Chapter Fourteen
The next fewdays were a power struggle between Tate and I. He didn’t like the idea of me using my wealth to pay for a nanny for Cara.
“I’ve priced them. For one who can do what we need them to do it’s going to be expensive. We’re basically asking them to be a third parent,” he protested again. We’d been going in circles, but I had already made my decision. I finished my breakfast and reached for my tablet to start looking at the website for the company my own childhood nanny came from. I had called Tabatha the day before to ask. It had been so nice catching up with her. She was retired now and spent time with her own grandchildren rather than other people’s.
“It’s fine. I have more than enough money to cover a full-time nanny for her. You said I’m her parent too, so let me do this. Plus, you don’t really have too much to say since that stunt after the gig. What you did to Ronny was completely uncalled for.” I gave Tate a side glance. He blinked but still didn’t look happy. He had been sulking ever since we got home from the hospital.
“I apologized,” he said half-heartedly. I shook my head. It wasn’t funny. He had gone insane. We all understood to a point, but he beat up Ronny, stole his vehicle, and then broke it. Because of how fast he sped down the road it over heated. If he had just talked to us about the situation, we could have figured out how to get to the hospital safe and quick. But I wasn’t going to dive into this today because I’d been saying it since the day of the incident. I was tired of rehashing it with him.
“There’s lots of good ones. CPR certified, degrees in education,” I scrolled with my finger through the list of names and their qualifications. “Some do sign language. And many of them cook too.”
“In our area? Or will we have to move her in here? I kind of like having it just the three of us.”
“It depends on what we want. Tabatha never lived with us. Did yours?”
I looked back at him, curiously. He didn’t like talking about his childhood often. He shook his head.
“I was too young to remember. I can ask my mom, I guess. Maybe she’ll have some good leads.”
I smiled and nodded. Finally, it felt like we were getting somewhere.
We told the crew that Tate and I needed a week off so we could get our childcare situation handled. No one argued it. Ronny was pissed and tending to a swollen face, Cash wanted more Audrey time, and Dallas was indifferent. He did offer to come help, but I assured him we were okay for now.
After we ate, Tate and I spent the day picking out potential people to call and invite out for interviews. We made a list of twelve different candidates, all great on paper. We decided to have the interviews at his apartment above the bookstore. At first, Tate was confused, but I explained to him my reasons and he agreed that it made sense.
“Why go out of our way to do interviews there?” he asked as we packed Cara up and got ready to head on over.
“Because, you’re worried about the cost and having someone living right with us. We have an apartment that is move-in ready. If we offer it as a perk, maybe we can negotiate a lower cost. We’re already being forced to pay the monthly payments anyways. If we give the person free rent it might entice them. Plus, we know where they live at that point. We are familiar with the neighborhood, and the people who work down below would tell us if something was amiss.”
“Do you think they’d take an offer like that?” he asked.
“It’s not unheard of. Tabatha recommended it. She thinks it’s a good idea. You ready?” I picked up Cara’s car seat and started towards the door.
“I suppose,” Tate sighed and left with me to go start our long day of interviews. We had a long list of questions ready to go. Tate had more than I did, which did make me slightly self conscious. He didn’t comment on it though. Instead, he reached for my hand, interlaced our fingers, and went upstairs to his empty apartment to start the process.
Some of the people we interviewed were easier to reject than others. Tate, despite being around smokers every day, was not okay with having a nanny with a nicotine addiction. That took out three of the dozen right away. Then he eliminated four more because they were familiar with my family and were big fans. I understood that one. We didn’t need someone that was doing this just for attention.
The last five were a little harder to pass on. After they all went home for the day, Tate and I took their resume’s and went home. We spent the rest of the night going through the last handful over and over. Each time we tossed one, it wasn’t because of something unsavory, but because another candidate had more positives.
“You’re sure about this one? Elena Chiasson? This is for sure who we are going with?” I asked him after Cara had been put down for the evening and we were sitting down to relax. Tate was in the kitchen. He had grabbed two wine glasses out of the cupboard and a bottle of red out of the fridge. We had someone deliver our groceries this week, rather than us go out for them, and he asked for a bottle of wine. We weren’t usually wine drinkers, but tonight I really wanted a glass to relax while we read in bed together.
He poured two large glasses and then looked up. He smiled, his face full of exhaustion. I knew he had been struggling with everything this week. He raised a glass to me as I came to him. I took it and he grabbed his own glass.
“To Elena,” he said. We toasted to that and after a long swallow, I set my drink down and my hand went to cup his face.
“I’m sorry it’s been hard lately. Do you want to talk about it?”
His green eyes shone bright, despite the sun having set for the day and the lights in my apartment were dim. God, how I loved those eyes. And Cara, sweet, beautiful Cara. She had them too.
As if staring directly into my heart, Tate tilted his head to kiss my hand, his lips pressing to my skin ever so tenderly.
“Why don’t I make some popcorn and we go relax?” he suggested instead. I nodded and took our glasses and the bottle to the living room. He joined me five minutes later with a large bowl with extra butter. We had made plans to sit and read our own respective books tonight. We had done that often on the tour, and it was my idea of a dream date. Him being just as eager for them as well was what made me fall for him in the first place. However, I found myself reaching for the TV remote instead.
We decided to rent a horror movie and instead of reading, we cuddled together and watched the latest Glass Children remake. It was crazy, thinking about how things had changed so fast these days. With Ronny, I would have hated this. I would give anything to be left alone to read. With Tate, I wanted to be wrapped in his arms always, abandoning a book altogether.
When the movie was over, we switched it to a comedy we’d seen before to relax us a bit. Cara stirred and Tate offered to go get her. He returned with her in his arms, sucking on a bottle. I looked onward fondly. They looked so perfect together.
“It’s been hard, transitioning from GP to Tate,” he said suddenly. I sat up and brushed my hair behind my ear.
