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She takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. “Only if you really need me,” she says, her tone returning to something firm and no-nonsense. “I don’t want to be a charity case.”
I shake my head, aware that this is clearly very important to her. “Absolutely not.”
Emily crosses and recrosses her arms before finally nodding.
“Alright. If you need a live-in nanny, I’m happy to do it. For Teddy.”
I grin. “For Teddy.”
As if he hears us talking about him, the baby monitor begins to squawk with Ted’s little kid babble.
“You finish that,” I tell her. “I’ll grab him.”
I head out, realizing I need a bit of space from that…very vulnerable, almost emotional moment the two of us just shared.
Part of me wants to ask What the hell was that?, but the truth is it’s something that has needed to happen. Whatever barrier currently exists between myself and Emily…it needs to fall. And maybe this is the best way for that to occur.
Once I’ve brought Teddy downstairs and left him with Emily, I head back up to take a look at the guest room where I’ve been living for the past few months.
It has a queen-size bed and two nightstands with lamps on them. A low dresser with a massive mirror. The furniture is kind of outdated because it belonged to my parents before they did a total remodel to their house in Mt. Pleasant. Melody was always irritated at me that I asked if we could buy it from them.
“We can afford to buy our own furniture, Colton,” she spat at me as we drove home from dinner at their house. “You act like we’re destitute.”
I still don’t understand what her issue was, but the fact she hated the furniture on principle was enough for me to decide to keep it when I was going through the great purge after her funeral. The style is somewhat big and clunky for a house this size as the furniture in Mt. Pleasant homes is often better-suited for larger properties, but it has worked just fine for me.
With Emily moving in, though, that means things will need to change up here. I’ll need to move myself back into the master, which means it’s time to purchase some new bedroom furniture for myself, and leave the guest room to Emily.
I make quick work of tugging off the bedding and chucking it into the closet in my room then clear out all the dresser drawers, taking out extra towels and stacks of dining room placemats before moving all the clothes out of the closet. A quick dust and vacuum, and I realize the room is ready.
“Emily,” I call over the bannister. “Could you come up here for a minute?”
“Be right there!”
A few minutes later, I hear her feet moving slowly up the stairs, and when I peek out, I see her moving up one step at a time, slowly, and Teddy is walking up the stairs with her.
Once they’ve finally made it, I step out into the hallway and wave her over. I can see the surprise on her face when she gets to the doorway of the guest room.
Well, the nanny’s room.
I don’t like that name, though. We’ll need to work on it.
“So, this will be your space, if that’s okay,” I tell her. “There’s an ensuite bathroom over there in the corner, and it’s all the way at the end of the hall so you’ll have a bit of privacy.”
When Emily doesn’t say anything, I turn to look at her, and I’m pleased to see the soft smile on her face.
“What do you think?”
For the life of me, I can’t figure out why it’s so important that she likes it. I mean, I’m sure she’ll prefer this over…wherever she was living before. But still, I want her to like it.
Which is why I love it so much when she says, “It’s perfect.”
***
She doesn’t move in that evening, which is fine. But she also doesn’t move in the next day either. And even though she has a valid reason—we still need to iron out a new contract that encompasses her changed responsibilities—I’m starting to realize my reason for being so irritated about it is completely ridiculous.
And it starts with the letter A.
“I don’t know why you didn’t just have her move in in the first place,” August says on Wednesday evening, leaning back against the sofa and downing the rest of his beer. “Seems like it would have saved everyone a lot of stress.”
