Dylan stops panicking and releases his hair from his clenched grip. “Oh,” he says. Dylan clearly has understanding or patienceforLiam.
“Can you please say you’re sorry to Julia? That was rude,littleman.”
Dylan rolls his eyes and turns his head toward me. Even though I feel like I don’t deserve his apology, he mutters a quick, “Sorry.”
“Okay, grab your towel. Let’s get back to the house,” Liamtellshim.
Dylan runs ahead of us, kicking sand as he goes. “I have a real dumb question for you,” I say to Liam, ambling through the soft sand in hisshadow.
“Aw, all of your questions are dumb, sunshine.” In response to his special comment, I decide not to ask my question, but he surprisingly turns around and smiles. “Kidding.”
Better be. “If you’re so great with Dylan, why are you just the manservant rather than themanny?”
Liam trips over a vine of seaweed and loses his sandal in the process. “Wowwww,” he says, rebounding from his missed footing. “You think you’re prettycute,huh?”
“It’s an honest question, and for your information, the definition of a male maid is, in fact, a manservant. Google it. You’ll see. And manny? Everyone knows a male nanny is called amanny.”
“Okay, well, I prefer to gobyLiam.”
“So, why then? Why don’t you just be Dylan’s male nanny?Better?”
“I had no prior experiencewithkids.”
“Oh, what is your prior experience with cleaning houses?” Whether he’s older than I am or not, there’s no way he’s been here for a few years and had much of any experiencebeforethen.
“My mother owns Maids of Maine,” he says, keeping his pace quick, staying in frontofme.
I guess that would qualify him for this job. “Never heard of the company.” What else is theretosay?
“You’re not from Maine,” he replies. “Anyway, I hope you’re not asking this male nanny question because you’re thinking ofleaving.”
“Why would you care? Wouldn’t that make youhappy?”
Liam stops short in the middle of the path between the beach and the house. He places his hand up for me to stop, and thankfully, I do, so he doesn’t cop another handful of boobtoday.
“Don’t you dare leave,” he says with way more anger than I feel is necessary at themoment.
“Whoa, easy,” I tell him. “What happened to all of that understanding you were bullshitting me with a fewminutesago?”
“Forget it,” hegrowls.
“It’s my dad,” Isnapback.
“Yeah and if you want any hope of proving your responsibility this summer, not walking away from a commitment would be a good way ofdoingthat.”
I take a step back, needing more space from this accusatory conversation. How dare he use his selfish desires to guilt me into making a decision that may not be rightforme.
I increase my pace to catch up with him. “You know, it’s obvious you have a thing for me, and I’m flattered, but making me feel guilty with aggression isn’t going to change theoutcome.”
“Shit,” he says, peering over at me, clearly disgusted as he looks me up and down. “This is why I am the way I am. Do you even have an inkling of an idea just how detrimental it is for Dylan to have a change in his life? It’s bad enough Samantha can only get a nanny for him in seasonal increments, but every two weeks I have to watch the same shit while Dylan goes through hell. Look what happens if you don’t put fruit in his cereal. You, nannies are all the same, and you are the reason I’m not pleasant to “the help.” Liam turns to the house and heads up there, leaving me in the heat of hisanger.
As if I hadn’t already been winded once in the past hour, it’s happened again, and it hurts almost as badthistime.
This house seemed solarge when I first got here. Now, I feel like I’m suffocating. Liam has avoided me all day, and with Dylan’s busy schedule, I’ve tried not to notice. Apparently, my shadowing/training time is over now, which I’mthankfulfor.
Daniel came home even earlier than he mentioned this morning, allowing me to get this call over with sooner rather thanlater.
I’ve never been nervous to call Dad. He’s the one I run to when I need to talk, but this pit in my stomach is growing larger by the minute thanks to my stupidity. I grab the phone from my nightstand and sit stiffly on the edge of the bed as I dial hisnumber.
