Page 6 of The Dragon’s Accidental Manny

“His name is Cam.” Jack flapped his plastic wings as if that settled the matter.

Isla tugged at my arm. “He can teach me to draw.”

But Cam clasped his hands together. “I’m so sorry, but there’s been a big mistake. And it’s my fault.” He pulled out a slip of crumpled paper from his pocket. “I was supposed to speak to someone called Ledger. Meara sent me, and I got the wrong house.”

Ledger was my friend Theron’s mate, and his house was on the same road. Meara had lined up a potential manny, but he’d called and pushed the interview until tomorrow. What any sensible parent would do was tell the children Cam was someone else’s manny, apologize to them for the misunderstanding, walk the guy to the car, and make sure he left our property.

Him being my mate was a minor blip in my life. My focus had to be on the children because they’d had enough uncertainty in their young lives.

You do that and I’ll make your life a misery until you find him again. My dragon wasn’t trying to ruin my life. He was acting on instinct, and I pictured him smiling but revealing his fangs.

“You're our manny. Welcome to the family, Cam.”

“No, no.” Cam was flapping his arms in time with Jack’s toy. “I’m a potential manny for some other family, one with a smaller footstool.”

I burst out laughing. I couldn’t help it because he’d ruptured the tension, and it gave me a few seconds to consider how to move forward. Cam’s eyes darted around, and I imagined the scene from his perspective.

He was sweating from the heat, as we dragons needed a hotter environment than humans were used to. And I’d arrived ready to remove his head but had instead offered him a job. He was probably checking the exits and wondering how long it’d take him to flee.

Bea tilted her head to the side, possibly thinking I’d taken leave of my senses. Isla was messing with her sketchpad, and those damned plastic wings of Jack’s were doing that irritating fake flapping. I reached over and turned them off, hoping the batteries would die a terrible death, either that or I’d remove them.

I checked the kids’ wrists. They were all wearing their bracelets with the charms attached, so any dragon activity was contained within them. Bea would have made sure they were wearing them, but that should be my job.

My brother Allan had wanted these kids more than anything. I’d sat with him in the fertility clinic as he filled in the application. He’d built this sprawling house around the children, but what he hadn’t planned on was not being around to see them grow up.

I’d been Daddy for Jack and Dad for the girls for three years that included school runs, violin lessons, and bracelets on small warm wrists. I still woke some mornings thinking I was getting it wrong and that I was just a stand-in for my brother’s life. Was I enough for the children or just what was left?

I adored my kids, though I still experienced some guilt thinking of them as mine and wondering if Allan, wherever he was, was upset at me.

And now, I’d caught a scent from my fated mate and decided to move a new person into their lives. Maybe I was acting selfishly?

My dragon didn’t reply because I knew his answer.

Cam’s eyes kept going to a glass dragon on a high shelf. I’d made that piece years ago on a night I couldn’t sleep. But it was as though he was reading it and trying to figure out what it was saying.

He tried to stand but winced and fell back onto the couch. “I’ll leave now.” He pointed to the footstool. “I’m sorry about that.”

But I pieced together the car fumes on his skin, the unironed shirt, his too-prominent cheek bones and the tiredness in his slumped shoulders.

He has nowhere to go.

You’re right, I told my dragon.

“The agency is closed, and you have a sore ankle. Stay in the guest room tonight and I’ll call Meara first thing in the morning. We can deal with the paperwork, and you can meet Ledger since you came all this way.”

“But I can’t just stay here. You don’t know me.”

“Hmm, let’s see.” I held up three fingers. “You said you weren’t a burglar.” I put one finger down. “And that you weren’t crazy.” I curled a second finger. “And what was the third thing?” I tapped my lips.

“He’s not a kidnapper,” Bea and Isla shouted.

I shrugged and turned my palms up. “That’s four against one.” But as soon as I said it, I ran that sentence over in my head. Perhaps it was a little creepy, so I gave him an out.

“Unless you have somewhere else to be or someone waiting for you at home.” My voice lifted at the end of that sentence because I hadn’t considered the possibility Cam might be in a relationship, though if he was, they probably weren’t living together.

“A guest room.” He chewed his bottom lip. “That would be great. Thank you.”

Jack climbed onto the couch, planted a hand on Cam's shoulder, and delivered his verdict.