The Lumberjack's Nanny: A Forbidden Romance (Rockford Falls Romance)

by Natasha L. Black

  I’d look up small business loans again, see if there was any kind of grant program or anything for single women in a rural area. It was a long shot, but right now the whole scheme to buy the diner looked like a long shot.

  6

  Max

  “I can reach if I just use my stool. I don’t need a chair,” Sadie said. I looked at her, watched her drag her stool in from the bathroom sink and set it by the cabinet. She could reach the counter without standing on a kitchen chair. When had she gotten so big? I shook my head with a grin.

  “You sure can,” I said. “Look at you.”

  Sadie took the butter knife and cut up the mushrooms I’d set out for her. She liked to help cook dinner when we had time, and I liked to watch the serious way she tried to do it just right. She sawed at the mushroom, pushed too hard and smashed it. Then she shrugged, whacked at it with the knife and put the two giant chunks in a bowl.

  “Let’s cut them a little smaller,” I said lightly, taking that one and showing her again how to use the knife—which wasn’t sharp—to cut a slice more easily.

  “When am I big enough to chop wood?” she asked.

  “What?”

  “I wanna cut down a tree like you do.”

  “Let’s master the butter knife before we start you on an ax, baby girl,” I said.

  “You’ll show me how though?”

  “Yes, I’ll show you how when you’re bigger,” I agreed.

  I cringed inwardly. Just the thought of my sweet girl getting hurt, dropping the heavy ax or her grip slipping at the wrong moment—it made me sick. Again, I wondered for the thousandth time, how could I protect her from everything that can go wrong? Not just in logging, but in her whole life? The need to keep her safe was so strong. I wouldn’t make her fearful or too cautious. I wanted her to be brave and confident and happy—I just wanted to keep her in a safe bubble at the same time.

  So, I covered her small hand with mine and took her through the motions of cutting up another mushroom together. She looked up and grinned at me, her face so sweet and open, “I got it, Daddy!” she said. The bright feeling of pride flooded me, and I gave her a hug. “You sure do, baby girl,” I told her.

  When I put the vegetables into the sauce and put it on to simmer, we danced in the kitchen. I took her hand and twirled her a few times. She kept spinning around and giggled and got dizzy. I picked her up in my arms and danced her around some more.

  “I’m a big girl,” she said seriously. “You don’t have to carry me.”

  “I know. But I like to carry you around,” I said.

  I gave her a noisy kiss on her cheek and put her down.

  “Wanna know something cool that Hadley does? It’s called Snapchat! It has a thing where your picture looks—”

  “No. No Snapchat. You’re six,” I said heavily. It was already starting. If she wanted Snapchat at six, was she going to ask for Tinder in third grade? I had the impulse to throw all the cell phones and tablets in the ocean. I didn’t want a world of bullies and creeps to chat with my child. I wanted to take two Tylenol, go to sleep, and wake up to her being two years old again. When she was two, she loved cows. I used to drive her over to a farm to look at them through the fence as a treat. Just cows. No Snapchat or wanting to use an ax—back when things were simple.

  “But, Daddy, it’s to send funny pictures to my friends!” she said.

  “Look, I’m glad Hadley thinks it’s fun, and I’m sure you like it and want it. But it’s not safe for you. We can take some silly pictures on my phone with the filters. I’ll even send one to Hadley’s parents for you. That way you can have the fun too.”

  “Daddy, please!”

  “Nope. Game over. No Snapchat. If you’re good, we’ll do a selfie after supper. You can pick the filter.”

  “I can pick? There’s one that makes your head into broccoli! I want a broccoli head!”

  “You do? You don’t want a cute one with teddy bear ears and a nose?” I asked.

  “Nope, I want a broccoli head!” she laughed and laughed.

  “All right, broccoli head, get the butter out of the fridge. We have garlic bread to make.”

  I mixed up garlic butter, and she smeared it on the slices of French bread. Some of the pieces had a glob of butter an inch thick on them in one spot, and other ones had a hole where she’d pushed too hard and ripped the bread. I didn’t say a word to discourage her. This was how she’d learn, by practicing and doing it herself. I resisted the urge to take the knife and do it ‘right’ so they all looked the same. She grinned when she was done and said it was ready for the oven. I scooted her stool over and popped the pan in the oven and set the timer. With the spaghetti boiling and the bread baking and the sauce simmering, we were well on our way to a good homemade supper.

  “Go wash your hands, kiddo, it’ll be ready in a minute.”

  “Okay, can you help me with homework?”

  “Homework?” I asked.

  “I have to do words,” she sighed like the sight word flash cards were the same as writing a ten-page paper.

  “We’ll do them before your bath, don’t worry,” I told her.

  “I want to do the broccoli head first. Please?” she pleaded.

  “All right, one picture, then we do your words, and you have your bath. Then you know what time it’ll be.”

  “Yeah, I know I have to brush my teeth and go to bed. But I get a story first.”

  “Yes, you get a story first. Which one tonight?” I inquired.

  “You know which one!” she laughed.

  “Not again!” I made a show of covering my face with my hands like I was horrified that I had to read the same book again and again.

