She smiles at my stupid joke, nibbling on her toast. “You are a rare specimen, Anders. That much is true.”
Her small smile stays in place while we finish our breakfast, which feels like a victory. I’m finishing the last bites of my overripe banana when Sunny stacks our dishes on the tray, because of course she’s the person who stacks her dishes after being served.
“Oh…” She uncovers a scrap of paper under her plate and unfolds it.
This has Imogen written all over it. I find a lot of notes in my luggage when I travel—surprise, joking threats, requests for souvenirs, and I-love-yous, in her misspelled, childish scrawl. I lean over to read the note, but to my surprise Sunny folds it before I can. Even in the dim light I can tell her face is pink.
“What does it say?” I ask with a laugh. What would she want to hide from me? I swipe for the note, but before I get close she shoves it down the front of her shirt for safekeeping. That makes me laugh even harder.
“So! What’s the plan today?” Her voice is loud, obviously trying to deflect. I let her. I can just ask Immy what the note says.
“I guess my brothers are coming. And one thing you should know about my family is we can’t get together without my mom giving us a project to finish. We’re doing tile today.” I think back on the texts I traded with my mom and her excitement to have her bathroom redone. My back already hurts thinking about it. I guess I’m glad my brothers are coming, after all. I’m kind of dreading any interactions they’ll have with Sunny, but at least there will be more hands to carry tile and buckets. A horror movie soundtrack plays in my mind at the thought of the grout water buckets. “It’s not too late. We can find a day spa for you. This is supposed to be your vacation.”
“Are you serious? Not a chance. I love doing tile. All of that planning and laying things out in order, with a finished product to look at immediately? Ultimate satisfaction.”
I should’ve known, but I shake my head at her. “There’s no way I’m letting my girlfriend retile my parents’ bathroom on her so-called vacation.”
Shearches an eyebrow at the word, which was my precise intention. She doesn’t look thrilled with me. What else would I call a girl who I like to kiss and who I brought home to meet my parents? There isn’t a more accurate word for it. We can ignore the fact that Anders Beck, Inc. is paying her to take care of my daughter. That makes it sketchy.
I bump her shoulder with mine. “Besides, my mom’ll want you and Immy all to herself, far away from the back-breaking labor.
“We’ll see,” she says with a knowing look. “All right, I think our thirteen minutes are up. Shoo. I need to get dressed.” Then she actually shoos me out of my own bed with a playful shove.
I lean back under the bunk to grab our breakfast tray and tug playfully on the shoulder of her sweatshirt. “This looks good on you.”
Four hours later, I’m on my hands and knees spreading thinset onto my parents’ bathroom floor with a trowel. I’m also trying not to stare at Sunny’s backside as she does the same. She’s obviously done this before. She’s been bossing my brothers and me around all day. Or more accurately, she’s prevented us from making multiple near-disastrous home improvement decisions all morning. Tomato, tomahto.
Liam and Josh came in on the same flight from Chicago, where they work at a tech startup they founded. They crashed through the door early this morning with their backpacks and running critical commentary.
Sunny has taken to them like a butterfly to flowers and I could not be less pleased with the situation. I’ve been the butt-end of a lot of jokes today. I was worried about my brothers ganging up on Sunny and scaring her away. They’ve never liked any of the women I’ve dated, least of all Imogen’s mother. But it turns out I should’ve been worried about the three of them ganging up on me.
“Explain it to me again,” Liam says, because as the eldest son he feels entitled to justifications for my every decision. “How did you end up hiring your girlfriend to be your nanny?”
“I’m not his girlfriend.” Sunny corrects him for the tenth time, scraping a neat swirl of thinset off the concrete. “My family owns the resort where Anders is filming. He hired me to take care of Immy after he had to fire the old nanny at the last second.”
Josh coughs from where he’s perched on the closed toilet—which is sitting in my parent’s bathtub until the tile is finished—scrolling on his phone. “You fired another one?”
“Yep,” I snap at my baby brother. “You want to get off your butt and help, Yankee? Or are you going to sit there all day?”
“Why do they call you that?” Sunny asks Josh. She’s been like a boxing referee with us, trying to keep things light and above the belt. She doesn’t know that this is normal for us. It’s how we show love.
“He was born after we moved to the States,” Liam answers for him. “He’s the one true Yank of the family.”
“Ah,” Sunny says. “And you guys were born in Sweden?”
“Ja,” he answers, letting his voice get low and growly in a way that gets my hackles up. "Äkta svenskar.”
Is he trying to act sexy for her right now, whipping out the Swedish? And I swear he just puffed up his chest when he said that.Freaking Liam.
I slop a pile of thinset on the floor, spreading it out and scraping up the excess before Liam hands me a sheet of antiqued penny tile. We fit it into place next to the previous sheet, using a grout float to level it all out. Sunny taught us this trick. She’s working alone in her corner—precise, efficient, and gaining on us. Who knows what Josh is doing? Probably ordering a crate of protein powder or more mirrors. I get all the guff for being arrogant about my looks, but Josh is the real peacock of the family. It doesn’t help anything that he has the face and physique to back it up.Freaking Josh. I slap another mound of thinset onto the concrete.
“Easy, pal. Let’s take our time and do this right,” Liam chides.
Instead of shoving his head into the toilet and flushing, I pass him my trowel and let him take a turn. And just in time. Sunny’s phone buzzes on the counter and she hands her trowel to me.
“I’ll just be a second.” She takes her phone into the hall and closes the door behind her.
My brothers and I work in silence for a minute—except Josh, who is still scrolling on the toilet—before Liam chimes in like he can’t contain himself.
