“I missed you, too, princess.” She beams at me, and my heart melts a little. I look over her shoulder, and Nadia is watching us. She quickly averts her eyes back to cleaning up. I clear my throat.
“How was your first day?” I continue to study her, but her eyes don’t meet mine.
“Good,” she replies noncommittally. We had a good day.” She continues to wipe the excess water from the brushes, rolling a paper towel around the bristles, and placing them into a plastic container alongside the other brushes.
“Do anything fun?” I continue the interrogation, but she doesn’t take the bait. Catalina, however, doesn’t waste any time telling me they went to Planet Pancakes for breakfast. Nadia stiffens as she packs up the watercolors and empties the murky water onto the grass. “Oh,” is all I say. Catalina giggles. She cups her hands to hide her words, but it has the opposite effect, amplifying them. We should really work on that.
“We saw Victoria’s mom there,” she says and glances over to Nadia, making a sorry-not-sorry face. Nadia stands there looking at me, waiting for me to say something. I look at Catalina’s hands and frown.
“Sweetie, why don’t you go and wash your hands and get readyfor dinner?” I say, and she walks off, nodding, but then turns around and runs over to Nadia.
“Thank you, Ms. Nadia. I had a lot of fun today.” Nadia grabs onto one of her braids and gives it a little tug.
“Me too, pickles,” she replies, and my girl beams. Pickles? I don’t get it, but I’ll ask later.
She wraps her arms around Nadia’s legs in a quick embrace and then darts off, yelling, “See you tomorrow!” I hear the door slam, and then there is silence. Nadia stands there, looking around at the passing cars on the street. I walk a little closer, my hands in my jogger pockets.
“So,” I say, and her eyes snap to mine. “I heard what happened today at the diner.” I let the words hang there, gauging her reaction. I want to believe it was innocent, but I’m not sure. I saw the looks the women gave each other at the ball field and Nadia’s snort when Sylvie made that comment to me. I don’t like Sylvie, and what Nadia said didn’t bother me at all. But on the drive home, doubt crept in, and I couldn’t help but wonder if it was intentional. My ex was extremely jealous and would often cause a scene. The woman was nonstop drama, and I don’t want to fall back into that same pattern in any form. While Nadia is technically just our nanny, I don’t like this sort of behavior around Catalina. The girl has been through too much already, and I won’t let that kind of negativity around us again.
She rubs at the dirt with the toe of her sneaker, deliberately avoiding my gaze. I can’t have that. I need to see her face when she tells me because I want the truth, not just her pretty words. So I take a step closer, narrowing the distance between us, but she turns her head away. Gently, I lift my hand to her chin and guide it toward me. She closes her eyes, breathing in deeply, waiting for something. Maybe it’s for me to tell her she is fired. I have no idea what she is thinking, and I know I shouldn’t be touching her like this, but something about her stance now screams defeat. She seems like her mind is so far away and she just looks so fucking sad. My hand drops to my side, and I place it back into my pocket because I fear I will do something stupid. I’m just about to speak when she beats me to it.
“I’m sorry.” She looks up at me. “I didn’t know that was her, and I am horrified at my behavior.” She shakes her head. “I get nervous, and when I get nervous, I sometimes say something stupid. This case is the perfect example.” She covers her face with her hand. “God, I am so embarrassed, and I didn’t and wouldn’t say anything like that or ruin your chances with her on purpose. I just want you to know that.”
I raise my hand to stop her from speaking any further. “First,” I lift one finger, “you didn't ruin anything between us. You and I are fine.” She looks up at me, and I know that isn’t what she meant, but I wanted to clarify that for some reason. God, I am a jackass. Of course, she doesn’t think like that. I’m just a single dad. She is in college, for Christ’s sake. Backtracking, I attempt to make it better. “You are still our—I mean, Catalina’s nanny.” I think I grimace at the slip. “Second, I am also not interested in that woman. In fact, I feel like I should buy you dinner for helping me out with that problem. Hopefully, she gets the hint.” I see her eyes widen, and then I realize I have no business saying things like that. I counter with, “We sometimes do little cookouts on Fridays. You are invited to hang out and stay to eat with us if you’d like or not…” I look away, but something comes to me about what she said a moment ago.
