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“Look at you, up before six in the evening! I’m proud of you, Reesey boy!”
“Yeah, well, something about Coach putting his foot in my ass if I’m late for the flight sounds like skipping a REM cycle might be worth it.”
The man grins wolfishly. “Well, when you put it like that, I say we take our time. I’d pay good money to see Driscoll have at ya.”
Reese chuckles. “I don’t have to let you drive me, you know.”
“Ha! And then what? You’re gonna sit in rush hour crosstown traffic with your road rage? I don’t think so!”
I listen to their back and forth, peeking around to watch them. It’s so weird seeing Reese have banter with someone who works for him. I expected him to be a bit of a dick, honestly.
I guess he just saves that for me.
Reese and Tom hoist two bags each, leaving a couple behind, and start loading up the car. Their banter continues on outside, though I can’t hear exactly what they’re saying.
When they come back, there’s another person with them. She’s an incredibly petite older woman. A halo of fluffy white hair clouds around her head and her glasses are so thick I’m surprised she can see out the lenses. Over her shoulder is a blue, synthetic material-looking tote bag. Her cotton candy pink track suit completes the interesting image.
“Oh, I see, I see. You leave out on the day I’m coming in. What is it now? You leave me a huge mess from another party, Reese?”
Reese, coming in behind her to shrug his last bag over his shoulder, has the nerve to look sheepish. “Of course not! I’ve got training camp, Gladys.”
“Mhmm,” she says. “I tell you now: if I gotta pick up anymore lady panties, I want a raise!”
I choke on my sandwich, which finally brings attention to the fact that I’m here. Everyone turns to look at me at once. Gladys’s blue eyes flicker with interest and Tom’s brow raises to the roof of his hairline.
“A guest, Reese?” Tom asks slyly.
“She’s cute, but I’m not picking up her panties, either,” Gladys quips in a stage whisper loud enough for all of us to hear perfectly well.
My cheeks burn like the surface of the sun. I have no idea how I’m supposed to respond. Am I supposed to respond at all?
A horrific thought occurs to me. Do Reese’s driver and his housekeeper even know about Violet? Do they know she’s his daughter? How am I supposed to react around them? Will they assume I’m her mother?
My eyes flicker to Reese, hoping to be saved from the predicament he’s put me in. His NDA didn’t say anything about not talking about Violet to people who work for him!
Reese rolls his eyes, giving a playful little nudge to Gladys, as if to shuffle her along to her job. “This is Olivia,” he explains. “She’s the nanny watching Violet.”
Gladys tilts her head as she looks me over in the light of this new information.
“Youngest ‘nanny’ I’ve ever seen in my life!” She puts her hands on her hips, looking up to Reese, then she shakes her finger at him like she’s a chastising grandmother. “She looks like an angel, though. You do anything funny around this young lady and I’ll wallop you a good one. You hear?”
“Careful, you might break a hip,” Reese teases.
Gladys shakes her head and sticks her tongue out at Reese. “Don’t you get smart with me! She’s looking after that baby girl for you, so you best act right!”
As though she hadn’t just chewed out her own boss, she shuffles on past. She stops in front of me and gives me a wink. “Don’t worry, sugar plum. Us ladies gotta stick together. He gives you trouble, I’ll just shove my mop where the sun don’t shine! Show him right.”
I don’t even bother to suppress my laughter. Neither does Tom, who’s guffawing in the corner.
“Come on, you,” he says to Reese, wiping tears of laughter from his eyes. “You’ll miss your flight if you keep hanging around long enough to get your ass handed to you by an old lady anymore.”
Reese grumbles as he slinks out. “I didn’t wake up early for this shit…”
16
OLIVIA
I’ve been too busy to check my phone the last three days, and Quinny is not taking well to being ignored. She texts me at least ten times a day.
