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Chapter 5
Rene woke up with a stiff neck before she could even open her eyes. She reached out to massage the back of her neck, and a strange sight opened before her eyes. She was still at Hyde’s place, reclining on his sofa in his living room.
“Oh, crap!” she exclaimed quickly, nervously.
Frantically, she scanned the familiar room for her phone and realized it was right next to her on the little coffee table. She grabbed it as if her life depended on this action, and checked the time. It was morning, almost 8 am.
She looked around. Thin strips of sunlight were oozing through the big windows, illuminating the room. A few of Parker’s toys were still lying on the ground from last night. She couldn’t believe what happened. She fell asleep there? How on earth was she going to explain this to Hyde? And where was he?
Rene got up, feeling a little dizzy. Before she could take another step towards the door, she heard soft footsteps, as if someone was sneaking over here.
“Well, good morning, sleepy,” Hyde’s voice was gentle and she didn’t even need to look at him to know that he was smiling.
She glanced up with some effort, seeing him in red and white checkered house pants and a plain white t-shirt. Those seemed to be his favorite for lounging at home. She on the other hand, was still wearing clothes from the previous day.
“I’m so sorry, I don’t know what happened,” she started off with an apology, knowing that no matter what happened, this couldn’t leave a good impression on her employer.
A nanny falling asleep in her employer’s home. Holy crap on a stick. That was what Alice would say.
“Coffee?” he kept on smiling at her, offering her a cup of that heavenly beverage.
“Thank you,” she nodded, noticing that he approached her, then sat down next to her on the sofa. “Did I fall asleep?”
He waited a second or two to answer, and she took this to be a bad sign. She was sure he was about to fire her. She would fire herself if she was in his shoes. Of course he should fire her. She’d have to find a new job and do this whole shit all over again, just when she was starting to…
“It’s all my fault really,” he said, interrupting her train of thought.
“Wait, what?” she wondered, bewildered by this beginning of his explanation.
“I came home about 2 hours ago,” he told her calmly. “I missed the evening flight and had to catch the red eye. I barely slept, as you can imagine. I sent you a message, but I guess you were already asleep by that time. When I finally got home, you were sleeping so sweetly, that I didn’t have the heart to wake you. At least some of us should wake up all rested.”
As he spoke, she could hear a tone of satisfaction in his voice. He sounded happy. Why was he so happy? Was it because she was here? It was silly. Of course she should be here. It’s her job. She was just trying to convince herself that she heard something in his voice, something more than mere employer’s satisfaction at a job well done.
“Oh, good,” she couldn’t resist sighing with relief.
“Why?” he asked, grinning.
“I thought this was somehow my fault and you’d be firing me now,” she replied, feeling a lightening of her mood.
“Firing you?” he repeated, pretending to be in shock. “Not in a million years!” he assured her.
“Well, you’re saying that now…” she giggled in response.
“You have no idea how difficult it was finding someone Parker would approve of,” he explained.
She was happy to hear that, but a part of her wanted to hear that he had a say in the matter, too. She wanted him to let her know that he wanted her to be here, as well.
“And, now that we have you here, don’t even think you’ll be able to get away from us any time soon,” he resounded cheerfully.
No matter how much she enjoyed talking to him, she knew that this was highly inappropriate. She had to go home. She didn’t even know which day it was. Was she supposed to come back here or not? It took a second to realize that it was Friday the day before, so today being Saturday, she needed to go home and do whatever it was she did on Saturdays.
Not wanting to offend him, she quickly gulped down her coffee, and then stood up to go.
“I guess I should be heading home now,” she started, “it’s the weekend, and the last thing I want to do is take up your time…”
“Do you have any plans for today?” he suddenly asked.
He was doing that thing he usually does when he’s a little nervous, scratching the back of his head, as a few of his tresses fell in his eyes. His muscular arms were right there, in plain view and, for a second, she wondered what it would be like to have them wrapped around her body. She wondered what the melody of his beating heart was. Did it beat as quickly as hers when they were together? Or did it follow the unburdened rhythm of indifference?
