Page 14 of Mountain Men’s Nanny

I stopped within earshot, but not close enough to touch him. Just enough to watch him for a moment, waiting for him to realize I wasn’t just going to disappear and that he should just talk to me and get it over with.

Tobias stubbornly continued, adding two split logs to his pile before walking away without another word.

I questioned if I was imagining it, if maybe I was reading too much into Tobias simply going about his day. Maybe the uncertainty about what had happened between us and why it happened had made me too sensitive to Tobias’s volatile moods. I was desperate for information, something, anything that would make me feel like I understood where I stood a little more.

Everything else about my housemates felt normal. Gunner made jokes about everything, he teased playfully and made up stories to make Lexi laugh. At the same time, Gideon’s eyes periodically scanned the room, scanned the woods, scanned everything for something suspicious. I was getting to know him better, and I understood that beyond his innate paranoia and distrust of anyone new, he really tried to be nice and welcoming. It just rarely came off that way. Even Lexi was consistent in her stubbornness. She never agreed to anything she didn’t want to do or accepted a truth without first thoroughly questioning it.

The subject of her current round of questions was the pulley in Gideon’s hands.

“Why must you fix it? Why can’t we get a new one because this one is broken, and we can’t be sure if it’s fixed properly?” she asked while she watched Gideon secure the rope between the groves around the wheel and attach it to the door or the barn-style garage.

“We’ll know it’s fixed after we test it,” Gideon smiled. “You have to test things before you need them, so when you do need them, you’re sure they work and how they work. You have to stay ready.”

Lexi looked at Gideon, probably still thinking that buying a new pulley would be less complicated, but she accepted his answer.

“Do you think it’s snack time yet?” She looked at Gideon and then at me.

“Hmm, I don’t know. Maybe you should ask your dad,” I suggested.

It was too easy. A moment alone with Gideon had found me before I even thought to seek it out. I had to be careful. If anything, Gideon was principled. If he even had the slightest suspicion that what I wanted from him was wrong, he would shut it down. But how could it be wrong to want to understand someone I saw every day?

“I’m getting used to how things work around here,” I said, sitting next to Gideon to watch him work. He was currently securing a screw on a metallic crank I couldn’t place.

“Really?” he said politely, not because he was genuinely interested.

Gideon had warmed to me in his own way. He had stood up for me that very first night, included me in breakfast, and helped me convince Lexi that school wasn’t going to ruin her day, every day. If anyone would answer me, it was him.

“Yes, I know Gunner thinks everything is a joke besides hunting,” I said, going down my list. “You’re okay once you get over your paranoia and distrust of absolutely everything and everyone. The entire household revolves around Lexi and Tobias. I can’t really get a read on him,” I finished, testing the waters carefully. Not wanting to start anything I couldn’t walk away from.

“You think I’m paranoid?” Gideon laughed. It was a short, gruff sound that didn’t continue long enough for me to join him.

“Of course you are. You scan every room like you’re expecting to find a bomb. You watch all of us as if you’re aware of some hidden danger that we don’t know about, and you’re always so guarded.”

Gideon shook his head and laughed. “It’s not paranoia; I’m just doing my job. I’m a bodyguard. I’ve been with Tobias for a long time, then with him and Lexi. Looks like you don’t really know how things work around here.”

It made sense, but raised more questions than it answered. Why would Tobias need a bodyguard? Getting up this mountain was hell, and any one of the men would spot an intruder before he broke the fence line. Lexi had told me Tobias and Gideon had come here with her, and Gunner had been here all along. But she didn’t say why they’d come, and I could never ask a child such probing questions. Where had they come from?

I knew during that conversation what Gideon’s role was: to protect Lexi and Tobias. I understood him more just from knowing that. He was loyal to them, and they trusted him implicitly. If anyone knew what went on in Tobias’s head, it would be Gideon.

“Bodyguard?” I laughed. “I thought that was more of an unofficial role, but it makes sense. I’ve never heard of a logger needing a bodyguard, though.”

I said it casually, hoping Gideon would receive it that way, even if he didn’t answer me with all the juicy details. But he didn’t take the bait, just continued to tinker without so much as a laugh at my gentle attempts to pry and understand who Tobias actually was.

“You must have lived interesting lives before you came here,” I said, trying a different approach.

Gideon shook his head. “Don’t quit your day job. You’d make a lousy spy. If you want to know anything about Tobias, then you’re going to have to ask him yourself.”

“I was just—”

“No.” His nostrils flared in irritation. “My job is to protect Tobias and Lexi, which means protecting their personal information from nosy nannies, too.”

I sat next to him in silence, processing what I had learned. He hadn’t told me about Tobias’s past, nothing I didn’t already know anyway, but I knew he wasn’t just a logger living in a cabin with his daughter and two housemates. He did something that called for a long-term bodyguard. I was going through a list in my head of what it could be. He wasn’t an actor I knew of or a politician. He didn’t look familiar at all when we first met, but he had to have done something important at some point in his life to warrant a live-in bodyguard.

I was wondering about Tobias, wondering about Lexi. The fact that she never mentioned her mother, no one ever did. Then Lexi jumped up in front of me from nowhere.

“Boo!” she yelled, doubling over in a fit of laughter before I could even pretend to be terrified.

“And where did you come from?” I asked, tapping my finger affectionately on her nose.