Frigid Favor
Noelle
The next day, while I got ready for work, I received unexpected news. The nanny called, giving her notice. No two weeks’ warning, not even a few days—only hours before her shift.
I had no one to watch Faith. Logan wouldn’t answer his damn phone, and my parents were in the Bahamas for the holidays. I couldn’t blame them for wanting to spend quality time together, but I wished they were home. Then I could drop their granddaughter off for a few hours while I went to work.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t an option.
I picked up my cell phone and called my parents on Messenger in full-blown panic mode. Work wasn’t for an hour, giving me some time, but I couldn’t afford to be late. Owning Evergreen Toys meant I never missed work. It had been my father’s company, and it’s our namesake. There was no room for error, which meant vacation days were a thing of the past. The billion-dollar company wouldn’t run if an Evergreen weren’t in charge.
Someday, I hoped to pass the family business down to Faith. I was sure my father would be proud of the move after the toy business had passed down from one generation to the next. It was a family tradition, and the company was thriving. All the more reason to be at work in under an hour.
Curse words threatened to spew out of me, but I took my frustration out to the backyard where Faith wouldn’t hear every swear word under the fucking sun.
I had always had a bad gut feeling about the damn nanny. The moment she had messed up a grocery run and forgotten the oranges, I should’ve fired her. Then there was the time she had run behind and left Faith at school half an hour past closing.
I should’ve let her go a long time ago, but I gave people the benefit of the doubt. It was a good quality that I hated about myself because there were individuals who took advantage of me. People like my damn ex-fiancé.
“Shit! Fuck! Jesus Christ!” I exclaimed into the bitter chill of the morning light.
Messenger rang twice, then my mom picked up.
“Hi, sweetheart...” She smiled back at me with dark compassionate eyes. “Gabriel. Come quick. Elle is calling.”
“Oh, is that my favorite daughter?” Dad asked as he came into view.
I forced a grin, but I fumed inside.
“The one and only,” I replied.
I grew more irritated by the nonstop sound of Jack chopping wood. The slice of the sharp axe blade hitting each stump made me want to tell him where to shove the handle. But the thought of his big fingers wrapped around the hatchet led my mind astray, and my parents worshipped the ground Jack walked on.
Stay calm, Noelle. Don’t let a wannabe lumberjack get to you. Keep your damn mouth shut.
“It’s nice to see you.” Mom beamed with sun-kissed skin, wearing a straw hat that blocked the sunshine from her face. “Is everything okay back home?”
“Things are fine, but—”
“Oh, no, Gabe, there’s a but...” Mom interrupted, turning to Dad and scolding him. “I knew I should never have let you talk me into leaving during the holiday season. This was a bad idea, and we should take the next flight home.”
“Home? Darling, we are in the middle of the ocean on an island. There’s no charter plane for days,” Gabriel answered his wife with dismay.
“But our daughter needs us! She—”
“Mom, calm down. Dad didn’t do anything. It’s the nanny. She quit. I have to be at work in”—I glanced at my watch—“exactly thirty minutes.”
“She quit? Oh, no...” Mom swatted Dad on the shoulder. “This is all your fault.”
“My fault? I wanted to give you a nice vacation. What’s wrong with that?” Dad shrugged.
“Nothing, Dad. It’s extremely sweet. I wish I could be there.” A shiver ran through me with the chilly breeze. “But this was my mistake, Mom. I should’ve fired her weeks ago.”
“We should be there to watch Faith,” she expressed with wrinkles of concern on her face.
“Nonsense. I don’t know what to do. I can’t get a hold of Logan either.” I scrolled back through all the unread messages I had sent to my ex and heaved a long sigh. “He must be busy. No surprise there.”
My father cursed.
