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I read through the numerous awards listed on the page. She’d been top of her class in culinary school, best pastry chef, and on and on. It was impressive, but I was starting to doubt my decision to hire her even more.
At just twenty-two, Amber might know how to cook, but she didn’t have much practical experience. It was one thing to whip up a tasty dish in the classroom. It was quite another to produce that kind of quality in the middle of a dinner rush when all hell was breaking loose around you.
I’d find out whether she could handle it tomorrow. For better or worse, I needed someone else with skills.
“And for fuck’s sake,” I tossed the resume back on my desk, “don’t be a crier. Anything but a crier.” I cupped my face and let out a long sigh.
I was about to throw her into the deep end and find out if she could swim.
If she couldn’t, well then, her ass was out too.
***
Marla was sitting at the kitchen table tapping at her laptop when I got home. In addition to being my daughter’s nanny, she went to college part time. It was difficult for her to juggle school and this job, but I respected the hell out of her for doing it.
It was nice to have an older, respectable woman in the house with me. Hiring a nanny had been about as hard as hiring new chefs. Something about being an asshole seemed to turn women into needy whores, willing to throw out just about anything to get my attention. It was getting old, and so was I.
“Evening, Marla,” I said.
She turned to me with a warm smile. “Hello, Mr. Harrison.”
“Please, I’ve told you a million times to call me Luke.”
She closed her laptop and stuffed it into her bag. “And you can tell me a million more. It won’t change anything.”
I smiled as I sat down at the table across from her. “Any problems tonight?”
The smile faded from her face, replaced with a slight frown. “Emery was a little, um, difficult tonight.”
I shook my head. “If you’re saying she was difficult, she must have been a nightmare. You’re way too good to my daughter.”
“Oh, no. Nothing like that. It’s just, you know how she gets sometimes; a little defiant.”
I rubbed my hand across the stubble of my cheek. “I’ll talk to her. She’s been acting out a lot lately.”
Marla zipped up her bag and slung it over her shoulders. “I’m sure it’s just a phase. She’s a sweetheart most of the time.”
I smiled. “That she is.” I stood up from the table with a sigh. “As always, I appreciate the help.”
“Sure thing.”
“I won’t keep you any longer. Be safe going home.”
She nodded and headed out of the kitchen. “See you tomorrow,” she sang out over her shoulder as she left.
I made my way upstairs where soft pink light glowed from Emery’s open bedroom door from her unicorn night light. She couldn’t sleep without it.
I stood in the doorway watching her. The slight rise and fall of her little chest beneath the covers gave me a moment of serenity that I probably didn’t deserve. Her tiny angelic face looked peaceful in slumber. My days at the re
staurant were hard, but it was all worth it when I came home to her.
I crept into the room, careful not to wake her. A pang of guilt stabbed at me, knowing that I couldn’t be there to tuck her in at night. Late nights came with the job. At least I got to spend time with her in the mornings, but in a perfect world, I could be there for her all day.
Fuck, in a perfect world, she’d have a mom. One that stuck around and loved us both. I swallowed the same sick sadness that rose up in my chest every time I thought about Jennifer, the sorry excuse for a human hadn’t even stuck around to watch Emery take her first steps.
Somehow it felt better to point my anger at Jen leaving and hurting Emery. The truth was too painful to face. She hadn’t just left my princess, she’d left me too.
I bent down over her and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. Emery was a good kid. Whatever problems she’d been having recently, they weren’t her fault. With Jen out of the picture, Emery was missing a maternal influence in her life, and it seemed she needed one - badly.
