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(high-def, of course), and a lifetime supply of LEGOs, video games, and Power Wheels. Ten feet ahead of them, Weston and Easton, wearing identical pleated Lilly Pulitzer skirts and bubble-gum pink polos, chugged along. They were mixed in with a gaggle of other kids, all part of the country club's “Nanny and Me” afternoon programming. Every kid carried a plastic golf putter.
    Anya and Kat's children had wanted to be in the equivalent older kids' group, but Anya had been absolutely inflexible.Instead, they had a private swimming lesson scheduled, and the private swimming lesson was what they'd attend. It gave Lydia some free time—she would meet them at the family pool in two hours.
    “Hey, you never know,” Esme tried to reassure her while still keeping a watchful eye on the twins.
    “This time, I know,” Kiley muttered. “My mom has me on a ten o'clock flight tomorrow morning back to La Crosse. Nonrefundable.”
    Lydia offered a sympathetic smile. “Too bad that thing didn't work out at the coffeehouse with Esme's friend.”
    Kiley shrugged. “It wouldn't have mattered. My mom said I couldn't live in Echo Park.” She shot Esme a guilty look. “No offense, Esme.”
    “No offense taken,” Esme assured her.
    “I don't see why we're just giving up, y'all,” Lydia insisted. “We just need another good brainstorm session. Maybe I can find you another nanny job.”
    “I appreciate the offer,” Kiley said, “but there isn't enough time. My mom wouldn't allow it, anyway. I think she's ruined for life on the idea of me being a nanny. God, it's so ironic. Here I am at the first day of Nanny and Me—a nanny with no kids to nanny for, because they're under state protection.”
    Nanny and Me was one of the country club's most popular programs. Many of the members were parents of kids under the age of nine, and many of those parents worked full-time and/or did charity work full-time and/or were simply too busy with paraffin pedis, shopping sprees, or cheating on a spouse in a bungalow at the Beverly Hills Hotel. So the country club offered Nanny and Me, where special counselors organized activities forthe children and their nannies. It seemed as though all the country club kids had nannies—many had more than one, with the second nanny to fill in on weekends and days off. Sometimes a third nanny covered nights.
    Today was the first day of this season's Nanny and Me; Kiley was impressed by the turnout. There were upwards of three dozen nannies—she heard accents from France, England, the American South, Jamaica, and the Far East—shepherding twice that many young children.
    In a way, being there was painful. The whole day had been painful, in fact, and not just because her mother had ordered her to come home. Even the skimpy helping hand that Jorge had offered, the possibility of her waitressing at La Verdad coffeehouse, had been ripped asunder by reality. Kiley had hoped against hope that if she had a job, her mother would relent. But it turned out that La Verdad had no job openings. Jorge tried to cajole Geraldo, but it was no use. In the end, he was as disappointed as she was.
    They'd just been leaving La Verdad when Kiley had gotten the call from Esme—did she want to come to the country club? At first Kiley had demurred; then she'd decided that they'd probably not even let her through the iron gate. But Esme had insisted, and asked Jorge to drop Kiley at the country club. He'd agreed, since he'd ordered some books from Dutton's bookstore in Brentwood, which wasn't all that far away from the club. Kiley realized she had nothing better to do, so she took Esme up on her offer.
    To her surprise, she had no problem getting into the club— the skinny security guard with the bleached blond hair recognized her and waved her through. She met Esme and Lydia inthe activity center with the kids. The first thing she noticed was that Lydia wasn't decked out in her aunt's “borrowed” couture duds. Instead, she was in her