Cole’s jaw ticks once.
“And I had to tell Pen that the nanny wouldn’t be coming back,” I say, quieter now. “And she sobbed over it, because to her, it’s one more person not coming back when she thought they would.”
Penelope gets attached with her whole heart, no padding, no brakes. She loves like she assumes the world is safe.I’d kill to keep it that way. But instead, it feels like I’m patching holes in a ship with my bare hands.
“And then on top of that, the new NFL line is moving fast,” I say. “Faster than I expected.”
“Thought that was the point.”
“It is. Doesn’t mean it’s not a pain in my ass.” I take another drink and silently wish Cole had given me something less hoppy. “I, uh, promoted one of my designers to make sure it all goes right.She’s good.”
“She?”
I ignore that. “Best instincts on the team. Doesn’t overdesign. Doesn’t waste time trying to sound clever in meetings. She actually knows how athletes wear shit instead of how mood boards say they should.”
Cole eyes me warily, which is never a good sign.
I keep talking anyway. “I’m putting her on the NFL deal with me directly.”
“Makes sense,” he says, watching me like he’s egging me on to keep trauma-dumping on him.
“It does.”
He waits like he already knows there’s more coming. I hate that he can clock it.
I stare into my beer to keep myself from giving any tells. “I also hired her as Penelope’s nanny,” I add cautiously.
That lands exactly how I expected it to.
Cole goes still.
He’s not dramatic about it. Just still in that very particular way that means every alarm bell in his head has started ringing at once.
“Explain. Immediately.”
I exhale through my nose. “It’s not ideal.”
“Mhm.”
“My life is on fire.”
“So your solution,” he drawls, “was to promote one employee and move her into your house.”
“When you say it like that, it sounds worse than it is.”
“That’s because it is worse than it is.”
I glare at him. “It makes sense.”
“Sell it to someone dumber.”
I take another drink and set the glass down harder than necessary. “In my defense, she offered. She overheard me talking about it all with Maddox. She needs a place to live, I need someone I can trust around Penelope, and she’s already working on the NFL line. This way I don’t lose time commuting between fires.”
Cole’s stare doesn’t move, just raises a single brow at me. “And?”
“And what?”
“And the part you skipped.”
