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“A glance here and there.”
This was the most embarrassing moment of my life. Even more than when my mother showed up at my high school in pajamas demanding I show her how to change the batteries in the remote.
I should have picked up the skill of lying somewhere along the way, but I was my father’s son. Dishonesty wasn’t in my wheelhouse, and I looked down on those who thought the truth was theirs to stretch and mold at their whim.
Catherine snickered at my admission. “I can’t deny it. I’d probably look too.” Then she shoved my arm again. “So why’d you blame Sam for looking?”
I caught her hand before she could assault me again and held it between us. “I didn’t like his eyes on you.”
She sucked in a soft breath. “That simple?”
“For me, it is.” I stepped back from her because I had to. “I’m going to do some work until Freddie arrives.”
She held up her crossed fingers. “Let’s hope she’s awesome.”
If she wasn’t, I’d find someone who was.
Anything less than the best wasn’t acceptable for Josephine.
Chapter Twenty
Catherine
Freddiehadturnedoutto be everything I could’ve possibly wanted in a nanny. In her upper fifties, if I had to hazard a guess, she’d been a stay-at-home mom until her kids were grown then started taking care of other people’s children. With her lilting Jamaican accent and a chest that was like a pillowy shelf, Joey had taken to her instantly, and Freddie had been absolutely tickled by my smiley girl.
Even Elliot had conceded Freddie was wonderful.
That hadn’t stopped him from installing security cameras that linked to both our phones in all the living areas, though. He trusted Freddie, but only so far.
Although it was overkill since we wouldn’t be living with him long term, inwardly, I was relieved to have a way to check in on my girl throughout the day.
This was day one, and so far, so good. I’d ripped myself away from Joey-Girl with only a couple tears—and that had mostly been because she’d seemed content to hang with Freddie.
Elliot had gone to the gym first thing in the morning, so we’d driven to the office separately.
Getting back to my routine was like riding a bike. I wrote out his schedule as always, but when I got to the bottom, I hesitated.
I didn’t have a scathing postscript to write. That might change tomorrow, but for now, Elliot was on my good side in a huge way. He was more than tolerable. In fact, Ilikedhim.
I wasn’t really sure what we were. Not really boss and employee, and calling us roommates would have been a stretch. We weren’t quite friends, but we almost were.
I guessed we were some strange amalgamation of all those things, yet none of them at the same time.
At the bottom of his schedule, I wrote out my postscript.
P.S. I hope your pillow is cool tonight.
I sliced it off, pleased with what I’d come up with. Tomorrow, I might return to scathing, but for today, I was feeling generous.
The envelope was right where I’d left it, but I didn’t feel right adding this slip of paper with the others, so I fished out a new one and stashed it on top of the old one.
Right on time too, because Davida and Raymond were charging toward my desk.
“You’re back,” Davida announced. “Thank god you’re back. Poor Daniel.”
Raymond pulled me out of my seat to give me a squeeze. “Welcome, welcome, now where is Angel McChunk-Cheeks? Who have you left her with, and why wasn’t I consulted?”
Grinning, I grabbed my phone and turned on the screen that showed the living room. Freddie was walking around with Joey in one arm, pointing to things in the room. I turned on the sound, and Freddie’s sweet singing voice filtered through.
