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Her face screws up with concentration as she copies me, pinching her nose and tensing her whole body as she tries to force her throat to produce a sound. She does it until her face starts to turn red, and I finally have to tug her hands away so she doesn’t bust a blood vessel. I can’t help but laugh at her irritated expression, looking like she’s angry to have been bested by my Snapple fact.
But I notice she doesn’t look sad anymore, so it’s worth it. “I told you it was impossible.”
“I could figure it out,” she grumbles.
“I’m sure you could,” I chuckle. I nudge her with my elbow again. “Hey. Why don’t we get out of the house again tomorrow? There’s a park nearby. This girls’ day thing has been nice, right?”
Her eyes widen, her interest piqued. “A park?”
“And maybe we can find a bookstore that sells good bedtime stories. You know. To help me out.” Her toothy grin is my reward, and I reach out with my other hand to wipe a stray tear still clinging to her cheek. “No more tears, okay?”
“Okay.”
“Now, let’s get this sandcastle finished before we both end up looking like lobs—”
I make a surprisedoomphsound when her little arms wind around me suddenly; her small body pressing to mine as she clings to me in a warm hug. I’m only thrown for a second or two before I smile at the top of her head, circling my arms around her shoulders and pressing my cheek to her hair.
“You’re not so lame,” she mumbles into my shirt. “For a nanny.”
I close my eyes as I breathe in the soft scent of her watermelon shampoo mixed with ocean water. “I will take that as the highest compliment.”
I crawl across the sand to help her with her castle, grabbing a bucket as she starts to boss me around about what should go where. Her earlier melancholy seems to dissipate after our talk, and even though my own anxious thoughts still race through my head, knowing that she’s relatively okay does make me feel better, for the most part.
I tell myself that it’s because of Sophie that I am so worried over what Aiden had tried to say earlier, that it is simply because I’m afraid he will decide against me being the right fit for them, and I will miss out on more time with this little girl I’m growing so attached to. Anything else would be ridiculous. Especially any latent interest in said little girl’s father who is so off-limits he might as well be my own personal Area 51. Even if he continues to avoid me, that is perfectly okay, as long as I can continue working here.
I try to focus more on the sandcastle and less on Aiden and all that comes with him, deciding it would be better that I stop thinking about his unsaid words and his unreadable glances. This isn’t something I should be trying to figure out. I should be spending this energy on Sophie.
Cassie, actually I—
Yeah. Don’t think about it.
—
We get home that night a little later than expected; Sophie talked me into ice cream and then a visit to the arcade that bled into getting dinner. By the time I’m carrying all seventy-five pounds of her through the front door because she’s worn herself out, it’s nearly nine. She’s out like a light as I struggle to get her through the front door, holding her tight with one arm as I fumble with my keys. I’m just about to resign myself to waking her up so that I can get us inside, but then the door opens on its own, taking me by surprise.
“Aiden? What are you doing home?”
“Just got here,” he says. “Slow night.” He notices me struggling, reaching to take Sophie. “Looks like she had a big day.”
“Oh yeah.” I let him juggle Sophie from my arms to his. “She talked me into a lot of side trips after the beach.”
“Yeah,” he chuckles. “She’s good at that.”
I’m still standing on the porch. It takes Aiden a second to realize this.
“Shit. Let me—” He moves out of the way so I can step in. “I’m sure you’re... cold.”
And it’s only then thatIrealize that I’m wearing nothing but a sheer cover-up over my bikini top and shorts that feel completely too short all of the sudden. Aiden clears his throats as he averts his eyes, and I squeeze past him, conscious of the fact that the see-through black material leaves little to the imagination. It hadn’t felt like a big deal when we’d been out and about today, this is California, after all—but four feet from Aiden Reid with half my tits on display so soon afterthe nipple incidentfeels like too much.
Just this morning I had been trying to halfway apologize for it, to try to clear the air between us, and now I’m standing in the foyer in a bikini while he does his best not to look. Which I haveto give him credit for. He is currentlyveryinterested in the color of paint on the entry wall.
“I’m glad you guys had a good day,” he says tightly.
I cross my arms over my chest. “We really did. She missed you though.”
“She did?” He does glance my way then, an unconscious movement that I don’t think he catches until he’s already looking right at me. He seems to remember shortly after why he wasn’t in the first place, averting his eyes to the floor. “I wish I could have been there.”
“Maybe next time.”
