“Please keep an eye on him,” Theo said. “I don’t want my house to be torn apart.”
“I do keep an eye on him,” Nina said, her tone level. “But he’s also a kid. He’ll be loud or messy sometimes, and you have to be okay with that. You’re the one who wanted to live with him.”
Theo sighed. “Just… please try to not let him break anything else.”
He went back into the hallway, where Jack was sitting on the floor putting his shoes on. For some reason, he was sittingonone of Theo’s jackets. Theo rubbed his brow and, as soon as the boy stood up, he hung the jacket back on the peg.
After that, Nina and Jack went outside, and Theo finally got some work done, though he was constantly distracted. What was the little boy tearing apart now? It was one thing to break Theo’s phone, which had clearly been an accident, and another to make a mess of the house Theo had worked hard on. A mental image floated into his mind of Jack ripping out the grass in the backyard or throwing the rocks around in his Zen garden.
Finally, dinnertime rolled around. Theo’s chef had made a delicious dinner of truffle risotto and filet mignon, thankfully with enough to share. Theo called Nina and Jack in to join him. They sat at the large table in the dining room, where Jack left smudgy fingerprints all over the surface. Trying to ignore that, Theo turned to Nina.
“We don’t always have to eat together, but I thought it’d be nice to get to know each other a little. Pretty soon, we’ll be appearing in public as a couple, so we should know a few facts. We can also discuss the plan for the next few days.”
“That makes sense,” Nina agreed.
“What is this?” Jack poked at his risotto with his fork. “It looks like snot.”
“That’s not very nice,” Nina said gently. “Remember the rule. You have to try at least three bites, but if you don’t like it, you don’t have to eat any more after that. And this is called risotto.”
Jack let out a loud sigh but obediently tried a bite of the risotto. He made a face as he chewed.
“Yuck.”
“That’s okay,” Nina said gently. “Try two more bites, okay? And remember, we try not to sayyuckabout food other people like.”
“Sorry,” Jack poked the rice again. “Can I have fish sticks?”
Nina glanced at Theo. “Do you have more-kid-friendly options? I can shop tomorrow, but for tonight, it would be great to have something.”
Theo rubbed his brow. “Not really.”
He’d made a huge mistake. That was increasingly clear. Giving Nina a large sum of money for her time had been a no-brainer, but having to share his space with a loud and messy kid for the foreseeable future might not be worth it. He liked Jack. He did. The little boy seemed like a good kid with a great personality. But he was also destroying Theo’s space and ruining the peace he’d worked hard to build. And Nina didn’t seem to care.
Jack let out a loud sigh and poked at his risotto. Nina encouraged him to try a few more bites, but it was quickly clear that Jack wasn’t going to eat it.
“We’ll go out and get something else,” Nina said. She’d eaten her dinner, and she put her plate and Jack’s in the dishwasher before bidding Theo goodnight. They went out the front door, with Jack singing about fish sticks and supervillains.
Theo stayed alone at the table and rested his head in his hands. It was going to be a very long few months. How was he supposed to interact with a little boy like Jack? Was Nina ever going to put some boundaries in place to stop the kid from ruining his house? And would anyone, including Charles Ackley, ever believe that they were a real family?
Theo had planned to discuss the interview and his plans with Nina over dinner, but that hadn’t worked out. He’d have to try again tomorrow. And he’d have to try to find a way to make life with Jack and Nina possible for all of them.
An hour or so later, when Jack and Nina returned and retreated to their rooms for bathtime and stories, Theo was already in his home office with the door closed, working.
CHAPTER 6
NINA
Nina slipped beneath the covers of the enormous king-sized bed. Everything felt strange. When Jack had complained earlier about the weird smells and the too big bed in his room, she’d joked with him about how this was all just a big adventure in a superhero’s house. Eventually, he’d started grinning, and by the time she’d read the next chapter of the book they were reading together, his eyes were heavy. She’d kissed him goodnight and promised that everything would feel better in the morning.
Nina wasn’t so sure she’d told the truth about things getting better, though. Jack was right. The house did smell different, and it was big and impersonal. It looked more like a hotel than a home, with pressed white sheets on the beds, huge brand-new towels, and clean, modern furniture without a hint of clutter. Even the kitchen seemed barely used — Theo had produced the filet mignon and risotto from the fridge, and had just reheated them.
Theo. Nina sighed and shifted beneath the covers, trying to find a comfortable position. He clearly had no idea how to act aroundJack. This was probably the first time he’d been around a child for this long. If he was going to have problems with Jack playing and singing and refusing to eat needlessly fancy food, they were going to have a lot of problems. Nina had tried all day to keep Jack out of Theo’s hair, but she wasn’t going to stop him from being a kid entirely. It was Theo’s problem that he was so fussy about his house and so easily annoyed, not Jack’s.
Nina sighed and reached for her phone. There were a few messages from friends and family, which she quickly replied to without saying anything about Theo or her new living arrangements. He’d said she needed to tell everyone that they were a real couple, but she didn’t feel like upholding her end of the bargain right now.
She was tempted to just pack Jack up and move back to their apartment the next day.
But she couldn’t. They needed the money Theo was going to give them to keep the apartment and give Jack the education he deserved.
