“Right.”
“But it is not that I do notwantto take her,” he added quickly. “I just cannot today.”
“Yep. I get it.”
He frowned at me, probably trying to find more ways to defend himself. “I really hate when you do that.”
“Do what?”
“Make me feel ...stupid. Always messing with my head.”
I threw a hand in the air, feigning innocence. “Javier, all I asked was if you wanted to take her today. You seem like you really want to, and I wanted to give you the option. I’m not trying to make you feel stupid.”
He folded his arms. “But you are messing with my head.”
“I think you’re messing with your own head by worrying about all the things I know how to take care of. I’ve been doing this for months now. I can handle it.”
His jaw steeled as he looked away. “Fine.”
“Are we good?” I asked, trying to catch his eyes again.
“Yes. We are good. Just get her ready, please.”
“’Kay.” To spare us both the awkwardness, I picked Aleesa up and settled her on my hip. “Come on, big girl. Let’s get you cleaned up.”
I walked around the table and left the kitchen, but not without looking over my shoulder at Javier. He watched us go with a slight dip between his brows.
He didn’t look away until we disappeared around the corner.
When Leesa and I made it upstairs, I looked at her with a smile and said, “I was messing with him just a little bit.”
Four
Javier
Sometimes I asked myself what I was thinking by hiring Octavia Klein.
That feisty, slightly obnoxious, hardheaded woman was not my usual hire, but she wasgreatwith Aleesa.
She taught my daughter manners. Read to her two to three times a day. Made every single one of Aleesa’s appointments and classes on time. She even cooked healthy homemade meals for her, and that was extremely important to me.
It did not help that she was all my daughter talked about. Nonstop. For over half a year. Aleesa was at the point of refusing my bedtime stories completely because she wanted herTavato read them to her.
All that was wonderful. Seriously. I was happy that my baby girl was happy, but I had to say I was surprised Octavia was still around. She really worked my nerves and was always finding ways to get under my skin.
I was not sure why I still allowed her to irritate me after so many months. She knew just how to scrape my nerves too. Never too much to anger me, but just enough to get inside my head and make me second-guess everything.
Most of the nannies I had hired had bailed after three or four months. Octavia was coming up onsevenmonths and hadn’t shown any signs of wanting to quit. I was not sure if that was a good sign for me.
Most could not keep up with my demands; however, Octavia would take them like they were no big deal to her—as if having issues thrown her way could never set her back. I guess I should have expected that from a woman as carefree as she was. She had a strong spirit, one that reminded me a lot of Eloise. Was that why she got under my skin?
I shifted in my chair with a sigh as my deceased wife crossed my mind, watching the film run as Coach Harrison rambled about certain plays.
“You good?” a deep voice asked beside me.
I turned my attention to Deke Bishop, one of my best friends on and off the court, and the most famous of us in the room. He gave me a curious once-over, his eyes gleaming under the projector light.
“I am fine,” I answered.
