“Yeah,” he replies.
“Right,” I turn on my heel to enter the large glass doors.
————
“Can I hold the bag, Daddy?” Delilah asks Wes as we walk down the street and back to our hotel after dinner.
He hands her the bag of leftover cheesecake, and she starts swinging it back and forth. Wesley took Delilah and I to a nice Italian restaurant downtown after he got back from work. The food was delicious, but I couldn’t ignore the sweet wholesome smiles we got from other customers.
They’d look from Wesley, to me, to Delilah, and smile thatwhat a beautiful familysmile. It didn’t help that Wesley and I were both holding Delilah’s hand.
I wanted to scream, “I’m the nanny! He doesn’t even like me like that! Please stop muddling my brain and making me think I’m part of their family!”
You know, like a normal, rational woman, who’s not obsessed with her boss.
“Iby, will you spend the night when we get home? I like it when we sleep close.” Delilah melts and crushes my heart in one single question.
Wesley looks taken aback by what she said too, and glances over to me with a line between his brows. Is he irritated that she asked that? I can’t get a read on him.
“Um, well…” I start, looking at Wesley for any sign of what to say. That would be weird if I stayed with them right? I think it would feel weird to sleep alone again, but I’ll get used to it, it’s only been a few days. I like sleeping close to Delilah too, but Wesley would probably be uncomfortable with me sleeping there unnecessarily. “I should go to my house so you and your daddy can have quality time.”
“Yeah, bug. Nana, Papa, Auntie Soph and your uncles miss you. Ivy needs to go home to see Rose.” He’s not wrong. I called her when we first arrived at the hotel, and she assured me she was fine. She said her daughter had come over and planned to again the next day. Then she threatened to “tan my hide” if I called her again. I believe her too. I love her, but she has that scary grandma vibe about her.
Delilah sticks her bottom lip out. “Okay.”
“But I’ll be back the next day, alright?”
She nods, looking so defeated, my chest hurts. She lifts her arms up to me in a silent question, so I take the cue and hoist her up into my arms. She wraps her little legs around my waist and hugs my neck in a koala embrace. When I look over at Wesley, his jaw is clenched, and shoulders have visibly tensed.
Am I being too comfortable with her? I’m not going to refuse her when she’s so sad. When we finally get to the hotel, and up to our rooms, I hand Delilah over to Wesley.
“Thanks,” he says softly.
He acted normal at dinner—a little too normal if you ask me—but ever since Delilah asked me to stay the night, he’s quiet. Delilah protests taking a shower, but Wesley ends up convincing her, and I go to my room to start getting my stuff ready to leave tomorrow.
I leave the adjoining door open because I’m not showering just yet, and head into the bathroom to start straightening up the explosion of toiletries.
“Ivy?”
I step out of the bathroom and see Wesley standing in the doorway between our rooms.
“Yeah?”
“Lilah is asking for her goggles. She’s not in the shower, she just wants to wear them after she gets dressed,” he says incredulously. “Do you happen to have them? I don’t remember grabbing them from the pool.”
My hands are full of moisturizer and serums, so I point to my duffel bag on the bed.
“Oh, yeah. They’re in the front pocket of my bag. Go ahead.”
He nods in thanks, and approaches the bed. He unzips the front pocket, quickly finding the two pairs of goggles.
“They’re both the same size. You can give her either pair,” I say shyly, just now realizing how stupid I probably looked with kid goggles on.
Oh well.
He picks one, then puts the other back in the bag, zipping it up. He spots something, and points at the fabric handle of the bag, and tilts his head.
“I.D.B,” he says aloud, reading the stitching there. “Your initials?” he asks, looking over at me curiously.
