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Ward stands in front of the construction zone with his arm tucked around Paige, who’s wearing a pink hard hat.
“I thought you were tied down with the studio?” I ask her.
She shrugs. “This hotel was such a big deal, I had to be here. I might’ve never been a Brandt without it.”
“I dig the hard hat,” I tell her.
She laughs. “It was a compromise.”
“Compromise?”
“Paige didn’t want ‘helmet hair,’ and she wasn’t coming this close to a construction zone without one,” Ward says, kissing the top of her helmet. “We agreed if I bought a pink one, she’d wear it.”
She smiles up at him.
“You two are so cute,” Grandma says with a fluttery smile.
I roll my eyes. She catches me and points a finger at my chest.
“Listen, when you’ve made it to my age and you’re still kicking, you’re easily amused. Now, I want to hear more about this adorable little girl with the slide in my office.”
“Nick built it himself,” Ward says. “Actually, he put everything together.”
Grandma smiles at me with surprise.
“You boys are doing so well on your own. I should’ve handed over the reins a long time ago before my heart left me no choice. But what’s going on with Reese? Why, pray tell, does her niece have a playroom in my office?”
Ward speaks first.
“Nick hired the nanny to help Reese with childcare. With everything going on right now, we couldn’t afford to lose our driver. Nobody gets through traffic like her,” he says, giving me a quick glance, unsure how much Grandma should really know.
“Why would you lose Reese?” Grandma asks.
I shrug, rolling my shoulders.
There’s no point in keeping everything buried.
“Her sister got arrested, Grandma. The kid didn’t have anywhere to stay. Reese is her only other family. If she didn’t have childcare, she wouldn’t be able to work, and I didn’t want her giving her left leg to find someone to watch Millie. It’s stupid to lose a good employee over a babysitter when the situation’s out of her control,” I say.
“I gotta say,” Ward jumps in, clearing his throat. “Nick took the initiative here—even when he’s been busy with Brandt Dreams—and he’s managing pretty well. It’s only been a few days, but so far, it’s all working out.”
I nod at my brother gratefully. It’s weird when he’s not a complete dick.
“The nanny teaches Millie, too. They don’t just play,” I tell them. “Tiffany Hines has a preschool curriculum she’s used with previous clients, so I told her to make sure she implemented it.”
“Oh, my. So, you’ve hired a private tutor for the driver’s niece?” Grandma asks, her eyes going wide.
When she looks at me, I get this odd sense she’s seeing someone else.
“I’m paying for it personally. Not on the company’s dime. Nothing else would be appropriate,” I say, squaring my shoulders.
Grandma throws herself at me in a bear hug, then reaches up, patting my cheek.
“See? This is why I never gave up on you. I knew there was a good man in there somewhere. Apparently, you just needed a set of blue eyes and a backbone to wake up.”
Over Grandma’s shoulder, Ward grins at me and holds his thumb up.
“Nah, Grandma. You just have to be on Nick’s level—four years old and ready to do portraits in crayon over a juice box mocktail.”
Ah, there’s my brother. I subtly flip him off, making sure he can see the one finger salute wagging behind my back.
“Behave.” Paige elbows my idiot brother playfully.
Grandma lets go of me, chuckling because of course she sees it all, and turns to Ward. “The kid likes him then?”
“Reese likes him a lot more,” Paige says with a knowing smile. “She talks about him nonstop.”
“Does she?” Grandma asks slowly.
Fuck.
I was tempted to ask her later, but since Grandma just did, I glare at the hotel’s giant foundation and the towering cranes around it.
“We’ve come a long way from her joking about throwing him in the trunk and dumping him in Canada without a passport,” Ward says.
Paige giggles. “I wanted to body-slam you more than once when we first met.”
“If you body-slam me, I’ll enjoy it,” Ward says, lowering his voice to a volume he thinks I can’t hear. “But you really think Reese secretly wants Nick?”
Paige shrugs. “There’s no one else she’d rather rant about.”
“Oh, that’s perfect,” Grandma says, clapping her hands. “That little hummingbird will be my grandniece.”
I can’t pretend I’m oblivious any longer.
“Stop it. All of you. I’m her boss. I would’ve hired a nanny for anyone else in the office in her situation.”
“But you haven’t, big little brother,” Paige says.
“I hate it when you call me that.”
“You’re Ward’s little bro, but you’re older than me, so—”
“I know. It makes sense and I still hate it.”
“Little brother?” Ward says.
I catch his eyes and wait for some outrageous, pedantic shit.
“I was Paige’s boss once. Just saying.”
