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“She’s alive, don’t worry.” I laugh bitterly. “My parents weren’t ever the nurturing type. I haven’t spoken to them in... a long time.”
“I’m sorry,” he says again. “That’s terrible.”
“It is what it is. I guess you can’t fault them for being terrible parents when they never wanted to be parents in the first place.”
“I mean, you can,” he argues. “As a mostly subpar parent myself, I’m the expert on the subject.”
I grin. “I don’t think you’re a subpar parent. I mean. You’re here. You’re looking out for her. That’s already half the battle.”
“Right.” Aiden’s eyes suddenly gain a faraway look. “I’m trying.”
“That’s all a kid wants, to be honest. They just want you to try your best.”
Aiden’s mouth does this thing, not quite a smile but sort of, and his eyes flick to meet mine, the soft green and brown hard to look away from. “I appreciate that.”
“So, we should go over what you need from me a little more,” I say, changing the subject again.
Aiden’s eyebrows raise. “What I need from you?”
Oh shit. Did that sound weird? It didn’t sound weird in my head.“I know the basics here, and you gave me your schedule and Sophie’s allergies, but does she have any after-school clubs? Any soccer practices I need to know about? What about an approved list of emergency numbers of relatives or something like that? I don’t want to let in a weirdo pretending to be her uncle or something.”
“Oh.” Aiden watches as I untuck my legs, following the way I let my feet fall to the floor, his gaze thoughtful. “She hasn’t joined any clubs yet. It’s a new school year, after all, and she’s still settling. No weird uncles that I know of. My parents live across country, so we only really see them around holidays. Rebecca has a sister, Iris, so she might be around from time to time to see Sophie. I can leave you the number to the restaurant, and of course we should exchange numbers.”
“Numbers?”
“It’s not really practical to keep emailing each other forever,” he points out. “Since we’re living together and all.”
He just had to remind me.
I’mlivingwith this gorgeous man. Not that there is any reason to be so flustered by the reminder, since it’s all contractual. It’s not like it matters, anyway. It’s completely irrelevant how nice Aiden is to look at, since I’m the nanny, and he is absolutely, positively off-limits. I might almost laugh at this entire line of thought; Aiden is successful and good-looking and way out of my league. He’s probably bringing home dates on the regular.
Oh God. I hadn’t thought of that. I sincerely hope it’s not something I have to find out anytime soon.
“Right,” I manage. “Numbers. Give me your phone, and I’ll send myself a text.”
Aiden lifts his hips from the couch to dig in his pocket for his cell phone, and I don’t think that I need to elaborate on why this move on a hot guy in gray sweats has me averting my eyes. He hands me his phone, and I immediately notice his wallpaper ofhim and a smiling Sophie at what looks to be a park. The wind is ruffling their hair, and Sophie’s smile is wide and bright and slightly snaggletoothed here, one of her incisors still growing in.
“This is a nice picture,” I note as I pull up his texts.
“It was a good day.” Aiden smiles fondly. “It wasn’t very long after, um... after Rebecca.”
“Sorry,” I say, afraid I’ve touched on a sore spot. “I didn’t mean to—”
“No, no. Seriously. It’s fine. It was the first time I can remember Sophie smiling like that. After it happened. I like to remember it.”
“I get it,” I answer quietly. “It’s a great photo.”
“Thank you.”
I shoot myself a text, feeling my phone vibrate in my pocket, then I hand Aiden’s back to him. “All done. I’ll be sure to text you if I burn the house down.”
“I appreciate that,” Aiden laughs.
I shrug. “I figure it’s common courtesy.”
“Of course.”
He opens his mouth to say more as footsteps come thudding down the stairs, a flash of chestnut hair in my peripheral as Sophie lands at the bottom.