  After we ate supper and I heard all the details of Hadley’s many, magical selfies from Snapchat and also about the boy in her class who put green beans up his nose at lunch, Sadie was thrilled with the picture of her face as broccoli with weird eye circles. I sent it to Hadley’s dad, Mark, and we did her sight words. She blazed through them fast, and I was so proud of her. She played with her mermaid Barbie dolls in the bath for a long time, and then I helped her into her jammies and read her a book.

  “Tomorrow we’ll do this more, right, Daddy?” she asked.

  “Yes. Every night.”

  “When I go to sleep what do you do?” she wondered aloud.

  “I clean up the kitchen, sometimes I watch TV, and then I go to sleep,” I said.

  “Don’t you wish I could watch TV with you?” she asked, a mischievous grin on her face.

  “Of course I miss you when you’re asleep, but you need your sleep so you can do what?”

  “Get big and strong! Then I can cut down trees with you and I can swim without floaties and I can eat a whole one of Rachel’s pies all by myself and not give you any!” she said. I laughed.

  “I think you’d be sick if you ate a whole pie. And it’s going to be a good long time before you’re big enough to cut down a tree.”

  “Do I have to go to high school to learn how?” she asked.

  “Yes,” I told her.

  “Do I have to drive a car?”

  “When you get bigger, you’ll want to drive a car,” I told her.

  “But I’m scared I can’t see out the big window!” she said.

  “You’ll be taller then and you can see out, baby, don’t worry about stuff like that.”

  I took down one of her old favorites that we hadn’t read in a while, one about a cow, and she snuggled up beside me. She fell asleep before we finished the story, and I kissed her head. When I switched off the light, I couldn’t help thinking that she was so smart for her age, so mature and intuitive, and I wouldn’t always be able to allay her fears like that. But it felt good to know I could keep her safe now, that a story and a snuggle was still enough to fix anything that troubled her.

  “Good night, sweet girl,” I whispered. “Daddy loves you so much.”

  I sat down on the couch, but I didn’t turn on the TV. I stared at th
e dark screen and wondered what in the world I was going to do now that Denise was moving away. My sweet girl trusted and depended on her—and so did I. Sadie needed stability and routine in her life, and everything was about to be turned upside down because her babysitter was leaving.

  I had already looked at daycares in the area, and I was sure they were fine, but Sadie and I were both used to her having one-on-one care in her own home. She got plenty of socialization at school. What she needed was the nurturing and supervision of a nanny, a full-time babysitter. Especially with summer vacation starting in a few weeks. It had been a colder than usual spring and April had looked like March, but it was already the month of May.

  I was going to have to contact the employment agency in Overton to see if anyone there had experience with childcare and a CPR certification. I felt bad for Denise and valued her greatly as a family friend, but I wished this wasn’t a problem. I didn’t want to deal with it. I’d been lucky to find one caregiver who would love Sadie like her own and watch over her. When Denise had taken the job, she’d been happy to have a baby to fuss over since her youngest had just joined the Army. She had spoiled Sadie and played with her and rocked her to sleep. Now I was on my own again, and I was going to have to interview strangers about caring for my child.

  I didn’t want to advertise in Rockford Falls. The reason being, most of the kids were at home with mom during the summer, and I didn’t want some woman taking pity on us and saying Sadie could come to their house like she was a poor motherless waif. And I definitely didn’t want the single moms to scent blood in the water and come after me offering to take care of everything and warm my bed besides. The employment agency was the only option I had at this point, and I wasn’t happy about it.

  7

  Rachel

  The kitchen table was covered with wadded-up paper. List after list of possible ways to earn money quickly. I couldn’t sell enough blood plasma in that length of time to do any good. I didn’t have any antique collections I could have appraised and auction off—no rare Roman coins or Vermeer paintings. My skill set ran to pie making and restaurant management, so a second job would require me to work a cash register for minimum wage when I wasn’t working at the diner. I combed through the help wanted ads in Overton and considered moonlighting as a telemarketer, but I had too much attitude to be any good at that. Dog walkers only made seven bucks an hour and I would have to drive to Overton to get the dogs. I shook my head, feeling defeat creep up my spine.

  One thought kept popping up. What about Max and Sadie?

  I could be a bit of a meddler. I liked to solve people’s problems for them, and Max needed someone to take care of Sadie. Sadie was a fun kid, and I could spend days with her and move my shifts to evenings and weekends at the diner. College kids and teenagers working the summer could do the day shifts and have their evenings free. It could be a win-win. If I could get him to pay me like fifteen bucks an hour. I looked into it and that was not even a lot to ask for in-home babysitting services for one child. It sounded crazy, but it could solve both our problems.

  That meant counting on him to want a pie baking waitress to babysit his child, but he had seemed like he was anxious to resolve the childcare situation. I didn’t wanna say desperate because that didn’t make me sound great, but he was. He seemed desperate, so I probably had a shot of pitching the idea to him and not getting an automatic no.

  The next day, when Laura came in for coffee and to show me pictures of Brenna with her cute messy bedhead hair, I told her my plan.

