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Ever since that night, he’s been distant.
Or rathermoredistant, and he was plenty distant before that.
While before there were moments when he’d look at me or even murmur a greeting or a goodbye, now he hardly spares me a glance. Or even a word. In fact, ever since the night of the cabin, whenever he’s in my presence, his jaw clenches really hard and a look of anger crosses over his handsome features.
And I think I know why.
It’s probably because he usually moves on from his conquests, doesn’t he? He hardly ever repeats his dates, meaning that he never has to see them again afterwards. But with me, that isn’t the case. He does have to see me four days a week, even if only for a couple of minutes, both at the beginning and at the end of my shift.
Naturally, he doesn’t like that.
So I wonder if maybe I should quit my job. But that would go against the promise I gave him: to keep my personal and professional lives separate, and…
I feel an insistent and impatient tug on my hand and my thoughts break.
Which is a good thing, because I shouldn’t be thinking about stuff like this at all, let alone on the job. Let alone when I’m with one of my favorite people in the world.
Sophie.
With her dark hair in pigtails and a pink dress with daisies on it, she has to be the cutest girl ever. Also one of the most beautiful little girls too because every feature that she has takes after her dad.
“Whoops. I’m sorry. I kinda drifted off. What’s up, Sophie-girl?” I ask, keeping my eyes wide and excited.
“Dodo, look.” She points her chubby finger toward the letter blocks spread out around us. “Do. Do.”
It takes a second for me to get it because there’s practically chaos around us with blocks and Duplos and other toys. But when I do get it, I smile big.
No, I smile huge.
She has spelled out my name!
D. O. D. O.
Well, my name’s Meadow, of course, but Sophie can only manage Dodo. And since we’re very slowly learning letters or at least learning how to spell our names, I thought we’d stick to what she understands.
And oh my God, she’s a genius.
Because we only started doing my name like a week ago and she’s already spelling it out.
“Oh my God, Sophie.” I get up on my knees. “This is amazing.”
She sits by the blocks and chirps happily, “Amazing.”
I laugh. “And what do we do when we do something amazing?”
Grinning, she brings her hands together and claps.
“Yeah!” I clap too, still laughing. “We clap and we do that because?”
“’Cause we’re happy.”
Her happy ishappyyyyyy.
And laughing, I tackle her — gently of course — to the ground and she giggles and laughs and kicks her chubby feet in happiness. God I love this girl. I loved her the second I saw her, skirting behind Cami’s legs because she was too shy to be around a new person.
It took her a little while to warm up to me that day, but I completely understood that.
Not only because some kids are naturally that way but also because when she did open up, she had this shy kind of vulnerability to her. She would look away quickly, talk quietly, give me sweet smiles here and there.
