All He Really Needs(39)

Just like that, all the warm, fuzzy goodness that had been coursing through her veins seemed to seep into her belly and congeal into a mass of nerves.

Despite that sick feeling in her gut, Sydney wasn’t going to back down, either. Caro knew more than she was saying. Sydney had no doubt about that.

“Okay,” Sydney said, keeping her tone diplomatic. “If you don’t remember the girl’s name, surely you can think of someone who might. There’s got to be someone else who can help us find her. How did you hire the nannies?” Sydney asked. “Did you use an agency of some kind?”

Suddenly, Caro’s eyes lit up. “Yes. There was an agency. They sent nanny applications over.”

Griffin sat back in his seat and gave Sydney an appreciative grin. “Great. Then all we need is the name of the agency.”

“I don’t have it.”

“You what?”

“I don’t have it. But Sharlene Sheppard should. Hollister asked Sharlene to help find the nanny. She contacted the agency herself.”

“Okay then,” Griffin said, pushing back his chair. “We go talk to Sharlene.”

Sydney pushed back her chair and stood. She waited until they’d said their goodbyes to Caro and were out of hearing range before asking, “We?”

“Yes,” he said grimly. “In for a penny, in for pound, right? Now that you’ve met my mother, you might as well meet the rest of the cast in this Greek tragedy.”

The whole situation made Sydney sad. She’d always felt like she’d gotten the short end of the stick when it came to family. No father in the picture. A mother more interested in scoring her next hit than in parenting. No extended relatives to take over.

But the tangled mess that was the Cain family made her realize just how lucky she’d actually been. She’d landed with a great foster mom. She had foster siblings she cared about. And at the end of the day, she knew she had people who cared about her. Did Griffin have that? Had he ever had that?

She thought not. And it simply made her want to cry.





Ten


Griffin had always loved Greek mythology, particularly Homer’s Odyssey. That bit about Scylla and Charybdis…that was pure gold. The way Griffin saw it, Homer’s family life must have been about as fun-filled as his own because anytime he had to deal with both his mother and his father’s former mistress, that’s how he felt—like he was trapped with a horrible six-headed monster on one side and a treacherous whirlpool on the other.

Was it any wonder he hadn’t wanted Sydney to accompany him through those particular straits? Even Odysseus lost good soldiers on that trip.

Though Sharlene looked like a defenseless waif—much as his own mother did—Sharlene was strong. If Caro’s personality sometimes seemed as formidable as a six-headed monster’s, then Sharlene was the vortex that unwittingly sucked people in. At heart, Sharlene was nice, a rarity in his childhood, but good intentions hadn’t stopped her from creating countless problems and endless grief. He’d spent ten years of his life trapped between Scylla and Charybdis.

When he was a kid, he’d actually preferred spending time with Sharlene. Whenever they’d gone to the offices of Cain Enterprises, it had always been Sharlene who had taken care of them. She’d kept crayons in her desk—a hundred and sixty-four count crayons, too, not the measly sixteen count—and she always made sure she had paper to draw on. And when he’d had an emergency appendectomy when he was seven and his mother was out of town, it had been Sharlene who had stayed with him at the hospital.

Of course, as an adult, he could see that the emotional vortex was its own kind of monster. None of which explained why the thought of seeing her again after all this time made him feel sick to his stomach. But of all the women Hollister Cain had seduced and used badly, Sharlene had deserved it the least.

It wasn’t until he’d pulled the car onto the loop and was heading for downtown that he felt Sydney’s gaze firmly on him.

He glanced over at her, frowning. “What?”

She looked at him with her head cocked slightly to the side. “You’re nervous.”

He scoffed. “No, I’m not.”

“Really?” she asked, looking pointedly at the spot on the steering wheel where his fingers tapped out a frantic beat.

“Okay.” Why had he lied in the first place? So he was nervous about seeing Sharlene again. No big deal. “Maybe a little.”

“You want to tell me why?”

No, he didn’t.

She shrugged as if she didn’t really care either way. “I just thought it might help. Talking it out might make you less nervous. If she’s as formidable an opponent as rumor has made her out to be, you might be better off not displaying any signs of weakness.”