“And you fell in with the wrong crowd?”
“No, I dropped out.”
“Oh.”
“I met my buddy Hector. He knew this guy who would pay us cash for boosting cars. And that was great until we got arrested.”
“I’m sorry, but that is literally the plot ofStep Up,” Sloan teased.
“I know. That movie is based on my life.”
Sloan felt herself flinch in shock. “What?”
“I’m kidding.”
“Not funny.”
“Yeah, it was. Anyway, when I got out, my dad was dating Monica and he was completely different.”
“Different how?”
“It was the first time I’d seen him happy in my whole life. First time he’d ever apologized to me. He said he was sorry for uprooting us without talking to me. Sorry for not giving me time to grieve for my mom. He apologized for being a bad father. Hearing him say all that just opened something in me. I told him all this shit I’d never told anyone about being scared to live.
“I didn’t know what I was doing with my life. I didn’t know who I was enough to even try and be any version of myself, forget a good version of myself. I didn’t want to end up dead or in prison for good though. After that, Monica introduced me to her brothers and her nephews who taught me how to work on cars and motorcycles, anything with an engine really. That kept me and Hector out of trouble.”
“Are you two still friends?”
“Yeah, you’ll meet him tomorrow.”
“Good.”
“After my dad made it clear that I could really talk to him about anything, I stopped bottling shit up. And being around my new step-uncles helped too. They’re gearheads and all that, but as the kids say, they don’t engage with toxic masculinity.”
“That’s great. It sounds like you were surrounded by good people who really care about you.”
“That’s exactly it. But yeah, I don’t see myself as nice. I’m just not jacked up on suppressed rage.”
“Hmm. I still think you’re nice,” Sloan said, winking at him.
“Well, you’re easy to talk to. I’ve had women tell me I’m too quiet and I don’t open up enough.”
“I don’t think you’re quiet. You just told me something personal and private.”
“Like I said, you’re easy to talk to.”
“So, how’d you end up nannying?”
“After Hope was born, I was old enough to help out, so I did. Monica said that I was so good with her, you know as an infant, and she asked me to watch her when her maternity leave was over. I didn’t think I had a choice, so I said yes. Then I watched her and Gracie after she was born.”
“How’d you end up with the Craigs?”
“Monica’s mother used to take care of Haylene’s grandmother. Around the time when she died, the Craigs’ nanny moved out to take care of her own mother.”
“Geez. Okay, keep going.”
“Yeah, a lot had to happen before I got involved. The Craigs asked Monica’s mom if she wanted to stay on as their nanny. She said fuck no, she was done taking care of other people’s families, but Monica asked me if I was interested. I realized I could actually get paid a salary for what I was doing at home for like ten bucks a day and gas money.”
“Incentive matters.”
