Page 2 of Mountain Men’s Nanny

“Since when are you ever late?” she smiled as soon as she saw me, hugging me tightly.

I could smell the hospital on her, the sanitizing detergents that clung to all of us even after a shift was over.

“I fell asleep in the bath,” I said, leading the way to the counter.

We always ordered the same thing: a banana split with extra nuts, no matter the season. It was a habit we picked up after bad breakups in college and just never shook. Banana splits after a hard exam, after a long shift, before a hard life decision. One winter, we kept the ice cream parlor near campus in business with our twice a week visits. It was our thing.

“First, you don’t have to be ashamed for struggling through this. We all loved Kiara, and we all thought she’d pull through. You were closer to her than any of us,” Holly said, fingers knitted on the table between us.

She had practiced this, I could tell.

“First?” I asked. “So there’s more?”

“Of course there’s more,” she laughed and reached for my hand. “You’re a brilliant nurse, which is why you feel the loss so deeply. I don’t know anyone who can connect with our little patients like you do.”

I nodded, taking it all in and waiting for the perfect time to tell her about the crazy idea I’d had. I mulled it over while Holly went on about how the hospital should take better care of its staff. Indefinite leave just wasn’t enough…

“I saw a job post that sounds perfect for me,” I blurted out.

Holly pulled her hand back, her brows creasing quizzically just as a waitress put our splits on the table with a smile.

“What are you talking about?” she asked. “A different hospital? Look, these things happen at every—”

“No.” I shook my head. I knew she wouldn’t approve. “Not a hospital. It’s a position as a nanny.”

I should have used “home assistant” or something to soften the blow. Too late.

Holly cringed. “A nanny? After years of studying, sleepless nights, practically living in the campus library, student debt up the wazoo… You want to be a nanny?”

It sounded like a waste, and Holly’s words only made it more real. I was seriously considering walking away from a career I’d invested everything in. All of myself, not just money. It wasn’t something I would do lightly, but there was nothing light about the fear that gripped me every time I saw a little girl with blonde curls on a stretcher and had to remind myself it wasn’t Kiara. There was no light in me, panicking every time the first course of medication we administered didn’t instantly work. Feeling like it was all happening again was draining.

“I just need some time away. It isn’t permanent,” I said, trying to convince her it wasn’t as bad as she thought. Convincing myself I could walk back into a hospital in the not-too-distant future and not have Kiara haunt me.

Holly scooped the ice cream into her mouth and stared me down while she swallowed, giving us both a moment to think about what I had just said.

“I don’t know, Brie. You worked really hard to get where you are, and I know how much you’ve always wanted to be a pediatric nurse. Why can’t you just take the leave, visit museums, travel a little, and see your family? It will get better, I promise.” She was almost pleading.

I shook my head and scrolled through my phone to show her the application. “Look, it’s not just an ordinary nanny job. I’d be making more than what I do now, and I’d be enjoying a winter in the mountains.”

Holly looked at the screen, refusing to be convinced. “You know as well as I do that nursing was never about the money.”

But I couldn’t forget how helpless I felt as Kiara slipped away right in front of me.

I mixed chocolate sauce into the melting ice cream in my bowl and ate it; the cold sweetness affirmed my resolve.

“I’m applying for the job,” I announced decisively.

2

Arrivals

~

Tobias

My biceps tensed each time I raised the axe, pounding it hard into the carefully balanced log on the ground. Every hit sent shock waves up my arms and into my pecs, misted with sweat despite the cool air. I couldn’t stop, wouldn’t stop until my pile of chopped wood was at least a whole head higher than Gideon’s and Gunner’s. Just a few more logs.

“Is that a cramp, Tobias?” Gideon teased. “I really won’t think any less of you if you call it quits now.”