by Suzanne Hart
I shook my head as I stood there. Nora, this girl I had never met before, who had dared to stand up to me, was right. I was the one responsible for my daughter and yet I was blaming everyone but myself.
Chapter 7
Nora
Nothing today had gone according to plan, and now I was sitting in the back seat of a silver Audi with Cici beside me, telling me stories about her friends from school. I tried to pay attention to what she was saying, but my mind kept drifting elsewhere. What was I doing here? Why was I leaving the hotel? What was going to happen to my job?
I was supposed to be back there at the hotel, learning the ins and outs of a new career. I had big plans for my future in San Francisco and babysitting my boss’s daughter wasn’t one of them. But how could I have refused him? Cici was so sweet and had clearly formed an attachment with me, and moreover, Felix…Mr. Stone, he had seemed so lost back there.
I knew I should have been afraid of him. He was a rich, powerful man; the owner of the hotel I had just gotten a job at. I had seen the way Jackson and the others cowered in his presence, from respect and fear of displeasing him…but to me, maybe because it was my first day on the job and I didn’t know him at all, he didn’t scare me. He was all hulking muscle and good looks…like a dog whose bark was louder than his bite.
The car dropped us off at the front of a mansion of a house. The driveway itself looked bigger than our entire home in Minnesota. Cici led the way to the front door and I followed her, driving the key into the door and turning the lock.
“Usually Anne, our housekeeper, or my nanny, Rosie, are always home. But today Rosie is sick and Anne had to go visit her daddy, so I’m all alone,” Cici said excitedly, throwing her arms around as she twirled into the house. I was afraid of asking her where her mother was; I could already sense that Felix was a single parent.
“Do you want to see my room?” she squealed and when I nodded my head, she clapped her hands with excitement and led the way again. I chased after her and felt like I was in a dream because I had never stepped inside a more beautiful house than this before.
The floors were marble, the walls were spotlessly white, beautiful art hung from the walls and the curtains were thick and richly maroon. Every room seemed bigger than the previous one as Cici led the way, up the winding stairs and finally to her room.
It was the perfect little girl’s room, frilly and pink and filled with toys and books. The room had everything that a girl could ever need and yet, I had seen the sadness in Cici’s eyes that morning.
“What should we play with first?” Cici looked around the room, trying to decide on her toys. I still felt dumbstruck, amazed and still in shock that I was actually in this house, babysitting a little girl I had met just a few hours ago.
It was getting more and more obvious to me that the relationship between Felix and his daughter was complicated for some reason. I could imagine that being a single parent was tough, but I didn’t understand why he was so aloof, so cut off from her.
Cici eventually picked out her favorite dolls to show me and then started setting up a tea party with a little table and chairs for us to sit on. I tried to make the most of my time here; I decided I would think about the rest later. Once we started playing, I slowly began to forget where I was. I was actually having fun. I had never had toys or dolls like this when I was growing up, and neither did my bedroom look anything like this one. In those few hours in Cici’s room, I was living vicariously through her.
Then an older lady showed up, who Cici introduced as Anne, the housekeeper. She was initially surprised to find me there but then when I told her I worked at the hotel, she figured out that Felix had asked me to watch his daughter while he worked.
It was strange that it didn’t surprise Anne either, that Felix would pawn his daughter off on me.
“And Daddy’s coming home in the evening today. He’s going to have dinner with me!” Cici exclaimed to Anne, and this was the bit of information which actually seemed to surprise Anne.
“Did he really say that?” Anne asked and Cici nodded her head. Anne looked at me and I shrugged my shoulders.
“Yeah, he said he was coming back shortly,” I told her and Anne crossed her brows.
“According to Mr. Stone’s calendar, he’s supposed to be in New York this evening. That’s strange,” Anne said and, still mumbling to herself, she left Cici and me alone again.
“Hey, Cici, how often does your daddy have dinner with you?” I asked her as she poured me some more make-believe tea in a little plastic cup. Cici shrugged her shoulders and sighed in a way that a little girl should never have to sigh.
“Not a lot, sometimes…like Christmas or on my birthday. It’s when I get lots of presents too.” Cici didn’t seem bothered as she said that, but why would she be? She didn’t know yet what a normal, functional family was supposed to look like.
I stared at her while she chattered away, continuing with our tea-party, and I couldn’t help but feel sorry for her. This little girl who had everything.
Now that Anne was back, I wondered if I should leave, but I didn’t want to. I felt like staying for a while longer, just until Felix got back to the house. It would have broken my heart to leave Cici alone again.
Chapter 8
Felix
I waited for a few moments before I entered the house. I’d spent the whole day at the office, thinking about Nora and the things she had said to me, and now I wasn’t sure if she was still there or had left already.
