“Why don’t they just get back together?”
“I don’t fucking know.”
“So, what do I have to do with Carlo?”
“We got a spot at the shop now. I saw your dad and he said you were done nannying and then my mom saw Monica yesterday and she said you’d just signed on with some doctor and her kids. We’d have to get you properly certified, but I could have gotten you in at the shop.”
Disappointment hit Rafe hard in the chest. “Fuuckkk.”
“Yeah, man. Fuck is right. The two of us, back together on the right side of the law.” There was humor in Hector’s tone, but he was dead serious. Working together on cars would be amazing and Rafe would have loved to work for Nick and Andres, but he was definitely spoken for now—professionally.
“It was a last-minute gig. Her nanny bailed in the middle of the day and she needed someone to watch her twins.”
“What’s the mom’s deal?”
“Uh—” Rafe started, but the split second he hesitated was enough to completely fuck him. Marcus leaned back and shot him a look.
“Ahhh, shit. She’s fine as hell isn’t she?”
“She is very beautiful.”
“AHHH, SHIT!” Eddie whooped. Next thing Rafe knew, Hector was slapping him on the shoulder and doing a stupid dance in the doorway.
“Moms said she was a single Black doctor, but she ain’t say she was fine,” Marcus laughed.
“I hope your Aunt Justine wouldn’t say that.”
“Damn man. A fine doctor,” Eddie said.
Rafe nodded in defeat. “She’s a heart surgeon.”
“Oh yeah, she’s not with fucking you. A woman like that? Shit. She needs a business jerk. Serena Williams style. Some internet billionaire to keep up with her,” Marcus said before he leaned back over Eddie’s chest and continued his work. Rafe didn’t argue. Mostly because admitting what had already happened between them would cause him more problems than he wanted. Eddie would blab to his aunt, who would schedule a conference call with Monica so her follow-up questions could be answered properly.
He also didn’t want to think about how what Marcus had just said rang so true. Rafe wasn’t insecure about his line of work, but there was a difference between late-night sexting and escorting Sloan to some professional medical gala. He shook off the thought that he might not be good enough for her. Her ex was a surgeon and he knew how that turned out. All Rafe had to do was show up for Sloan and hopefully the rest would take care of itself.
9
When Rafe finally called it a night, he considered going back to Sloan’s, but he knew his dad expected to get some garage-centric male bonding in on Sunday morning. He owed it to Joe not to bail. He climbed into his guest bedroom bed and tried to fall asleep, but thoughts of Sloan had him staring at the ceiling.
Usually after a certain period of time, the families he worked for took up space in his heart. It was natural. He spent a lot of time with people and since his literal job was to take care of them, he started to care about things beyond their schedules and general health. He cared about their interests, their feelings and after a while, he found that you cared about them.
It had taken a while with the Craigs. He was young and raw, and still getting the hang of the whole live-in thing. He did his job well, but he kept an emotional distance. He didn’t expect that working with a family that wasn’t his would bring up strange and unexpected issues around losing his mom. Issues he finally opened up to his dad about. With the Bakers, it only took a couple of months. They were warmer and treated Rafe more like one of their own, which was another reason why turning down their offer to join them in Australia had been tough.
With Sloan and her girls, it had taken a whole seven days. Avery and Addison had taken to him so quickly and they were such good kids, it was impossible not to like them. He’d felt a shift at some point during the week, but he knew his feelings for Sloan had painted the whole situation in a different light. His boys had joked about how he was gonna be left a whole chump when she finally met her second husband, but as the night went on he started to notice a familiar feeling settle in his chest. He was grateful for the night off. But while he needed a break from the energy-sapping experience of having two six-year-olds running circles around him, he actually missed Avery and Addison. In the quiet darkness of his guest room, he missed Sloan too.
There was a physical weight that came with adding new people to his life. If they sucked, it felt like being crushed with a brick, but if they were right, he carried the thought of that person around like something warm and perfectly balanced. And when it was gone, he missed it. Yeah it had only been a week, but Sloan and her kids had carved a nice little spot in his heart. Only time would tell just how much space they took up.
He knew there was almost a hundred percent chance she would be asleep, but he reached for his phone anyway.
Hey girl. U up?
Wyd?
If feeling stupid, yet oddly satisfied at the same time were possible, that was how he felt when DELIVERED appeared under his message. He switched over to his sports app and checked the scores from the day, before he switched over to his Instagram to post the one picture he’d taken while he was out with the boys.
I’m up and full of regret.
Why? What happened?
