“She couldn’t even get the kids to school.”
“I don’t care. You need her to stay, and this attitude won’t work. You have to suck it up and be nice to this girl.”
I knew he was right. I’d been thinking the same thing after my little blow out with Summer the night before. I had to reel in my attitude and try a little better. I couldn’t afford to lose Summer with only a couple weeks left.
“I know. We need this deal. It could skyrocket us into another stratosphere.”
“Okay then, focus. Go find the kids. Help the girl out, and don’t be an ass about it. I know you’re capable of being a cool guy. I’ve seen you work really well under pressure. I’m just not sure why you have such a hard time with it when it comes to the kids.”
“I don’t know. Claire was so perfect with everything, and I feel like I suck at it all. I at least want the nanny to be good at taking care of them.”
I started to dial Summer’s number and hoped she answered. Although, if she was driving, I knew she wouldn’t answer her phone. After three tries and all of them going to voicemail, I knew I was going to have to head over to the school and see if I could find them. She was probably just on the wrong street or something like that.
“Go ahead, I’ll see you later,” Rob said as I started to leave his office. “Be nice to her.”
“I will, I will.”
On the way over to the school, I used my Bluetooth to try and call Summer again. She still wasn’t answering. There was a growing pit in my stomach as we approached nearly ten o’clock and the kids still hadn’t arrived at the school.
What could have just been Summer getting lost was now actually worrying me more and more. What if they had been in a car accident? What if something horrible had happened to them, and I just didn’t know it yet? I couldn’t imagine anything happening to my kids. It had taken me years to even think about moving on after losing Claire. I wouldn’t be able to go on if I lost my kids.
I drove to the school and then progressively started driving around further and further away. If they had gotten lost, I certainly would find them. Then, as I came up and over a hill, I saw the three of them walking.
Summer was holding both of the kids’ hands as they walked up the hill toward the school. They were only about a half of a mile away, but the car wasn’t anywhere in sight.
“Need a ride?” I said with a smile as I pulled up next to them.
“Oh, my gosh, my feet are falling off,” Faith said as she climbed in with Thomas.
Summer didn’t say anything and just got into the front seat. I noticed she had on tennis shoes and wasn’t wearing her makeup. I hadn’t realized that when she was at home. She smiled at me and then looked out the window as we drove to the school.
“I’ve got to run inside and sign them in because we are late; it will be just a second,” I said as I took the kids inside. “Did you guys get lost?” I asked them.
“Yeah, but then the car ran out of gas. We would have made it if we hadn’t run out of gas. I think Summer knew where we were going, finally,” Faith said as she gave me a hug and went to her room.
I signed the kids in and didn’t make eye contact with any of the women in the office. This whole mess was my fault. I’d given Summer the car from the garage without even checking to see if there was gas in it. I felt absolutely terrible.
“I’m so sorry,” Summer said as she broke down in full blown tears the second I climbed into the car. “I didn’t check the gas, and I didn’t have that credit card you left me. I’m really sorry. I understand if you want to fire me.”
“Summer, it’s okay,” I said calmly.
I wanted to reach out and comfort her but figured that would send the wrong signal after the way I yelled at her the night before. She was shaking, though, and I couldn’t stop myself as I gently touched her upper arm to try and calm her.
“I’m horrible at this job. I’m sorry. You should just find someone else. I can’t do any of it right. I thought I was going to be able to. I thought if I tried really hard, I wouldn’t ruin this, but I did,” she went on as the tears continued.
Emotions weren’t my favorite thing, and emotional women were probably one of my least favorite things in the world. I didn’t know what to say or how to calm them down. I always felt like I was doing the wrong thing and never like I was being of any use at all.
“It takes a little bit to learn it all. You aren’t horrible, though, the kids love you. And this was my fault. I should have checked the gas gage before I gave you the car. I’m sorry.”
“You’re sorry?”
“Yes, and I’m sorry about last night as well. I overreacted, and I shouldn’t have talked to you like that.”
“I shouldn’t have touched you,” she said as her face flushed a little. “I misread what was going on between the two of us. Or whatever, I’m sorry.”
“It’s not true,” I admitted as I closed my eyes and took ownership of what had happened. “You didn’t misread it. I just overreacted when you put your hand on my leg. There’s an attraction here. I feel it, and I know you felt it, and I was an ass about it,” I said honestly.
It was the first time in a very long time that I could remember actually admitting to being wrong. My late wife had even told me I would never admit it, and it drove her crazy that even when I knew I was wrong, I couldn’t just admit it. But here I was, learning from my past and making an honest effort to change, even if just a little bit.
“Okay,” Summer said without saying anything else as we drove back to my work.
“I need to go into the office for a little bit, and then we can get some gas for the car. Would that be alright? You can have my office to yourself, as I’ll be in some meetings.”
“Okay, I’ll probably just take a nap, I’m exhausted.”
Summer looked exhausted, and when we arrived to my work and walked upstairs, she could barely keep her eyes open. I gave Rob a quick wave and then ushered Summer into my office so she could rest.