The door squeaked when I stepped in, and as usual, there wasn’t a sound in the house and everything was in its place. I could smell food being cooked in the kitchen, which meant that Anne was home already.
“Cici?” I called to her as I walked up the stairs towards her room.
“Daddy?” Cici peeped out from her room and when she saw me, she came running towards me.
“I knew you’d come. Anne didn’t believe me!” She jumped into my arms and I swung her around.
“Well, Anne doesn’t know everything,” I said with a smile, just as I saw Nora walk out of Cici’s bedroom. She was watching me as I kissed Cici’s forehead and then placed her down.
“Come, look, Daddy! We’re having a tea party!” Cici squealed, tugging at my arm.
“Why don’t you go back inside and I’ll talk to Nora for a bit,” I suggested. Cici pouted her lips but eventually she went back in. Nora’s hair had come loose now, and some strands of her wavy golden hair fell around her face.
She stepped closer to me, with her hands clasped together tightly. I could sense that she didn’t know what to say.
“I spoke to Jackson about your job,” I broke the ice. Her eyes grew wide as she stared at me. Her perfect pink lips were parted and I felt an urge to feel them against mine.
“Oh?” she said in a quiet voice.
“The job is yours if you still want it,” I added and a soft smile grazed her lips. She gulped and nodded her head.
“Of course, thank you! I didn’t think I still had the job,” she said.
We were standing in the dark hallway, just a few feet away from Cici’s bedroom. I could hear her talking to herself inside, but my eyes were focused on the girl in front of me.
“Look…I should have said something earlier. I apologize for losing my temper. It wasn’t your fault; it was your first day and you did what you thought you were supposed to do,” I said and Nora licked her lips nervously and then shook her head.
“It was my fault too. I should have gone to Jackson or someone else who might have known what to do. I should have searched for you harder,” Nora argued and I stepped closer to her.
“The staff at the reception desk should have been trained on how to deal with a lost kid,” I countered.
“It wasn’t their fault. They were busy and didn’t think much of it,” Nora stated.
“They should have known what to do, taken Cici out of your hands. They should have recognized her at least,” I argued and Nora gulped,
staring into my eyes.
“Please don’t fire them…because of me. It wasn’t their fault,” she said.
There was a silence of a few moments between us. I was staring at her and she was staring back at me.
“Thank you for today, for watching Cici while I was at work. Our housekeeper…” I tried to explain, but Nora smiled and nodded her head.
“That’s okay, Cici explained the situation to me already. I was happy to help,” she said.
“I know this isn’t your job, and it was your first day,” I tried but Nora shook her head.
“I’ll start fresh again tomorrow, now that I still have the job,” she told me, and then smiled.
Nora’s face was fresh and young; she looked like the kind of person who didn’t worry about anything, who had a positive outlook on life, and I couldn’t remember what being that kind of person felt like.
“Mr. Stone, I should be going,” she said in a quiet voice. We were standing close enough to touch, but I couldn’t touch her. She was my employee and she had just done me a huge favor!
“Okay, thanks again. I’ll make sure that Jackson trains you professionally at your job,” I said. Nora smiled, nodded her head and was about to walk past me, but she stopped.
“Mr. Stone, I know that this isn’t my place to say…but, Cici misses you. She misses having her father.” Nora had spoken in a low shaky voice, like she was afraid of the words that were coming out of her mouth.
I felt the stiffening of my muscles. I clenched my jaw as I stared at her. Why was she doing this to me? How was she doing it? With anyone else, I wouldn’t have thought twice about putting them in place for speaking to me like this! I was her boss!
When I didn’t reply, Nora breathed in deeply and gulped again.
“She told me that she couldn’t really remember the last time she had dinner with you. On her birthday? At Christmas? Don’t you think there’s something wrong with that? You should have seen how excited she was to know that you were coming home today. Even your housekeeper was surprised to hear that. I guess what I’m trying to say, Mr. Stone, is that maybe you should try spending some more time with your daughter. I’m sorry if…”
I’d listened quietly to what Nora had been saying. Her words had shocked me beyond belief. I was too taken aback to say anything, till finally, I snapped out of it.
“Leave my house now, Nora, and be grateful that you still have this job,” I said threateningly, through gritted teeth. I saw the shock on her face as she stepped away from me.
She stood there for a moment, staring at me with a deathly pale face and then she turned and ran down the stairs.
I’d had enough of her and her quick mouth. She had no idea who she was speaking to.
Chapter 9
Nora
I was hugging Katie tightly, refusing to let go. We were sitting on our small, humble couch in the apartment, and I had just about managed to tell her everything that had happened today.
“I’m sure it’ll be fine, these things happen to everybody,” Katie tried to placate me. I drew myself away from her and stared at her with hope.
