Page 19 of One Night With The Nanny

Reid scoffed as he got the door. “Not very well. But it’s one of the few sports I understand. I never got into football—American football—or baseball. I almost killed myself the few times Morris made me go skating,” he recounted and Mia made a sympathetic sound, but the rest of the conversation was cut off when the door shut behind them.

Max regretted that he couldn’t follow, but recalled that the point of the evening was for Reid to learn more about Mia. He decided to ask Banks to gather as much information as he could about the housing options at Parsons. It would give Max something to talk about with Mia over the weekend.

“And then I’ll call Agnes and ask her what else Reid likes,” he mused as he headed for the study to retrieve his phone, feeling absurdly grateful. “She deserves a gift as well.”

7

Wednesday, 8:47 p.m. …

So far, Reid concurred with nearly all of Agnes’s observations about Mia and Max’s relationship. He was a patient, doting father and Mia was accustomed to getting her way. That seemed to suit Max, but Reid sensed that she resented him for being too easy to get along with and their life too perfect.

“Is it weird being a princess?” Reid asked her and Mia’s face scrunched as she dribbled. The courtyard behind the townhouse was narrow and the tall brick walls were lined with ivy. String lights crisscrossed overhead and were wound around the back of the hoop and the post.

“Not when we’re here in the city, thank goodness,” she said, raising the ball and aiming before shooting. It went in and Reid cheered as he jogged over to get it. He gave the ball a few bounces, then passed it back. “Some people get a little weird when they find out, but most people don’t care. It’s worse when we go home to Austria, because everyone’s weird there and we can’t go anywhere without it being a big deal. Like, I have to let them know if I want to go out to get coffee or to the bookstore and then I have to behave because it would be the end of the world if someone took a picture or told the media I was rude.”

“Is that what your dad says?” Reid asked, earning a wry snort from Mia.

“Like he’d say anything. He doesn’t care as long as I don’t get pregnant, or a tattoo, or pierce any part of my face, or get lip fillers,” she muttered, before making another shot.

“Okay, little Kobe,” Reid said as he went after it. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to wade into any of those battles. “It sounds like he might care,” he said, earning a flat look from Mia.

“He let Ella walk all over him and barely batted an eye when Sophia said she wasn’t coming home.” She pushed out a hard groan and rolled the ball at the back corner of the small yard. It bounced off the stone wall and into the bin with the others.

“All that matters is that Ella is happy,” she said in a deep voice, mimicking her father’s accent perfectly. “I’ll only push Sophia away if I order her to come home,” she continued with a disgusted snort as she swung back toward the kitchen, signaling that she was done so Reid followed her back to the stoop. She lingered on the top step, pausing as she watched Max in the kitchen. He was straightening cans and bottles in the opened pantry as he talked on the phone. “Everything has to be perfect and he is always perfect. I used to wish he would lose it, just once. I tried so hard to see if I could get him to blow up but he never did.”

“I think that might be his upbringing,” Reid said with a soft hiss. “And he’s very British,” he added, making her groan.

“He’s so British. Like, I don’t know what they did to him in those boarding schools, but it’s like they beat all the emotions out of him,” she said sadly.

Reid gave her a gentle nudge with his elbow. “I think there’s more truth in that than either of us wants to know.”

She nodded, her eyes shimmering as they followed Max. “He was very worried about that when Sophia went off to school, but she liked the whole boarding school life and said the ones here aren’t nearly as strict.”

“That’s good,” Reid replied and she shrugged.

“I didn’t last a semester. I like high school and living at home. It feels almost normal and like we’re real.”

“What do you mean? You’re real.”

“I am!” she laughed, then cocked her chin at Max. “But I wonder about him. I don’t even know what his favorite color is. I must have asked a hundred times but he’d always say something stupid like ‘Your dress is my favorite color. How did you know? You’re so clever, Mia,’ or ‘My favorite color is your favorite color.’ He was more worried he’d pick the wrong color or song or flavor of ice cream so I don’t know anything about him. Maybe you can figure him out and tell me what he’s like,” she said with a wide, facetious smile, but Reid could see how bitter it had made her.

Reid hummed seriously as he studied Max and considered all that he had observed so far. “Why do you think that is? Do you think he’s hiding something or because he doesn’t think you’ll like him if you know what his favorite colors or songs are?”

“Who knows? Isn’t it strange that you’re practically a child psychologist and the first ‘friend’ he’s ever brought home?” she asked with a pointed look, making Reid cringe.

“You might be onto something, but it sounds like he was keeping some important boundaries. I am never going to judge anyone for how they choose to come out to their family, and I’d caution you not to,” he said carefully.

“I know,” she said with sincere heaviness, but her lips pulled into a hard line. “How much happier would we all have been, though, if he had divorced Ella when I was a baby and had found someone decent?”

Reid’s cheeks puffed out as he shook his head. “How do you know he would have found someone decent? I’ve met a lot of men and you want to know how many of them I’d rate as decent?”

She laughed and gave his shoulder a playful punch. “You seem pretty decent.”

“You’ve known me for less than two hours,” he said and let her get the door.

“I can tell when someone’s cool,” she told him as they stepped into the kitchen, but she shot Max a suspicious glare. “And I can tell when someone’s not. I better get going,” she announced with a wave, abandoning them.

“Get going?” Max asked and gave his head a shake when she didn’t answer. He raised his brows at Reid. “Well?”

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