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What’s the worst that can happen if I let myself be vulnerable and honest? I’ve already lost Tabitha—she’s already quit working for me and told me that she wants to raiseourbaby alone on her own. I’ve got nothing left to lose by trying to get her back, and this time, I need to win her back with thetruth. I am going to take one more day to spend with Teddie, goofing off and devoting my full attention to playing cars, building forts, and reading books in bed with Archie, and then I am going after Tabitha.
But the next day, after Teddie and I take a quick outing to the store to load up on more sundae ingredients, I come home to find a car parked in my driveway.
Since I don’t recognize whose car it is, I pick Teddy up and carry him inside, unnerved that someone has managed to find a way into my house. The nanny is the only other person besides Jax that has a key.
When I step inside and see Margaret sprawled half-naked in a sexy chemise lingerie across my couch, I quickly cover Teddie’s eyes.
“What in the actual hell are you doing here, Margaret?” I shout at her.
I met this womanonceat my gala, and certainly never invited her into my home.
“Oh geez,” she says as she sits straight up. “I didn’t realize that you had the kid with you. The nanny let me in, and I thought that I would surprise you with a sexy afternoon rendezvous. You seemed stressed at the gala with all thatpregnancynews, and I thought you could use a fun distraction.”
“How did you even reach my nanny?” I growl at her.
“She’s a friend of mine.”
I make a mental note to fire the nanny as soon as I deal with this situation. She wassupposedto be reputable and trustworthy but giving out my key to women that want an afternoon booty call isnotappropriate behavior. My reputation might have been rumored to be flirtations and available, but this is definitely crossing the line. And it also goes to prove what I had been thinking earlier that this image I have been trying to portray is backfiring on me. It’s not what I want, not anymore.
“Daddy?” Teddie asks as he tries to peel my hands away from his eyes so that he can see what is going on. “Who is that lady?”
“Awe, sweet kid,” Margaret says, still not getting up to leave.
“Margaret, you need to get out of herenow. I’ll deal with my nanny later, but I don’t want to see you back here at my house again. Just because I was flirting with you at the gala, doesn’t meant that I—”
“Tabitha!” Teddie’s voice calls out.
I look up to see his eyes peering over the top of my hand at something behind me and am mortified to see Tabitha standing there. It’s not that I don’t want to see her—I definitelydo. And I’m glad that she has come back to my house and curious about why she is here. But this is the worst possible timing. There’s a half-naked woman in sexy lingerie on my couch that I have just verbally admitted to flirting with while also holding my kid up on my shoulders.
Teddie leans out to hug Tabitha and nearly falls off my shoulders. I scramble to catch him, while simultaneously telling Margaret to leave and also trying tokeepTabitha from running away.
But I can’t juggle all three of them at once, and while I am securing my grip on Teddie amidst this crazy situation and desperately wanting to ask Tabitha why she is here, she spins around on her heels to leave.
“Tabitha, wait!” I call out to her.
“No, that’s okay,” she shouts angrily as she walks away from me. “I have obviously walked in on something between you and your new nanny, and I don’t want any part of it.”
“No, this isn’t what it looks like. You don’t understand. Give me a chance to explain!”
I set Teddie down on the ground and he takes off running toward his bedroom with Archie in hand to get away from all of the adults shouting. I don’t blame him—this is unravelling into a circus show.
“No thanks,” Tabitha frowns as she walks toward her car. “No explanation necessary. I don’t need to know anything about what you were doing here. It’s none of my business. I just came by to—you know what, never mind. It doesn’t matter. None of it matters.”
I amnotgoing to let her go this time, not over something as stupid as this misunderstanding. I chase after her, grabbing her arm just as it reaches out for her car door and spin her around to look at me. Instantly, she starts sobbing uncontrollably on the spot and I am taken by surprise.
“Let me go!” she screams, loud enough to warrant attention from the neighbors. Fortunately, they all know me here and are more likely to pull out their cell phones and record the dramatic scene than they are to call the cops. “You aresucha jerk! What kind of fool am I for coming back here to see you? I’m an idiot.Of courseyou’re here with another woman. That’s what you do, isn’t it? You just move on to someone else rather thanstay.”
“What are you talking about?” I ask, feeling my voice raise only because I am completely frazzled. “You’rethe one who left this time, Tabitha, not me. You’re the one who said you didn’t want me involved withourbaby and wanted to do it all on your own. You can’t keep blaming me for the past and for leaving all those years ago. Fuck, I came all the way back here to Camden just to be closer toyou!”
She stops crying for a moment and stares at me blankly as if I’ve said the most unbelievable, unimaginable thing she can comprehend.
“Why did you come here now?” I ask, wanting an answer for why she showed up in my doorway.
“It doesn’t matter,” she sniffles.
“Yes, it does matter to me. Tell me why you’re here, Tabitha.”
“It’s stupid, okay?” she yells angrily. “I just thought for a moment that maybe I was making a mistake, that maybebothof us were making the same mistake as before and I wanted to be sure.”
