“I’m used to submitting an expense report for whatever I need to have covered—”
“You mean you lay out the money and I pay you back? Hell nah. What kind of bullshit is that to have you without your bread for you doing your job? Never mind, I’ll get the bank to send you over a card today.” He looked thoroughly disgusted at the thought of me spending money and waiting to be reimbursed, which was kinda nice. Unnecessary but I was glad that even if he didn’t seem emotionally attached he didn’t have any issue with spending what was necessary for his daughter. Even so, I’d grown up that way and knew the effects.
“Mr. Dinero—”
His arms folded across his chest in a way that I guess he thought was supposed to be stern but just made him look endearing. “Sterling, I thought we went over this?”
“Sorry, Aldrich—”
He shook his head as his arms fell to the side. “That still don’t even sound right.”
“It’s the best I have. I wouldn’t be using my money; I would use a charge card.”
“And have you carrying a balance and getting interest?”
“Charge cards mean you have to pay them off at the end of the month. Credit cards have you paying minimums and things. I would only use a charge card to not incur any fees.”
“If you use something like that it’ll be attached to my name. Unless you have one where you wanna earn points or something. I have no problem with that if that’s why you’re pushing back so hard.”
I didn’t want to be rude because I could see his heart was in the right place. It was one way that working for people who were technically my equal or even less affluent than I was sometimes became a problem. They thought they could take advantage because they thought you didn’t have as much as they did. Or that you would accept whatever bullshit they threw at you because you needed the position. Dalton did his best to keep folks like that out of his agency but people would switch up in a heartbeat.
But this with Aldrich felt different. He seemed genuinely concerned that I would be out of pocket because of him.
“No, I don’t need to earn any points but it’s part of my employment agreement to be reimbursed for expenses.”
“I’m sure you’ve never had to furnish an entire baby’s room and wardrobe so it’s not in your job description to lay out that kind of bread.”
He still seemed worried judging by the way his brows dipped in frustration. “With a newborn, you don’t really need much. A variety of bottles, formula if you don’t have donor milk—”
“Donor milk? What is that?”
“Sometimes women will sell or donate their breast milk to infants. Especially those who have been in the NICU.”
“No offenses but I wouldn’t want her to take titty milk from her crazy ass mama if she could, let alone some complete stranger. We can stick with the shit in a can for now.”
The questions were floating around in my head yet again but I just gave him a nod before I agreed. “Noted.” The silence was awkward again and I had to say something to lessen it. “Do you mind if I check out the space you’ve provided?”
He shook his head clear as he’d zoned out for a minute. “Nah we can check them out.”
Aldrich walked ahead of me and I peeked in the rooms and saw that one had a Jack and Jill bathroom setup, which would be perfect for me to ensure I was next to her at all times. Given how he was reacting I was going to assume that his daughter would be with me almost exclusively when she got home and the larger room would be big enough for a bed and a her bassinet while she needed constant care.
“Will this work?” He seemed anxious for my approval and I wanted to ease his mind as quickly as I could.
“Yes, they’re perfect.” He smiled and I glanced around the empty room again. “When is the furniture being delivered?”
“Furniture?” The smile dropped again and that look of him being overwhelmed came back over his face.
“I can’t sleep on the floor.”
“Take the card and have it delivered.”
“I can’t pick out furniture for your house.” I took a step back because there was no way he was going to give me his card and just have me decorating his place. He had to be crazy to think I was going to furnish his house. I didn’t care if he wanted to pay for it or not.
“I can’t pick out furniture for your room. I have a mother and a little sister. I’m not about to be making design decisions inside of your sanctuary and you be pissed at me for ordering you the purple bed instead of the pearlescent one.”
My head tilted because this seemed to be something that he’d experienced before. “That sounds oddly specific.”
“Yeah, something that happened with her birthday when she was eleven. I stopped trying after that and just sent cash.”
