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I sighed, thinking about all the work I needed to catch up on after taking the day off to be spontaneous. If I was going to get any sleep at all, I had to stop stressing. There was no reason for Bailey to take the kids back to that area again, so I was probably overreacting. Like usual.
As my head hit my pillow, I was still worrying about her, though. Should I talk to her about why that guy seemed to spook her so badly and risk alienating her over something that might be nothing? But what if it was something?
I fell asleep wondering if my miracle worker was actually too good to be true.
Chapter 16 - Bailey
The next week went by smoothly enough with only a few small dust ups between the kids. Our first order of business was to get Fighty the fish a new tank, and I got my first real glimpse of how stubborn Ava could be in the pet store. We picked out the ten gallon tank, the bubbler, and a few plants, but then we decided to go look at the small animals. She nearly chained herself to the hamster cages, sobbing and stamping her feet because she thought it was unfair that Harrison got the fish, and she didn’t get a pet to keep in her room.
I knew Will would fire me instantly if I let her get a hamster, and I didn’t think five was old enough for the full responsibility of a pet. But Ava refused to see the reason. It was Harrison who ended up saving the day.
“You’ve got Freddy,” he said. He’d taken a seat on the floor, leaning against the bags of pine shavings. He was clearly used to riding out Ava’s storms.
Ava stopped crying long enough to shoot him a death glare. “Freddy is Bailey’s dog, not mine.”
Harrison shrugged. “Yeah, but he likes you way better than he likes me. He sleeps with you every night and comes when you call him.”
She thought about this and looked to me for confirmation. “Freddy does love you a lot,” I said. “Do you want to be in charge of his breakfast from now on?”
And just like that, she wiped away her tears, and we made it out of the pet store without a security escort.
Today was their day off from activities, and we were playing at the park closest to their building. I sat by myself watching them while a small cluster of other nannies sat on another bench nearby. I knew them all by name, but unless they had an especially good bit of gossip they couldn’t live without telling, they were usually a bit standoffish toward me. I tried not to take it personally. Maybe they figured it wasn’t worth getting to know me if I ended up quitting like the others. I really didn’t want to start feeling shunned on top of always being on edge lately. Ever since I saw Rick’s friend, I’d been jumping at every shadow.
I forced myself to calm down, waving at Ava to assure her I was watching her attempt to go across the monkey bars. There was no way Rick could find me in this posh neighborhood.
A man sat down next to me, and I moved to get up, not wanting to converse with anyone. The fact that there was a man at all in this small kids’ play park where the only adults were ever other nannies, should have tweaked that paranoia I’d been nursing all week. But I was still taken off guard when a hand clamped around my wrist, jerking me back onto the bench.
It was like I conjured him, and I sat there frozen, unable to comprehend that Rick was really sitting only a few inches from me, his fingers digging harshly into my arm. I wondered why no one was running and screaming for help, but I knew he looked like a perfectly pleasant, well-dressed man. He could be a dad or an uncle. Nobody but I knew he was really the devil incarnate.
“It’d be a shame to make a scene, sweetheart,” he said, letting his hand slide off my wrist.
My skin crawled at his touch, and at the insincere term of endearment. I keep my eyes locked on the kids. Harrison was playing with some of the other children, and Ava was gearing up to go across the monkey bars again. I needed to keep Rick away from them at all costs. If he so much as tried to say hello to them, I’d find the strength to claw his eyes out.
“How did you find me?” I asked, resigned to the fact that I’d have to let him torture me for at least a little while, until I could figure out how to get away without putting the kids in his path.
He chuckled, a sound without any humor at all. “Charlie checked the name on your new boyfriend’s credit card receipt. It wasn’t hard at all, sweetheart. You got lucky with this nice new family of yours, huh?”
His voice dripped ice and barely controlled rage. “He’s not my new boyfriend,” I was quick to clarify, disgusted that I felt the need to explain anything to him. “I work for him. I’m their nanny.”
He made a noise like he didn’t believe me. “I don’t remember saying you could get a job. I don’t remember breaking up with you, either. Why did you think you could leave?”
My own rage bubbled up. He couldn’t do anything to me here, not surrounded by busybody nannies who’d be shrieking for the cops at the first hint of trouble. “You know damn well why I left,” I hissed at him, sliding further down the bench. It made me sick to be so close to him. “Our relationship was over a few weeks after I moved here with you, and I would have escaped earlier if I could.”
He reached over and grabbed my wrist again, tugging me back to my original spot. He always had to have control over the smallest thing. I hated it, but didn’t want to cause a scene and risk upsetting the kids.
“I never did anything to wrong you,” he said indignantly, and what was the worst was that he truly believed it.
“Are you kidding me?” My voice was low and harsh now. I didn’t want anyone to overhear, but I couldn’t keep it in any longer. “You never let me leave the apartment unless you were with me, you slapped me for forgetting to put enough sugar in your coffee. You held a pillow over my face for no reason at all except you were bored and drunk. You threatened to kill Freddy.”
I barely held in my angry tears. When he kicked my dog and told me the next time I didn’t have his dinner on the table by the time he came home, he’d toss Freddy out the tenth story window, I knew that was the final straw. The thing was, he came home at all hours of the day and night, never told me when to expect him and always blamed me for not having something ready for him. After he made that threat, which I fully believed he would do, the moment he left again, I grabbed a few things and ran. It took me hours to find a place that would accept Freddy, and the next week was nothing but fear and worry. Until I met Will. I would be damned if Rick ruined what I had now.
He rolled his eyes. “I don’t remember things that way,” he said. “And I really don’t like sharing what’s mine, so why don’t you tell me a little about this Will Crenshaw you’re shacking up with now.”
Hearing him say Will’s name filled me with raw terror, but I remembered where I was, who I was surrounded by. I jerked my hand away and rubbed away the feel of his fingers.
“I was never yours,” I hissed. “And if you don’t leave me alone I’m calling the police.” I took out my phone and punched in 911, showing him the numbers on the screen. “You’ve got ten seconds, then I’m hitting send. Better yet, I’ll start screaming. You don’t have any kids, so you don’t have any reason to be here.”
His jaw clenched and his eyes were filled with hatred. I stared him down, my finger aiming at my phone.