“There’s a blanket in that cabinet. Come get me if you’d really like to leave; otherwise, I’ll probably just let you sleep.”
“Thanks, I think it’s the adrenaline or something. I’m so tired.”
“There are snacks in the mini-fridge and a bathroom right there in the corner. I’ll check on you in a bit.”
“Okay,” Summer said as I closed the door to my office.
Just as the door closed, I turned around, and Rob was standing right there. He looked into my office through the window and was nearly falling over himself as he tried to get a glimpse of Summer.
“Alright big boy, let’s go to your office,” I said as I pulled him away.
“That’s Summer,” he said.
“What? How did you know her name? Did I tell you her name?”
“No, that’s the amazing girl I met at the club who blew me off because of my yellow tooth. Holy friggin hell, she’s your nanny? You dog. You dirty dog!” Rob was patting me on the back and was pretty damn excited that I had Summer as my nanny.
“You met Summer?”
“Yeah, remember, I told you. But she dogged me,” Rob said as we walked back to his office.
“Yeah, I could see that.” I laughed at the thought of Rob trying to hit on Summer. He definitely didn’t seem like the kind of guy she would go for.
“So she’s just living with you. Just like that you’ve got this amazingly hot woman living in the same house as you? Shit, I need to hire a nanny,” Rob continued.
“Are we going to get some work done?”
Rob could hardly pay attention at all for at least fifteen minutes as he kept asking me questions about Summer. I felt a little bad that she had turned him down and was now my nanny, but there was no use in him thinking she ever would have run off with him. He clearly wasn’t thinking straight when he ran after her.
When we were finally able to get back to work, it was a productive afternoon. We finalized our paperwork and got everything to the prin
ter. It was only six weeks until our big pitch, and everything had to be absolutely perfect. Landing a big hotel chain wasn’t as easy as it used to be. There were going to be hundreds of teams vying for this company, and ours had to stand out.
By three o’clock, I realized we had worked right past lunch, and I was going to have to go get the kids from school. Summer was easy to wake up but still looked really tired when I went into my office.
“Are you sure you’re feeling okay?” I asked.
“Yeah, I’m just a little dizzy. Is it time to go?”
“Yep,” I said as she started to stand up and then nearly fainted. “Did you eat anything today?”
“What? she asked looking up at me a little confused. No, I don’t think so.”
“Dang Summer, you can’t just go two days without eating. Look at you, you’ve got zero reserves, and your body needs the energy. I’m getting you a sandwich before we go pick the kids up.”
After hurrying to our break room to grab a sandwich, I returned, and Summer was looking a little bit better. She had overworked herself and then refused to eat because I had pissed her off. It would have been funny if she didn’t look so darn sick.
“Thank you,” she said as she ate the sandwich quietly without looking over at me.
At this point, she was so hungry it didn’t even matter that she had been angry with me. Hopefully, we could put all of that behind us and get on some sort of schedule. It was only the first week, and I still had high hopes for everything to come together for us all.
“We need to get going so we can go get the kids. We will just have to miss soccer today and get the other car up and running. How are you feeling? Can you walk alright?” I asked as I pulled her up and into my arms.
Despite everything that had gone on, I couldn’t help loving the touch of her against me. I lingered in the embrace longer than I should have, and Summer smiled knowingly up at me.
“This is going to be an issue,” she said with a playful grin.
“I’m really sorry I yelled at you. I think I was just feeling bad because … because of this,” I mumbled as I looked down at her lips.
The urge to kiss her was growing so strong that I let go of her without warning and Summer fell right onto the couch. We both broke out laughing at the whole moment. I couldn’t be trusted around her, or if I was going to be around her, I just couldn’t touch her. The second my skin felt hers, there was nothing else I could think of but her.
“I’m going to take that apology and remember it.” She laughed as she stood up with me. “Because I don’t think we are going to be able to stay apart from one another.”
Summer pulled herself up with a newfound confidence as she stood next to me and gave me a playful smile. She had her vindication that was for sure.
Chapter 9
Summer
As the next week continued, I really never felt like I was getting the hang of being a nanny at all. I survived, and at least I managed to get the kids to school and pick them up. But I inevitably forgot things on a daily basis.
“We have soccer today,” Thomas said as we pulled away from the school.
“Soccer? I thought it was dance. Darn it, I brought the dance clothes,” I sulked as we drove all the way home before we could go to the soccer field.
Again, the kids were late for their practice, and the coach looked at me as if I was some ditzy blonde who couldn’t figure anything out. At this point, even I felt that way. Even when I was positive I had everything on our schedule, and I was ready to lock in our day as perfect, I would screw something else up. Being a caretaker was much harder than I could have imagined.
I collapsed into the shade under a tree while the kids did their soccer practice. I was so exhausted, I could hardly move. I’d finally figured out what the nanny was supposed to do while the kids were at school; sleep. I got up early, got them to school and then came home and slept a few hours until it was time to pick them up. Even with a nap, I couldn’t seem to concur my day with the kids, though.
