“Yeah…” Lincoln breathes out.
Then he adds, “I’ll be home on the weekends. Early evening on Saturday, and I’m off on Sunday. And if I need you for extra time or whatever, I’ll be glad to pay you overtime as well.”
“So I’m gonna be here most of the time, it seems,” I say.
Lincoln inhales again. “Yeah… about that. I didn’t want to overstep or make you uncomfortable, but based on the hours and how much I’m paying you, and based on your situation, I figured it would be advantageous for both of us if you just—” he pauses, “—lived here.”
I just stare at him. My brain stops working entirely.
“You mean be a live-in nanny?” I ask.
“A house sitter,” he corrects.
“But if that makes you uncomfortable, it’s totally understandable. I can also pay for your commute,” he adds.
I think. Hard.
If I didn’t have to worry about rent, that would be incredible.
But what if things didn’t work out?
What if he fired me?
“One thing I gotta ask,” I say.
“Shoot,” Lincoln says.
“If I get fired for whatever reason—”
He cuts me off. “Are youplanningto get fired?”
“No, but things happen, obviously, as you are well aware. So if that does happen, or Sarah or whoever is no longer comfortable with this arrangement—”
Lincoln cuts me off again. “It’s not up to Sarah what happens with my house. Like I said, we don’t live together.”
The curiosity is too strong. I can’t help it.
“I’m sorry… are you guys not a couple?”
Lincoln hesitates.
He just stares at me.
No words.
Just that stoic expression he gets when he’s cornered or when he genuinely has nothing to say.
Why the hell is he doing that?
He only makes that face when he’s caught. Which means one of three things:
He doesn’t know if they’re in a relationship…
Or one of them thinks they are and the other doesn’t…
Or he doesn’t want to hurt my feelings and ruin whatever the hell this… arrangement… is supposed to be.
-??-