“Really?” I asked. Katie bit down on her lip and then shrugged her shoulders.
“I guess not,” she said, and I stood up from the couch and started pacing around the room.
“I can’t believe I said all those things to him. To Felix Stone!” I ran my hands through my hair. I couldn’t sit, I couldn’t eat anything…everything, every word I’d said was rushing back to me now and they were like repeated slaps across the face.
“Okay, Nora, honey, you need to sit down here and just calm down.” Katie patted the seat beside her on the couch.
“I can’t calm down, Katie! This was my first day on the job, what’s going to happen tomorrow?” I cried.
“Nothing! Nothing’s going to happen tomorrow. You’re going to march back in there and just pretend like today’s been forgotten. Didn’t he say he spoke to that Jackson guy already? So, it’s all been taken care of,” Katie argued and I shook my head.
“What was I thinking? Who speaks to their boss like that? Not once, but twice…I just kept trying to lecture him on what to do with his kid!” I exclaimed and collapsed down on the couch, exhausted.
“Well, he deserved it! The girl doesn’t even know her father’s name!” Katie cried and we shook our heads at each other. I rolled my eyes.
“I shouldn’t care. I just shouldn’t have bothered. What does it matter to me if that kid has dinner with her daddy or not? I’m never going to see her again. And now, I’ve gone and pissed off my boss…and who knows? Maybe tomorrow I’ll find out that I don’t have the job after all!” I threw my hands up in the air with exasperation and Katie shifted closer to me.
She threw her arms around my neck and knocked her head against mine.
“If that man has any common sense, he will realize that you meant well,” she said softly.
“I don’t think he will look at it that way. I’m his employee and I tried to lecture him on parenting skills. I’m twenty-three years old, what made me think I know anything about being a parent…and about being a single parent? What is wrong with me!” I cried out and Katie hugged me tighter.
“Just don’t overthink it, please! Just get up in the morning, go to the hotel and see what the day has in store for you. Maybe he’ll forget about it, maybe you won’t see him much anyway. I’m going to go get us some plates for the pasta, okay?” Katie stood up from the couch and I watched her go to the kitchen.
Maybe she was right, I tried to tell myself, maybe I wouldn’t have to see Felix Stone again and then I could stop feeling this miserable.
But I had that nagging feeling inside me somewhere, that I did want to see him again. As embarrassing as that would be. His sparkling green eyes were etched into my brain. I remembered exactly the way he moved, how broad his shoulders were and how gorgeous he looked when he smiled. Not that I’d seen him smiling much, they were just polite half-smiles, more like grins.
Katie returned with two plates of steaming cheesy pasta and she handed me one.
“I can’t believe you went to Felix Stone’s house, though. Was it amazing?” she asked as she settled down beside me again.
“Yeah, it was beautiful, like a palace…a cold marble palace, but beautiful anyway,” I replied and Katie sighed.
“He’s one of the richest men in America…like a multi-billionaire or something,” she continued and I tried to force the food down my throat.
“So today, I told off my boss, who also happens to be one of the richest men in America, in his own house, after attending a fake tea party with his six-year-old daughter,” I said, and Katie burst out laughing.
“I’m sorry, I know it’s not funny…it’s just when you say it that way,” she tried to say through her laughter and I rolled my eyes.
“I feel like a complete idiot,” I added and Katie patted my hand.
“It’ll be fine, don’t worry. If he was going to fire you, he would have done it already. Just keep your nose down, be a good girl and avoid trying to think of new lectures to give him the next time you see him,” Katie continued, still trying to control her giggles.
I arched my eyebrows at her and she laughed some more.
“By the way, I’ve heard that he’s like super sexy. Is he?” she asked, stopping midway in her laugh. I gulped down the food and kept my face turned to the plate, in the hopes that she wouldn’t notice how bright red my cheeks had become.
“He’s okay, he’s good-looking I guess; I didn’t really notice,” I said meekly and when I looked up, Katie was staring at me with her head tilted to the side.
“Oh my God, you’re attracted to him!” she squealed and I shook my head.
“Don’t be crazy. He’s my boss! I was worried about his daughter.” I tried to back out of it, but she had seen it in my eyes already.
“You think Felix Stone is sexy. You can’t stop blushing!” Katie was still squealing.
Could my
day get any worse than this? The last thing I wanted was to admit that I was constantly having fantasies of my boss in my head.
Chapter 10
Felix
I returned to the office the next day and my staff was surprised to see me there. I was supposed to be in New York.
“You’re here, sir?” Joan followed me down the corridor to my office on the top floor of the hotel.
“I’ll conduct the meeting via conference call. Make the arrangements, I’ll be ready in an hour,” I said to her as she followed me into the office.
