wears.” She tilted her head. “Tracey says her mom ought to look great, after all the money she’s spent on plastic surgery. Have you had plastic surgery, Ms. M?”

“Afraid not. All body parts here came with the original unit.”

Sophy nodded, looking resigned. “Me, too. Someday I want to get my feet done.”

“Your feet?”

“Melanie Jamieson says my toes are too big.” Sophy sniffed. “Melanie is a creep, but she’s right. And my big toe is crooked.”

“Crooked is cute,” Summer said. On impulse, she bent and kissed the top of Sophy’s head. “It makes you an original. Don’t ever let anyone ever talk you into changing.”

“Okay,” Sophy said simply, all thoughts of body defects forgotten as Patrick emerged from the kitchen carrying a three-tier chocolate cake crowned by white-chocolate roses.

“I need a taster. Anyone interested?”

“Me, me!” Sophy shot across the floor and danced around him.

“Audra isn’t coming?” The chef looked crestfallen. “She loves my white-chocolate cake.”

“I’ll see if I can persuade her, Patrick.” Summer suppressed a sigh.

When did evasive driving get supplanted by Adolescence 101?





[page]chapter 18

Audra wasn’t in the loft library or in her bedroom, but as Summer neared the end of the hall, she heard an odd noise coming from Cara’s room. Standing at the open door, she listened intently.

The noise she’d heard was low, muffled sobbing.

What was she supposed to do now? She had absolutely no experience dealing with volatile situations like this. Kids were a complete mystery to her, and with her luck, she’d make everything worse.

Gradually the sobs began to fade. When the inner bathroom door finally opened, Summer was waiting, trying not to panic.

She tapped briskly at the door. “Audra, Patrick says he has chocolate cake for you.”

“I’m not hungry.” Fabric rustled. Audra sniffed hard. “Go away.”

Summer opened the bedroom door slightly. “May I come in?” She took the silence for assent. “Sophy wants to swim, but Gabe says he has to do some repairs on the pump, so Sophy thought you could call Tracey on her cell phone and ask to use their inside pool.”

Audra kept her back to Summer. “All Sophy thinks about is swimming and ballet and Hello Kitty stuff. Besides, I don’t want to swim.”

“I’d consider it a huge favor if you’d ask. Maybe you could go in the water with Sophy, too. I don’t swim.”

The girl turned slowly. “Why don’t you swim? Don’t you know how?”

“It’s been a long time, and I was never very good.” A lie. Once Summer had been a natural, spending hours in the water.

No more.

She locked away the memories. “You’ve been crying,” she said quietly to Audra.

“No way. I was just washing my face.”

“I heard you, Audra. I know I’m a stranger, but if this is about food, about eating—well, there are things you can do.”

Audra gave a defiant sniff. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I’m talking about not eating anything but two spoonfuls of oatmeal this morning and not much more for lunch.”

“I ate plenty. You just didn’t see me.”

“And then you came up here and tried to throw up.”

“You’re crazy.” But there was desperation behind the words. “Why don’t you just go away?”

“It never works, you know.” Ignoring Audra’s tense look, Summer sat down on the bed, speaking calmly. “You feel worse and worse, hungrier and hungrier. After a while your metabolism shuts down, and your body fights to hold on to every pound. Pretty soon you feel tired all the time, and you’re obsessing, adding up the numbers, always counting the calories. After a few months you start digesting your own muscles and organs. Then comes the shortness of breath, the dizziness.”

Audra spun around, her face pale and tight. “How would you know?”

“Because my sister had the same problem.” Summer looked down at her locked fingers. “I watched her fade away week after week and there was nothing I could do.” The words were hard, the memories even harder.

Audra stood uncertainly in the middle of the room. “So?” Her voice was very quiet. “What happened?”

“She nearly died. It was like watching a terrible disease cut her down a little more each day, only the real disease was in her head, not her body.”

“What happened?” Audra whispered.

“She went away to a place with other girls who had the same problem. They talked about how they felt and the doctors helped my sister understand why she was obsessed with being thin. It took months, but she finally learned how to eat without throwing up.”

Audra sank down on a chair near the bed. “I can’t even throw up. Nothing comes up. Even a stupid, dumb thing like that, I can’t do right.” Her slender shoulders shook.