Shelby bit her pouty pink lip. “He’s pretty torn up about it.”
Emma’s shoulders sank. “I’m sorry. My sister has lost her mind.”
“What was her reasoning?” I asked.
Emmalet out a deep breath. “Honestly, I think she’s scared.”
“Well,” Shelby cut in, “for as wonderful as he is, Bobby Jay can get in a hurry. I think he fell harder for her than he intended to, and he was ready for more than she was.”
“I’m hoping she comes to her senses,” Emma commented. “He was good for her.”
“I hope so too.” Shelby squeezed Emma’s hand. “Sometimes we don’t see the gift we’ve been given for what it is until it’s gone.”
All eyes turned toward me as if I should be taking Shelby’s statement to heart.
I swallowed hard. “What are you all looking at?”
Jenna, never one to miss the opportunity to make a smart-aleck comment, answered, “Well duh, you better get to unwrapping that dashing Brit.”
Not. Going. To. Happen.
Chapter Eleven
Notonlywasn’tIgoing to be unwrapping my boss, I was thinking that maybe I wanted to exchange him. After another exhausting day of taking care of my young charge, soccer practice, homework, dinner, and doing some research for Miles, I finally got Henry to sleep. It only took five stories, two songs, a drink of water, and the promise of going to the park the next day. Not once had I seen Miles since that morning. I wasn’t exactly sure how this nanny thing worked, but I was pretty sure the parent should have contact with the child more than once a day. Don’t get me wrong, I hoped he was writing like crazy. I really needed that book. But it wasn’t as important as Henry, who had broken my heart when I kissed him good night and he asked where his mummy and daddy were. All I could say while I choked back tears was that they were in a beautiful place watching over him and they loved him so much.
Poor baby fell asleep clutching his bear with his lip quivering. Miles really needed to be the one comforting him and tucking him in. Not that I didn’t love doing it. I did, probably more than I should. I knew there would come a day when I would have to say goodbye to Henry, and I already couldn’tstand that thought. I pushed it to the back of my mind when I made my way to Miles’s office to hand off the monitor again.
It felt like déjà vu, me knocking on his door, him telling me to wait a minute while he hid his outline from me. Him answering his door looking worn but well in jeans and a tight knitted sweater. It didn’t help that he looked happy to see me. My heart tingled more than stung this time. Definitely not a good sign.
I handed him the monitor, skipping any pleasantries. “Henry is asleep. Good night.” I turned to go.
“Aspen, wait.”
I stopped mid-turn.
“Please come in and tell me how your day was.”
“Thank you, but I’m tired. I’ll see you in the morning.”
His lips downturned. “That is a shame. Perhaps tomorrow.”
“Perhaps,” I said, only because he was my boss and I felt like saying no wasn’t the right course of action. But my plan was to prevent as much alone time with him as possible. I turned and walked away.
“Sleep well, lo . . . Aspen,” he called.
Sleep sounded so wonderful, but as I walked between the main house and the guesthouse on the cobbled stone path in the chilly night air, I received a call that unfortunately woke me right up.
“Hello.” There was no hiding the derision in my voice.
“Careful, I might think you don’t want me to call you.”
He was the last person I wanted to call me. “What do you want, Leland?” I took a seat on one of the cushioned wicker chairs on the front porch of the cottage, and tucked myself into a ball, wishing I had worn a jacket. I tried to nevertalk to Leland in front of Chloe in case things got ugly. Which was more likely than not.
“Same as always, to check on our daughter.”
That wasn’t always why he called. I used to get plenty of drunk calls from him a long time ago saying he was sorry and wanted me back. Then he’d sober up and call to tell me all the things I had done wrong in our relationship. I didn’t dredge it up with him. Best just to get the call over with as soon as possible. “She’s great.”
“I want to talk to her.”
