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I think River puts his phone to his shirt because the screen goes black. That bothers me. Makes me believe that there’s something he doesn’t want me to see.
“What are you doing on my bus?” he says.
“I wanted to see you before we go on.” It’s a woman’s voice. And that bothers me. A lot.
“I’m FaceTiming with my daughter and her nanny.”
Her nanny.Yes, I am the nanny, but I thought I had become more than that after the special moment that River and I shared before he left.
Was it a proposal or profession of love? No.
But it was more than me being only Scarlett’s nanny.
A woman’s face appears on the screen. Blonde. Tons of makeup. Lots of cleavage. And she’s lying on River’s bed. “Ohh… is this Scarlett? She’s so cute, River.”
“Give me my phone, Laura. Now.”
The woman waves at us. “Bye, Scarlett. I can’t wait to come out to the ranch to meet you.”
The screen goes black for a moment before River’s face appears again. He’s rubbing his stubbled chin. Silent.
My heart aches. I was so afraid that he would have other women in his bed while he was on the road. And I see now that I wasn’t wrong to have that fear.
“I guess you need to go since you’re going on stage soon.” I move the phone so it’s only Scarlett’s face on camera. I don’t want him to see the tears in my eyes. “Say bye-bye to Daddy.”
“Leighton… that was not what it may have looked like.”
“It’s okay, River. I’m just the nanny. You don’t owe me any kind of explanation for anything you choose to do.”
“You aren’t just the nanny. I didn’t mean it that way, and I do owe you an explanation. Laura is one of my backup singers. She was just playing around. There’s nothing between us. Her husband plays bass in my band, and he was standing right here the whole time.”
I’ve been down this road before, heard a man’s lies and believed them, and I don’t know if I can go there again or not. All the leaves on my trust tree have fallen.
But I also can’t make a big deal out of it; it’s not my place. River has promised me nothing. We kissed before he left. Not even passionately.
“Don’t worry about it. It’s okay.”
Scarlett bucks and fusses and I’m glad. Gives me an excuse to end this FaceTime. “It’s Miss prissy pants’s bedtime. I really need to give her a bottle and put her down so that she doesn’t get off schedule.”
“Okay, but we’re not done with this conversation. I want to talk about it tomorrow.”
I still don’t let River see me… or my tears. “Say bye-bye to Daddy.”
