Page 10 of Sheltering Lily

Most of our conversations weren’t so personal. By tacit agreement we’d stuck to talking about Sofia and more general topics, but I was getting to know Lily better. Like tonight: I’d called to see what she wanted from the diner, but I’d accurately predicted her order. Salad with grilled chicken and a piece of lemon meringue pie. She always got dessert, which I teased her about but usually joined her in.

We’d both come to treat our dinners as a casual friend kind of thing, although I tried to pick up the tab for both of us. She was working for me to make money to fund her new life. I didn’t want her spending that cash on buying me dinner.

The waitress went past me, holding up two fingers to indicate my order was almost done. I drained the coffee mug and took a look around the diner. It was fairly busy with couples and families stopping in for a quick meal before going home. The back booth was occupied by just one guy. His head was turned to look out the window as though he was waiting for someone. I studied the man, recognition dawning.

He was one of the men in the hallway of Lily’s apartment building. It had been almost six weeks since I had helped her move, but I remembered the two men distinctly because of Lily’s reaction to them and because of the fact that one of them had seemed familiar to me. The guy in the booth was the one I could have sworn I knew, but just like then, I couldn’t put a name to the man or remember where I’d seen him before.

“Here you go.” The waitress put two bags on the counter in front of me.

“Thanks,” I said and gathered them up. I took one last look at the man, trying to jog my memory, but nothing came. Maybe the guy just had one of those faces that always looked familiar. I shook it off and headed for my truck. If I hurried, I’d get to see Sofia before she was asleep.

“I just put her down,” Lily said as I entered the kitchen five minutes later. “You can probably still catch her awake.” She took the bags from me, and I headed for the stairs.

“Hi, sweetheart,” I said softly, stepping into Sofia’s room. Her big dark eyes turned to me, and an instant smile spread across her face. She sat up in her crib and held her arms toward me.

“Dada,” she cooed when I picked her up.

“I missed you today,” I said as I settled her against me. She burrowed in, too sleepy to talk, so I held her, gently rocking and stroking her back until her breathing slowed and I realized she’d fallen asleep.

“Tomorrow we’ll have fun together,” I whispered into her hair before carefully lowering her into the crib. I tucked the blanket around her and waited just a minute to make sure she wouldn’t wake up again. After giving her a last kiss, I left her room.

Lily

I opened the food bags and plated our dinners. It was part of the little ritual Colin and I had fallen into. He checked on Sofia and returned to eat with me. No harm in a shared dinner, I reasoned, as long as I remembered that we were just employer and employee. That was getting more difficult to do. There was a lot to like about Colin and a lot I found appealing. He was so loving with Sofia, so thoughtful and considerate toward me. And of course, it never hurt to have an absolutely incredible body, which he most definitely did.

“Did you get to say good night?” I asked when Colin joined me in the kitchen.

“She was almost awake,” he said, heading to the refrigerator for a beer.

“I tried to keep her up because I knew you’d be home,” I explained, “but she was zonked after today.”

“Time outside?” He came to sit next to me at the island.

“We walked downtown,” I said, causing him to raise an eyebrow since it was a three-mile round trip. “Sofia rode in the stroller, but we got a lot of fresh air.”

“Any reason for your destination?” he asked, twirling linguine on his fork.

“We peeked in at All That Sparkles,” I said, referring to the jewelry store Colin’s brother’s wife owned. “Sofia demanded to see Aunt Carolyn, but she wasn’t in, so we went to the art school a few doors down. I signed up to take some classes.” He paused, his fork halfway to his mouth. “They won’t interfere with my nanny duties,” I said quickly. “They’re all evening and weekend classes, and I can miss one or two if you need to work late.”

“I wasn’t worried about that.” His expression was puzzled. “If you want to take classes, we’ll work around your schedule. Are you thinking of switching to become an art teacher? I thought math was your area.”

“It was, but I don’t want to teach again, math or anything else. It’s not my passion.” I picked at my salad, debating how much to tell him—but he’d opened up to me about the Admiral and his family. And after weeks of sharing a house, I’d come to trust him. Well, more than that, really: I liked him. A lot. And not in ways a nanny should like her employer. I knew the attraction was mutual—I’d seen the way that he looked at me. And whenever we touched in even the smallest way, I could feel the chemistry between us. I knew what we both wanted…but neither one of us had brought it up, probably because we both knew it was a bad idea. “I ended up in education because it’s sort of a family tradition,” I blurted out. “My dad’s a math professor, and my mom taught high school math before my sibs and I were all born. My grandfather was a science professor, a famous one.”

“Did they put pressure on you to be a teacher, too?”

“Not exactly,” I hedged. “It’s not like they insisted, but it was just sort of expected, you know? They always talked about how teaching is an honorable profession—which I agree with, of course. I have a lot of admiration for teachers. It’s just not for me. I left Hartford Academy because of the situation I told you about with Jasmine—but it was honestly a relief to have a reason to leave. I’d never truly been happy there, but I’d been too afraid to just give up on a steady job that paid well.”

“So, what is your passion? What do you want to do?” His amazing blue eyes focused on me, making me temporarily tongue-tied.

“Art is what I really love. I always have, but my parents treated it like a hobby—something I could do on the side for fun, but not something that counts as a real career, you know? But I think it could be. I think…” I hesitated for just a second before telling him the truth. “I think I want to be a comic book artist. My aunt Maddie is one, and she loves it.” My aunt was always so happy. I had had more fun with her than I’d ever had with my own parents. And she was living proof that art really could be a viable profession, no matter what my parents said.

“I think it might be a tough way to make a living,” Colin said cautiously, but without judgment.

“Probably. The art world can be competitive, but I know Aunt Maddie will help me any way she can. And now that I’m not locked into a teaching schedule, I’d like to pursue it—see if I can raise the bar on my skills so that I can put together a solid portfolio.” I paused but felt bold enough to add, “I’m also working on figuring out the other things in life that I’ve wanted to do and haven’t allowed myself to try.” He smiled at that, which encouraged me to continue. “I feel as though I’ve lived someone else’s version of my life, and I want to live mine.”

“Is that part of being the oldest kid from a big family?”

“I guess. I always had more responsibility than my friends—and more limits. I couldn’t do this or that because of obligations to the family. I even missed my senior prom because of my brother,” I said ruefully.

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