“Wait, wait, wait,” Quinton said, retrieving his phone and immediately starting to type. “I need to document this properly. Gabriel. Towel. Nanny. This is gold.”
“It’s not gold,” I said. “It’s nothing.”
“It’s definitely something,” Fitz said, wiping tears from his eyes. “What did she do?”
I thought about Cate’s face. The way her eyes had gone wide. The stammering. The “towel situation” comment that had been echoing in my head for twenty-four hours.
“She left,” I said.
“She left,” Fitz repeated. “Just like that?”
“Just like that.”
“After seeing you in a towel.”
“Yes.”
“And you’re not thinking about it at all.”
I grabbed a beer from Fitz’s six-pack and cracked it open. “I’m going to need you all to leave now.”
“From a psychological standpoint,” Julien said, setting down his wineglass with the gravity of someone about to deliver aTED talk, “the fact that you’re this defensive suggests youarethinking about it. Extensively.”
“Thank you, Dr. Phil,” I deadpanned.
“I’m just saying. Defensiveness is a classic indicator of—”
“Of Gabriel having a crush on the hot nanny,” Quinton finished, grinning. “Which, for the record, I’m fully supportive of. When’s the wedding? Can I be the best man? I’ll bring the foam finger.”
“There’s no wedding,” I said. “There’s no crush. There’s just a nanny who showed up at an inconvenient time.”
“In a towel,” Fitz added helpfully.
“I was in the towel. She was fully clothed.”
“Even better,” Quinton said. “That’s like... reverse power dynamics. Very modern.”
“It’s not modern. It’s not anything. It was an accident.”
“An accident that you’re definitely not thinking about,” Nathan said, still grinning.
“Not a chance,” Fitz said. “This is the most interesting thing that’s happened to you in years.”
“I have a very interesting life.”
“You have a veryboringlife,” Fitz corrected. “This nanny is the best thing that’s happened to you since—”
“Don’t,” I warned.
He held up his hands. “I’m just saying. Unconventional might be exactly what you need.”
I took a long drink and stared at the burned burgers.
“What you need,” Julien sighed, “is to establish clear professional boundaries. You’re her employer. She’s your employee. The power dynamic alone makes any kind of personal relationship ethically complicated.”
“Thank you,” I said. “Finally, someone with sense.”
“That said,” Julien continued, taking a sip of wine, “the towel thing is objectively hilarious.”
