AllFreeNovel
Share Us
A moment later, I released his hand, offered Banks a nod, and turned around to walk away toward my car.
It was, by far, the best day I’d had in a very long time.
NINE
Lamise
It was almost over.
It was early Friday evening, and Banks was due to walk through the front door at any minute.
While I could understand his desire to get home from work to be with his son, I had to admit that I wasn’t necessarily looking forward to him returning. My reasoning had nothing to do with Banks himself.
It was simply that I loved what I was doing.
When he offered me the position, and I’d accepted this job, I hadn’t anticipated my new role as a nanny would ever bring me such joy and fulfillment.
But it had.
It was better than I could have ever imagined, and after all that I’d been through over the last several months, I was going to soak up every last bit of goodness I could get.
I hated that it was Friday. I hated that I wouldn’t be back until Monday morning. How was I going to survive the weekend?
It all seemed so crazy to me, too, considering we’d stuck to a routine for Rhys’s sake all week long.
On the surface, it looked like there wasn’t much room for excitement, but the truth was that every day with Rhys this week had felt like an adventure for me.
We’d had such fun.
Or, well, I knew I had.
Of course, Rhys had spent a good chunk of his time when he was awake, laughing, playing, and having a blast. So, I had to assume he enjoyed this week at least as much as I had.
Craziest of all was that until I’d gotten through this week, I hadn’t realized just how much I’d needed something like this in my life.
Maybe it was that I’d dealt with so much heartbreak and devastation for months, followed by the shock and horror over the last few weeks after learning everything was not as it had seemed.
Not knowing the truth about what happened to Graham was brutal. The video he’d recorded and left for me had rendered me utterly useless and overwhelmingly depressed for several days.
Even now, when I gave myself the opportunity to think about it when I was driving home from work, or when it crept into my thoughts after I climbed into bed each night, I was still just as devastated by the news as I had been when I first heard it.
It didn’t seem to be getting any easier to deal with, especially in the moments when I had nothing else with which to occupy my mind. And considering it had been two weeks since I’d gone to the police, and there hadn’t been any news, I was left with so many unanswered questions.
Being here with Rhys provided the perfect distraction from the nightmares in my life. He was sweet, lovable, and curious. He made me smile, and I loved watching him as he explored the world around him. Spending time with him over the last week, looking after him, had filled some of the holes in my heart.
And now, I was going to have to find a way to get through the next two days without being around him, because just as I finished fixing his clothes following a diaper change, I heard the lock at the front door.
Banks was home.
Reaching my hands out, I lifted Rhys in my arms and said, “Somebody’s here to see you.”
A moment later, the front door closed, and Banks peeked his head around the wall to look into the family room. Rhys was staring right back at him, and he was clearly very delighted to see his dad was home.
He started wiggling in my arms so much, I had no choice but to put him back down on the blanket on the floor. And for the next few seconds, Banks and I watched with avid fascination as Rhys not only rocked back and forth on his hands and knees, but as he struggled to figure out how to get closer to his dad.
Banks crouched down and asked, “Are you ready to start crawling, little man? Come on.”
Rhys lifted one hand, moved it slightly forward, and began rocking again. When he did it with the next hand, I started to think he was going to master the art of crawling, just like that.
