Page 68 of Nanny For My Brother's Best Friend

I clean the toys, sorting them into a side for dolls and one for stuffed animals. She’s growing out of baby toys now, so I have gone through them and made a corner for her little laptop and other learning toys. One end of the couch is right there, so that’s where she sits when Lola doesn’t prefer the floor and I added a cute pillow and blanket to make it her own.

I bought a bluetooth speaker to play her favorite songs on my phone when we play and have our dance parties some evenings and I’ve made so many playlists for Lola. I love that little girl and might lose her now. Can I love my baby that much?

Will they know each other?

This is awful and I wipe my face again.

Lola wakes up and I fix her an easy lunch before Miles comes back to quietly take over. He doesn’t tell me to leave, but I know he’s not ready to talk yet by his demeanor. He’ll be at practice tomorrow and everything will be a little more normal with just me and Lola here.

I could leave, but I curl up in bed and quietly cry over everything that’s happened. At the end of the day, I know Miles will do right with his kids and take care of them both. He’s just that kind of man based on how he is with Lola, and he shared custody of Lola with her mom when she was alive.

He’d never try to take this baby away, would he?

This baby needs the love of his family as much as Lola does, and I want them to know their sister, no matter how things are between me and Miles. It kills me to think about being without Lola, but he’d never separate siblings.

I call Alli to tell her what happened quietly, crying through the conversation. I need someone and she knows everything so far.

“He hasn’t spoken to you since? I mean, it’s still the day he found out and what a shock.”

Alli has a point, and I want to give Miles the space he needs to sort through all of this, but I live here with him.

“I know. That’s why I’m hiding here. He needs time with Lola before work starts up again tomorrow.”

“Think you’ll still work there?”

“I hope so. Especially now since I can save so much money to afford the baby when I get a place. I am not going to be the woman that demands money from Miles because we share a child. Help, yes. But I don’t want to live in a mansion on his dime and I can still get a job in my field.”

“Did Kim live in a mansion?”

I thought about that for a moment and realized I never heard what kind of home she had.

“I don’t know, but it probably was in a good area for the sake of Lola. There’s a lot I don’t know about Kim. I just hear snippets here and there.”

“Well, you might get into it now.”

She’s right. We’ll have to talk so much more now and get deeper than either of us wanted to.

I end up falling asleep and wake up past ten o’clock, shocked at how long I slept. This baby is draining me, and I sit up, worried about Lola. Grabbing the monitor, I turn it on to see her sleeping peacefully in bed and sigh in relief.

Miles is in the house somewhere. He’d never leave her here, but I have heard no knocks at my door. Either way, I am thirsty and sneak to my door, opening it up to listen. I’m closest to the kitchen and realize the light is off, so maybe I can run in for water and snacks without getting caught.

This is ridiculous. If I am going to work here, I’ll need to see Miles. Still, I pad down the hall, listening the entire way. It’s quiet so I pad into the kitchen to grab water and some grapes, opening the door to the basement to hear loud rock music playing.

He’s working out, which means he’s stressed out.

I know Miles has practice tomorrow later in the morning, so I am going to get up with Lola as I normally would. Nothing will change for that sweet little girl unless he fires me and orders me to leave his house. Miles has that right, but he knows how happy she is and his life will not get simpler with his career.

He’ll make the right choice for Lola.

I sit against my pillows and turn on the TV. I’ll be awake for a while and might as well kill time. Glancing at my phone, I see texts from my family, but I can’t respond. Until this is out, I’ll feel terrible lying to anyone in my family. There aren’t any from Miles and I think back to last night in his bed. That’s probably the last time we’ll ever share that kind of intimacy again, and it felt fantastic.

I’m sure it had a lot to do with pregnancy hormones, but it wasn’t ever just sex with Miles. Not for me. I hate admitting that now, but I was drawn to him and once we slept together, that was it for me. I tried to be strong and failed and being horny and pregnant around him now is going to be torture.

Dating while pregnant with someone’s baby sounds difficult. How would anyone handle that? The fact it is Miles Adams’s baby is even worse.

I wake up to the sound of Lola singing in her room, turning my head to see the clock. I slept for another six hours and rush to get clean clothes on and tame my hair before walking down the hall to her room.

Miles’s door is closed, and I open hers with a smile.

---