“Summer,” I felt Faith shaking me away. “It’s time to go home. We are done with practice.”
“We have karate today. Remember,” Thomas said with a huge smile on his face. “We have it on Friday this week because we missed it on Wednesday.”
“Oh, yeah,” I said remembering the mishap earlier in the week.
The sun shone through the trees right into my eyes as I tried to gather myself and wake up enough to safely drive the kids to their next stop. It was inhuman how much they did in a day, and I honestly understood why they went to bed at nine and never had a problem falling asleep. These kids were like little energizer bunnies.
“Okay, let’s get to school.” I laughed. “I mean karate.”
“We don’t have our outfits,” Thomas reminded me.
“Ugh. You’ll have to wear your soccer outfits for today.”
Neither of the kids seemed very happy at that idea at all. They both groaned as we climbed into the car, but they didn’t complain. At this point, they were probably just happy we were going to make it to karate on time and not be late for that practice too.
We pulled up in front of the karate studio with five minutes to spare. As I walked in, I shrugged as I motioned for them to get ready for class.
“Sorry, we forgot the outfits,” I said to their teacher.
“It’s alright. I’m glad they made it,” he said with a smile.
I couldn’t help wondering if I was truly the worst possible caretaker this guy had seen before. The pity in his eyes made me think that I was. I sulked back out to the car to hide there while the class was going on and maybe catch another nap while I waited. But no sooner had my butt hit the seat than Tyler was calling me.
“Where are you guys?”
“I missed karate class earlier this week, so we are having it today. We will be home in an hour. Are you done working?”
“Yes, I just ordered pizza. It should still be warm when you get home. They said it would be forty-five minutes or so.”
“Perfect.”
“Are you feeling alright?”
“Just tired. I’m going to nap while they are in class. See you in a bit,” I said without giving him the chance to reply.
Tyler and I were getting along much better than the first few days. The sexual attraction between the two of us had calmed down a little, and our communication had increased as well. Overall, I was happy with the job, but I didn’t feel like I was doing it all that well.
There had been no more touching incidents. Honestly, I was too tired to even think about him like that. Instead, I was purely focused on making it through this month so my father could help me out. Every day I was sure I was getting better at being a nanny, and every day I felt like I failed when the day ended.
I liked Tyler and loved Faith and Thomas. If I could get the hang of this job, it was something I could see myself doing for a few months at least. But I just hadn’t been able to get a hold of all the jobs. The house was a disaster, the kids’ rooms were a mess, and I still hadn’t unpacked my own suitcases. It was basically a mess everywhere, and Tyler was putting up with it.
Somewhere in the midst of our first week of awkwardness and yelling, Tyler had found a way to let me learn the ropes. He was helpful when I needed help and always answered questions when I had them. I think he was just happy that I was there, and he could get caught back up at his job. From what I understood, he had a big event coming up, and he and his partner were going to have to work really hard to land this new client.
As karate class ended, the teacher walked the kids out to the car. I rolled my window down since he was looking at me as if he had something to say. I couldn’t help hoping he wasn’t going to scold me for missing on Wednesday or not having them wear their outfits today.
“Hey, I’m Cole,” the man said as he put his hand out for me to shake it. “I don’t think we have formally met.”
“Hi, I’m the nanny.”
“Do you have a
name?” he asked playfully, and it took every bit of self-control I had not to roll my eyes.
I hadn’t put on makeup in a week. I felt like I might actually be dying because I was so tired, and this guy was going to hit on me. Great, yep, that was exactly what I wanted to deal with at that moment.
“My name is Summer,” I gave in and answered.
“Well, Summer, that’s a beautiful name. I was wondering if I could get your number and maybe call you sometime?”
“No, I don’t think so. I’m really busy with the kids.”
“How about I give you my number, and if you happen to have some spare time, you can give me a call? I’ll drop whatever I’m doing for a chance to go on a date with you.”
Cole hurried and wrote down his number on one of the karate studio business cards and handed it to me. I already had the car in reverse and was slowly pulling out of the parking spot.
“Have a good night,” I said as I kept pulling away from him. “Wow, that was awkward.” I laughed as we got on our way home.
The kids were nearly asleep by the time we got to the house. I managed to wake them up, and they shuffled into the house. Both of them could barely keep their eyes open though as they sat down at the table where Tyler had pizza waiting for us.
“Wow, you all look pretty darn tired. How was your night?”
“Our karate master likes Summer and asked her out on a date,” Thomas said as he devoured his first slice of pizza.
“Oh, so you got a date?” Tyler asked as he raised an eyebrow playfully.
“No, he asked me out. I never answered.”
“Ouch.”
“Hey, I can hardly manage my days right now. I definitely couldn’t hang on a long night out. I’d be a horrible date.”
I really wasn’t feeling well, so I got up to go use the bathroom. On the way down the hall, I bent over to grab some toys that were on the ground, and as I stood up, I knew something was wrong. The room was spinning, and quickly I felt my legs slip from under me.
The Baby Package Page 91
