“Spencer? As in Spencer Crews? Your uncle’s neighbor? Star baseball player?”
I nod my head with dread for the upcoming minutes ahead of me.
“Why on earth would you be there?”
As much as I would say my mother and I are close, I’m not about to spill the beans on the true reasoning of how I ended up in the amazing kitchen with an asshole fastballer, who is currently playing outside with an adorable child.
“Uhm, he needed… a sitter.” I doubt my lie that just came out then realize I shared a fact. “Can we throw in your lawyer confidentiality card for the last part? He doesn’t really want people to know about his daughter.”
My mother purses her lips together, and her expression is unreadable. “Sure,” she simply replies. “But I didn’t realize being a nanny was what you wanted career-wise.”
“Oh, it’s not. This is temporary. However, I do get to use this kitchen, and I’ve been nailing a few recipes.”
A warm smile spreads on her face. “I saw. Your social media has some lovely photos and recipes.”
“Anyway, when are you coming to Lake Spark?”
“To see my precious little niece Gracie?” she nearly coos.
I give her a fake unimpressed look. “I get it, the baby wins. Kind of hoped your badass adult daughter would get a higher ranking.”
My mother chortles a laugh. “You’re right. I’m happy to see you're okay. I had an odd feeling that something was up. Mother’s instinct.”
The corner of my mouth curves up. “And father’s instinct. You have it all.”
“I have no other choice.”
“Do you think it goes the same way for fathers who raise their kids alone? I mean, do they also have a mother’s instinct?”
She shrugs her shoulders. “I don’t know. Everyone parents differently, and families come in different shapes.”
“That I know. It’s just kind of weird seeing Spencer do the single-dad thing; it’s so different to when you did the single-parent thing with me.”
My mother folds her arms over her chest. “Well, I think it must be hard when he travels so much for baseball, but all that matters is that the effort is there. Sometimes as parents we put in a lot of effort, but things still don’t happen the way we want it to. What's important is that we can never doubt we tried.”
I’m not sure what to say, or why I asked. But then I recall the last few days and how my view of Spencer has been thrown for a loop.
The man watches braiding videos while he tries to twist Hadley’s hair, he attempts to feed her vegetables when he knows no kid that age will agree, and he still takes her to places that make her happy, even when she gives him the cold shoulder.
“I think I might have been a bitch,” I admit out loud.
My mom gives me a stern eye. “Elaborate.”
“I might have been a little hard on Spencer.”
Disapproval spreads across my mother’s face. “April.”
Geez, still she has the power to say my name to shake me into fear of a timeout.
My palm flies up. “Okay, I will be a little nicer… when it comes to Hadley.”
“Good. You are full of kindness.”
“He brings out the evil in me.”
Her grin is a knowing one. “Hmm.”
“Anyway, I need to get these stuffed peppers in the oven.” I begin to move, bringing my phone with me. “Wait. You knew about Spencer’s daughter?” It dawns on me that Spencer is using her colleague to deal with our little situation, probably because he already uses their firm for all his legal woes. “Let me guess, he has used your services for family law?”
