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I retreated back into my closet since Kingston could obviously handle the diaper change.
“So, you’re gonna see Briar again in a few minutes.” His voice still came through the wall crystal clear. “She’ll hang out with us the next few days and get to know you. And I’ll decide if she’s worthy of taking care of the most important person in my whole wide world.”
I felt a pang in my chest at the adoration in his voice. I could already tell he would do anything for his daughter.
But he was a little bit like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Kingston was totally open and real with Zoe, while he wouldn’t look at or speak to the lowly nanny.
I really hoped he gave me a chance.
Twenty minutes later, I followed the toddler babbles down the stairs to the kitchen where I found Kingston and Zoe sitting at the kitchen table with Play Doh.
I had to smile at the scene. Big, bad Captain America twirling colorful scraps of dough while making faces at his adorable little girl.
I beamed at Zoe. “Look who’s up! Whatcha got there?”
Zoe lifted her hands and happily babbled at me. “Doh!”
“I see that. Can I play too?”
Zoe grinned at me as I walked toward the unoccupied chair next to her. When I was close enough, she held out a hunk of Play Doh.
“Thank you, peanut. How did you know green is my favorite color?”
Kingston didn’t acknowledge me.
I kept my eyes off her dad and focused on the cutie next to me. “Do you have a favorite color, Zo?”
“Lello. Like Lello.”
“Yellow is an awesome color. Do you have any on your tray there?”
She held up a yellow snake of dough.
“Good job. You are so smart!”
She grinned a flash of tiny teeth at me, then tried to shove the yellow dough into her mouth.
“Whoops.” I grabbed the snake and tried to distract her with some snake sounds. “I think someone is hungry.”
Kingston cleared his throat. “Yeah. I have some pasta going.”
I shot a glance at the stove and the pot of spaghetti simmering away.
Tomato stains would be so much harder to get out of my clothes than mac and cheese. I was glad I wore my old jeans today.
Would it be rude to ask for an apron?
Or a helmet?
I bit my lip to hold my giggles at bay. I just felt so on edge—like my every move was being judged. Should I talk to Kingston? Wait for him to ask me something? This felt like the worst andlongestjob interview ever.
But it was clear that I was still not technically hired. Kingston wouldn’t be here if I was the actual nanny, right?
So I did the only thing I could think of—I ignored him and played with Zoe. We rolled out snakes, twirled them into bowls, and stamped out shapes in the dough.
Every once in a while, I’d look up and notice Kingston’s gaze on me. He’d quickly look away, and that made me even more nervous. He never smiled at me. Was I doing something wrong?
Ignoring the butterflies in my stomach, I continued to play with Zoe. We rolled Play Doh, smashed it, and mixed it together until it was all an amorphous gray blob of weirdness. At that point, Zoe was getting annoyed and impatient.
