“Thank you,” she tells him with a warm smile.
“What makes you interested in the nighttime position?” he asks.
“I’m in law school.”
Because of course she is. Pretty and smart.
“When are you planning to sleep?” I blurt out before I can stop myself.
Grayson gives me awhat-the-fucklook.
Kyle just laughs lightly. “My classes are for working adults, so they’re compressed from six to nine every night. I’ll sleep in the morning and early afternoons. I like to stay busy.”
“I don’t mind if you study,” Grayson says. “Evelyn is a challenge to put down, but once she’s asleep, she usually only wakes up twice, around two and six. All I expect you to do when she’s sleeping is some light housekeeping. Washing bottles, doing Evelyn’s laundry.”
“That sounds perfect to me.”
I’m listening intently, so it takes me a second to realize my arm feels wet. I glance down and realize Evelyn has filled her diaper and then some. There is loose baby poop on my forearm and all up her back.
“Shoot,” I mumble, forcing myself to my feet. “We have a blowout.”
Neither of them acknowledges me. She is showing Grayson an app on her phone. “I’ll log all of Evelyn’s changes and sleep times here so you can view them at any time.”
He’s leaning very close to her. Their arms are touching.
I feel a surge of jealousy that makes me very uncomfortable.
I try to listen to their conversation from the bedroom where I’m undressing Evelyn, who is waving her arms and cooing.
God, she’s cute.
Even covered in poop.
I can’t hear Grayson and Kyle at all and Evelyn needs a bath, so I resign myself to not being able to eavesdrop as I carry Evelyn, still in her loaded diaper, to the bathroom. I fill the sink with warm water and finally remove the diaper.
Washing her off with her baby soap and a hand mitt sponge, I bend over to rest a little against the countertop. Evelyn is happily kicking and splashing.
By the time I have her squeaky clean and dressed in fresh clothes, Grayson and Kyle are best friends. They’re chuckling and smiling, heads bent together.
“We’re going to take Evelyn for a walk,” Grayson tells me. “I want to show Kyle the building and the neighborhood.”
“Why? Everything is closed at night.”
Normally I would have kept that thought to myself, but I’m tired, annoyed, and damn it, I’m jealous. I don’t want either Grayson or Evelyn to like Kyle more than me, which is ridiculous. Me and Grayson are acquaintances and nothing more and I’m Evelyn’s temporary nanny. I should be happy Grayson might have found someone who will stay long term and bond with Evelyn.
Grayson doesn’t even bother to answer me. He just ignores me and retrieves the stroller.
“We’re just getting the lay of the land,” Kyle tells me, lightly.
Grayson comes over and reaches out for his daughter. “Hangovers make you cranky,” he murmurs in my ear.
I bristle. “Maybe you make me cranky.”
The corner of his mouth turns up. He’s close to me. Too close. I can see the gold flecks surrounding his brown irises and smell his light aftershave. My gaze is drawn to his lips and I feel my cheeks grow warm.
Evelyn shoves a finger in his mouth, breaking my reverie.
“I think you need a nap,” he says to me. “Lay down on the couch.”
