Chapter 2: Meeting Leo

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Mouse switched her bag to her other shoulder as she walked across the lobby to the elevator. The doorman, whose name was Bobby, was very kind, and had a gold tooth, which showed when he smiled. He was expecting Mouse, and acted like holding the door open for her was the high point of his day.

She had never been in a building this nice before. She'd looked up the address online before she came, and she knew that there was a penthouse apartment that took up the whole top floor, and that the elevator on the other side of the lobby served that apartment alone, effectively serving as its front door.

As she waited for one of the other elevators, the PH elevator doors opened. What seemed like a never-ending stream of laughing little girls came out, followed by a woman with red hair and whoa, was that Pete Santangelo?

Holy shit.

Mouse stared, not sure if she should believe her eyes at first, but yes, it was definitely him. They were all chattering like a flock of birds, and she heard Bobby telling them to have fun in Italy, and not to grow while they were gone. He was holding one of the little girls, and he let her twirl the tassel on his suit before handing her into the car.

She, Mouse, AKA Martha Cameron, was going to get to live in the same building as Pete Santangelo?

Cool.

Her elevator finally arrived, and she took it up to the eighteenth floor. She found their door and rang the bell, wondering what Leo was like in person, and if he'd like her. Kids as a rule were fond of Mouse, because she was calm, and non-threatening.

The door was opened by Leo himself. He was wearing shorts and a T-shirt with some kind of superhero on it. His expression was watchful and cautious.

"Hi, are you Mouse?" he asked without preamble.

Mouse nodded. "I am," she answered. "And you're Leo, right?"

He nodded. He held the door wider and looked in the hallway after she'd stepped in, checking both directions carefully before shutting the door. They were standing in a large foyer.

"What were you looking for?" Mouse asked.

His eyes flicked up to hers. "Nothing," he replied, but Mouse could see that he was beginning to smile a little bit.

"You can tell me," she encouraged. "You know I'm coming to spend time with you this summer, right? If you like me, I'm going to live here." She hunkered down so they were eye to eye. "And part of my job is going to be to keep your secrets."

He continued to look at her, and she could see the distrust now, completely out in the open. "My other nannies told, though," he said. Mouse could see that, as far as he was concerned, the subject was closed.

"Okay," she said, shrugging as she rose. "You don't have to tell, I don't mind." She turned to walk out of the foyer. She turned around to face him once more, though. "I give you my word, though, that unless it's something dangerous, I won't tell anyone unless you say it's okay."

"Mouse? That you?" Henry called.

"Yes, daddy, she's here," Leo responded, dashing in front of her. "You were right, she says her name is really Mouse!"

"I told you, kiddo," Henry answered, laughing. He came out of what looked like the kitchen, wiping his hands. "I was lazy and ordered out, and it won't be here for a few minutes, so I'll give a quick tour while we wait, okay?"

He led the way, showing Mouse the large, sunny family room, with the kitchen at one end, separated by a granite peninsula. There was also a small den, which looked like the room where Henry did most of his work. A dining area took up the space next to the small terrace that overlooked Tribeca and the confluence of the Hudson and East Rivers. Leo waved to the Statue of Liberty.

"That's the communal part of the house," Henry explained. They walked down the hallway. "This is Leo's room," he opened the door, and Mouse saw a large room that was transitioning from being a baby's room to that of a little boy. The bed was a regular twin, but there was a railing so he wouldn't fall out. There was a bookshelf with lots of books and toys, and the walls were bluish green, with some fish and coral decorating them.

"This is my room," Henry opened the door at the end of the hall, and Mouse saw a large room in dark colors, a typical man's room, with no feminine accoutrements at all. "Spare room," he continued, gesturing toward a closed door as they walked by.

"And this will be yours," he finished. It was probably a maid's quarters, back in the days when people had live-in help, Mouse reasoned. It was close to the front door, and a little larger than a regular bedroom. It was a beautiful room, with a small seating area, a television, and its own bathroom. The bed was a queen, which looked luxurious and huge to Mouse, and the window even had a view of the leafy street and park, which was across the street.

"Wow," she said, looking around. "This is the nicest room I've ever had in my life, honest." She grinned.

"Really?" Leo asked. "Miss Katerina, my other nanny, said it was really small."

"Well, I'm the youngest of nine kids," Mouse told him, holding up nine fingers for emphasis. His eyebrows went up, and Mouse nodded. "I never had my own room growing up, and I've had two or three roommates every year I've been at NYU. And I've never, ever, had my own bathroom." She smiled. "This looks like a slice of heaven to me, Leo."

The doorbell rang, signaling the arrival of lunch, and they sat down to pizza, which Leo put away with great gusto. While eating they talked food.

"So what do you like to eat, Miss Mouse?" Leo asked, right before taking a huge bite of pizza.

"First, just call me Mouse, okay? Miss Mouse sounds weird, so formal, like what you'd call Minnie or something, you know?" Mouse asked Leo with a wink.

He nodded agreement, chewing.

"So I like all food, actually," Mouse said, eating. "You wouldn't know it to look at me, but I actually eat quite a bit. And I eat really fast."

Leo looked at her thoughtfully, even looking under the table so he could have an unobstructed view of her midsection. "Where does it go?" he asked. "And why? Why do you like to eat so fast?"

"How fast do you think you'd eat if you had eight older brothers and sisters you had to eat with?" Mouse asked matter of factly as she grabbed another slice. "Especially if it was something really good? Like dessert? If you weren't fast, you just didn't eat, you know?" She gave Leo a look. "You're lucky you're an only child, you have no idea how fraught mealtimes can be."

Henry watched his son and their guest as they talked. Leo was watching Mouse, hanging on her every word, captivated. He was even forgetting to chew sometimes.

Mouse, brown hair in a simple braid, raised her eyebrows as she spoke to him. She was waving her pizza around for emphasis as she spoke, and it occurred to him that maybe Leo just needed someone a little younger to talk to sometimes. For all their degrees and credentials, the people he'd hired to nanny Leo had been adults, older than Henry, sometimes.

Mouse said something that made Leo laugh, and Henry looked at his son, carefully covering his own surprise. He hadn't heard Leo laugh out loud in a long time, not even when it was just the two of them.

Henry looked back at Mouse. Leo's laugh had made her smile as well, and she put her pizza down to high five his son. Her smile was lovely, fresh and genuine, and very different from the women whose pictures he took all day, though they were probably close to the same age.

For the first time in a long time, Henry felt hopeful. His girlfriend, Madeleine, hadn't thought that hiring a student to come live with them for the summer was a good idea, but Henry was beginning to think that this might be just what Leo needed.

Leo looked over at his father, still laughing. His mouth was open, and Henry made a face at him, grinning, motioning for him to close his mouth while he had food in it. Leo closed his mouth but kept grinning.

After lunch, Leo asked if Mouse could stay a little longer and play a game with him, so she stayed, and the three of them played a rousing game of hide and seek, with lots of shouting and laughing, as Mouse learned the nooks and crannies of the apartment.

"Okay, okay," she finally said, looking at her watch. "I have to go, Leo. I'm meeting some friends for dinner."

"Aww," he said, his disappointment evident. "When can you come back?"

"Yeah, when can you come back?" Henry echoed with a smile.

"How's next week?" she replied.

"Sounds perfect," he said. "We'll look forward to it, won't we, Leo?"

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