  “You’re gonna babysit for extra money?”

  “If I can get the job, yeah. I need another income stream so I can buy this place. It’s my dream.”

  “No margarita nights for a few months then,” she said.

  “No social life of any kind, but it’ll be worth it. And you can come in here and see me, leave a big tip,” I said.

  “I think my husband and I will have to start bringing Brenna in for supper once a week so she can see you.”

  “Oh, please bring her! I can’t miss out on seeing my munchkin all the time.”

  “I will,” she said. “And the thing is, it’s worth a shot. You’ve got to try everything you can to get this place. If there’s any way I can help, let me know.”

  “I don’t know. If you see him in town, casually mention that you always thought being a nanny was my real calling,” I shrugged.

  “Anyone who’s had your pie knows your calling. And it ain’t babysitting. But if I see him, I promise to scare the shit out of him and be pushy and awkward and make him hire you.”

  “I knew I could count on you,” I laughed.

  “You realize he’s never in town, so I won’t run into him.”

  “Yeah, I figured it was a safe bet.”

  “So, you really don’t want me to try and put in a good word for you?”

  “You’d probably threaten him with your taser, Laura,” I said. “So please leave him alone.”

  “All right. I’ll bring the family in tomorrow night. Brenna will want pancakes.”

  “Good deal,” I said.

  All that day I thought about scheduling and how to manage everything and save the money for a down payment. I was putting a fresh lemon icebox pie in the case when I saw Max walk in with Sadie. It felt like a sign. This wasn’t their usual night to come in for supper and it was early yet, too. This was my opportunity to pitch the idea to him. I shut the cooler door and hurried to their table.

  “Can you believe there’s already azaleas and peonies blooming? Spring sure happened fast this time,” I said to Sadie.

  “I waited forever for those yellow ones and then, boom!” she said. “Flowers everywhere!”

  “Exactly. Spring just exploded on us. Now what brings you in early?”

  “I forgot my lunchbox and it was fish on the tray,” she said, making a face. “Daddy said we could come here as a treat, and he said, ‘member my lunch next time.”

  “Good advice,” I said. Then I supplied her with crayons and the coloring book I keep tucked away for her. “What can I get you for supper?”

  Max looked at me, “I may need a minute.”

  “Okay. Could I speak to you for a second?” I asked.

  He looked startled, but he checked in with his daughter and said he’d be right over by the counter. We both watched her color for a second and then stepped away.

  “What’s the matter?”

  “Nothing. I had an idea, and it could solve your problem with childcare and my problem with—money.”

  “You have a problem with money?”

  “That’s not the point. You told me the other day that your sitter was quitting. I know summer vacation’s coming up, and that’s gonna be a problem for you with no childcare lined up. That’s also the time of year when our high school and college kids like the day shift, and I could adjust my schedule to work here evenings and weekends while I watched Sadie during the day.”

  “You want to watch Sadie?”

  “Yes. I do. You’ve seen how we get along, and she’s a really fun kid. We could have a great time this summer, and besides the fact that I’d love to watch her for you, I could use the cash. Hugh is going to retire and sell this place, and I want him to sell it to me. Which means I need a down payment. I’ve got most of it saved because I’ve been working toward this for years, but it came up sooner than I expected. I have to raise a lot of money in a short time, and a second job is the most logical way to do that,” I told him.

  “Okay, well, I don’t know your qualifications. I’m not saying no, exactly, I just don’t know what to think. I can’t say I expected to come in here for supper and for you to offer to babysit my daughter all summer. I’ll consider it and speak to you soon.” He was stiff, formal, and hurried back to the table.

  I did not feel like he was warming to the idea of me watching Sadie at all. Maybe he had another option lined up already, or maybe he just thought I was a pushy waitress and a little bit nuts. Also, he smel
led good. Standing close to him, whispering, had made me lightheaded. Not just from being anxious and excited about talking to him. From the smell of, I don’t know, pine forests in the springtime or whatever delicious scent clung to his skin. Oh, God, I should not have thought about his skin. He had nice skin, especially for a guy.

  I went and got iced tea for a customer and checked back for Max and Sadie’s order. She was having a grilled cheese and some carrots with ranch, and I teased her about liking the vegetables now.

  “I still pick out the mushrooms when we have noodles.”

  “But you cut them up all by yourself and helped me cook,” Max said with a smile. She lit up under his praise and nodded.

  “I smushed one,” she said confidentially.

  “That’s okay. I bet it was still good.”

  “It was,” she assured me proudly.

  I went and turned in their order and tended to my other tables, checked out a to-go order, and then ferried their food out to the table.

  “It’ll be lemonade season before long. I know you love my fresh lemonade,” I said to Sadie.

  “It’s so good and puckery! I don’t like sugary lemonade,” she said loyally.

  “Me neither,” I told her. She dunked a carrot into the ranch and licked the dressing off. “Hey, girl, you gotta eat the carrot part, too,” I said. Sheepishly she took a bite and chewed it.

  A group of ten came in and they kept me busy for a while. By the time Max and Sadie were done eating, I slid their check on the table and cleared the plates in a rush.