“I’d like that,” she answers without hesitation, surprising me and making me look back at her. She has a smile on her face, and I wonder what her story is. My eyebrows furrow as I stare at her.
“You said something that struck me as odd.” Her smile dims, and I hate that I made her lose it.
“What?” she says, truly not understanding, but I know she acted that way for some reason, and I want to know why.
“You said that you got nervous.” She swallows. “Why did you get nervous, Nadia?”
“She tried to take Catalina’s hand and wanted to take her away from me and take her to you. To your house,” she elaborates further. The house I told her no one is welcome in. As I purse my lips at Sylvie’s audacity, my mouth forms a thin line. Nadia tries to clarify quickly, “I wasn’t going to let her take her anywhere, but the woman was persistent and I just got nervous trying to use humorto deescalate the situation.” She throws her hands up in the air. “How was I supposed to know that that was Victoria’s mom?” Her voice rises in pitch, her hands land around her waist. His head hangs down in defeat. I bring my hand to my chin. I can’t help the laugh that flows out. I drop my hands to my thighs and let out a long laugh. I’m wheezing. Tears spring to my eyes as I cough and try to stop, wiping the tears that pool around the corners.
“Fucking hysterical,” I boom and then try to stop, but Nadia is looking at me while I lose my mind, and it must be contagious because she begins to laugh, too. We both stand there eyeing one another, and I break the silence. “I wish I could have seen that, and that woman is batshit crazy in case you can’t tell. I never want my daughter to go anywhere with her, so thank you.” Nadia nods.
“I wouldn’t let Catalina out of my sight. She is my responsibility when I am watching her, so I want you to rest assured that she is safe with me.” I smile, knowing that this woman is kind and passionate about taking her role as nanny seriously.
“Thank you, and I can see that. Maybe I should have been clearer with Sylvie, and that’s on me.” She tries to say something, but I cut her off. “If she says anything about it, I will set her straight, don’t worry. The woman is no one to me, and I won’t have her treating you poorly. If she says anything to you, especially in front of my daughter, I want you to call me even if I am at work, and I’ll handle it, understand?”
“Thanks, Manuel. I don’t like how she tries to use a little girl to get to you.”
“She’s not getting me, Nadia,” I tell her, but the silence that follows hangs awkwardly between us.
She picks up the remaining items and heads toward the house. “I’ll put these away and see you guys tomorrow at the same time.”
“We’ll be here,” is all I say as I watch her walk away. But I stop her before she opens the door. “Oh, and Nadia?” She turns around to look at me, giving me her full attention. “Call me Manny.” She nods, smiling widely, and I don’t think I have ever seen anything more beautiful. The sight leaves me wanting more of those smiles, so that I can replace the sadness that usually paints that pretty heart-shaped face. This time, when she turns back to walk away,she leaves, and I hear the start of her car along with a slight squeak of her brakes as she drives off. I stand there, staring at nothing, consumed in my thoughts of a nanny I can’t let myself want.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Watching Manny walk toward me in the grey sweatpants that hung low on his prominent hips was like watching my own striptease. Freshly showered, his hair hung in curls framing his beautiful, chiseled face. His bright blue eyes pop, matching the blue t-shirt that clung to his body, like he hadn’t entirely wiped off all the water from his shower. I had to avert my gaze to avoid ogling my boss. He is so hot, and I understand the lengths Sylvie went to try to snag his attention. I, however, draw the line at using his kid to get to him. She has no shame in doing something like that. I wonder if he slept with her or gave her reason to act like she does.
He never gave me permission to call him Manny, so I still referred to him as Manuel. I was so excitedwhen he asked me to stay some time for dinner, but I honestly don’t know if that is a good idea. Blurring the lines of our professional relationship seems risky. Sure we are both young and single, but there’s also the fact that I’ll be leaving soon, and besides, he doesn’t come off as emotionally available either. As I drive, my phone rings, and I see Savannah’s name flashing across the screen.
“Hey, bestie! What’s up?” I roll up the window and turn on the air to hear her better.
“Hi, honey! So, what’s the plan for the Fourth?” she asks immediately. I hear a honk and wonder where she is. If that is the sound in the background, she must be in the city. Boy, do I miss Boston.
