Page 48 of Military Daddies' Nanny

A few minutes go by before I change my mind and decide to head to work instead. Maybe tomorrow I can spend a lazy day with Nancy while the children are in school instead of staying home bored out of my mind today.

The day seems to crawl by after that, my thoughts constantly drifting to the evening ahead.I'm...nervous,I realize. It's been so long since I put myself out there like this, made myself vulnerable. But Nancy is worth it. What we have is worth it.

Finally, blessedly, five o'clock rolls around. I catch sight of my reflection in the car window and have to laugh at myself. I look like a teenager getting ready for prom, for Christ's sake.

Get it together, Drew, I tell myself sternly.It's just Nancy. Nancy, who's seen you at your best and your worst. Nancy, who already shares your bed, your home, your heart…

I'm so caught up in my internal pep talk that I almost miss the buzzing of my phone on thetable. Distracted, I reach for it without checking the caller ID.

"Hello?"

There's a beat of silence on the other end. Then, a voice I haven't heard in six years: "Drew? It's...it's me. It's Karen."

The bottom drops out of my stomach. I grip the edge of the table, knuckles white, as the world tilts on its axis.

"Karen," I manage, my own voice sounding strange and far away. I choose not to believe it. Everything within me rejects the information as false, even though I would have known that voice if I heard it in a crowd.This is happening. "What...why are you calling?"

She clears her throat, an achingly familiar sound that transports me back in time. To shouted arguments and slammed doors, to a hastily scrawled note on the kitchen table that read the simple words,I'm sorry. I can't do this anymore.

"I know it's been a long time," Karen is saying now, hesitant. "And I know I have no right to...but Drew, I've been doing a lot of thinking. About my life, about the kids. About us."

My pulse pounds in my ears, drowning out whatever she says next. This can't be happening. Not now, not when everything is finally falling into place…

"Drew?" Karen prompts, and I realize I've been silent too long. "Are you still there?"

I squeeze my eyes shut, willing myself to wake up from whatever surreal nightmare this is. This can’t be happening to me. Not right now.

But when I open my eyes again, nothing has changed. I'm still standing in front of the car, phone clutched to my ear. And myex-wife—the woman who walked out on our family without a backward glance—is still on the other end of the line.

"Yeah," I reply hoarsely, clearing my throat. "Yeah, I'm here."

My voice sounds small in my ears and I hate it. I hate that even after so much time has passed, and despite all the changes that have come into my life in the past four months, just the sound of her voice alone is enough to get under my skin and make me revert to the man she left years ago.

Her voice sounds distant, like I’m listening in on someone else’s conversation instead of participating in my own.

Stay calm, man.

I close my eyes and try to calm myself, but the loud and painful throbbing of the blood in my veins is making it difficult to focus.

This is all just a figment of my imagination, and by the time I open my eyes, I’ll laugh at how absurd I am. I’ll laugh at how that small part of me that’s uncertain about how a household like the one I’m about to share is making me paranoid.

I open my eyes slowly.

“Hello? Drew? Are you there?”

Fuck.

Chapter 18

Nancy

My phone buzzes with a text from Carlos, and my heart does a little flip in anticipation. " Just wanted to let you know I’m thinking of you,mamacita.Can’t wait to see you."

I grin at the pet name, feeling that familiar flutter in my belly. He and Nathan should be getting here soon as well. They’ll have to stay home with the kids who are back from school while Drew and I go out tonight.

It’s crazy how much my life has changed in such a short time. The guys are ridiculously romantic and utterly outrageous with their care sometimes.

The last few months have been...well, like something out of a dream, if I'm being honest with myself. Falling for not just one amazing man, but three? And having them all fall for me in return? It still takes my breath away sometimes, this beautiful, insane, ridiculous rodeo we have going.

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