Page 49 of Marrying the Nanny

“Why are you being so unreasonable?”

He closed his eyes and dug deep for patience. He sought the right words so she wouldn’t get aggressive or defensive. “We always run big decisions past Velma, right? Let’s get her input.” So he wasn’t the villain.

“I don’t want Velma’s input!”

His door opened and he glanced up with irritation. He’d closed it for a reason. His conversations with his mother were private.

Logan entered with Storm. It was a windy day so the baby was in a frosting-pink suit that looked like it was made for parachuting. The hood was tied so close around her chubby face she peered through a circle of pink. She looked like an oversize gingerbread cookie made from bubble gum.

“Respect the shift, man. I’ve got a callout.” He thumbed toward the window and the boats rocking against the wharf.

“Mom, can I call you back? I have to switch phones.”

“You always do this. You tell me no, then hang up.”

Logan winced as he realized who Reid was talking to.

“Emma’s downstairs. Said she’d take her if you were tied up.” Logan left with Storm, but he didn’t close the door.

Reid could see that everyone else had left for the day. He still became sharply conscious of every word he said.

“I’m saying wait. Listen, I’m going to see if I can get a flight to come see you.”

He tapped the icon on his laptop to bring up his calendar. His shifts with Storm were neatly tagged in yellow for days and navy for nights. Aside from a trip to Bella Bella in the water taxi to get some antiperspirant and spare socks, he hadn’t left the island in the three weeks since they’d arrived. Tomorrow was his last nightshift. “We’ll talk about it more when I’m there, but I have to go right now, okay?”

“And do what? Why are you even still there?”

“You know what it’s like trying to get building supplies here. The lawyers are asking for paperwork. It’s easier to be here, making sure the crews are staying on task, getting things finished.” He was also diapering a baby. Maybe he’d get around to explaining that part when they were face-to-face. With Velma in the room.

“So it can be sold.”

“That’s the plan.”

“I’ll show you the brochures when you’re here. If you book early, you get a butler as a free upgrade. And a balcony.”

“Yeah?” A butler could go either way. She might love being pampered or she might find it way too intrusive and refuse to let them do their job. “Can I call you after I check flights?”

“Fine,” she said on a forlorn sigh.

Emma came into the main office, baby on her hip. She waved in greeting.

Something unidentifiable juddered in his chest. Not a good feeling, but not a bad one. Naked. Like when he’d shaved after months with a beard and his jaw was ultra sensitive to the slide of air across his face from merely walking across a room. He felt vulnerable and exposed from chin to collarbone.

“Thanks, Mom. I’ll talk to you in a while.”

“Okay. I love you.”

“Love you, too.”

*

“It’s nice you say that to your mom.” Emma found it extra endearing because it was so unexpected.

“What’s that?” Reid sounded abrupt as he carried paperwork from his office and left it on the desk of a woman Emma only knew casually as the bookkeeper for the lodge.

“That you love her. I haven’t said it to my parents since…” She couldn’t remember. “You reach a certain age and decide you’re too cool to say it. If I started again now, they’d ask me if I was terminally ill.” She wanted to believe she could say it sincerely, but she was still too hurt and angry.

“Habit,” he said, going back into his office to push his laptop into a bag with a couple of file folders. “She expects it. Needs it. I’m secure enough in my masculinity to tell my mother I love her without thinking it makes me look weak. Or uncool,” he said sardonically.

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