Page 15 of Chase Our Forever

Liv thinks about the question for a moment. “Surprise me?”

This makes Pippa bounce on her feet in excitement. “I’dloveto surprise you. Are you wanting the coffee hot or iced? And do you like sweet or unsweet?”

As if on cue, a shiver runs through Liv’s body. It’s pretty cold this morning for October, and even though her flannel shirt is long-sleeved, it doesn’t look very thick. I can’t help but wonder if she’s cold.

Fuck. Why am I even thinking about this?

“I’ll definitely take a hot coffee. And on the sweeter side, please,” Liv answers.

Pippa nods and then looks over at me with a lifted brow. “Are you ready to order now that she’s here?”

I clear my throat, wishing Pippa hadn’t ratted me out for wanting to wait. I thought it’d be rude for me to order a coffee and not get her something, too, since I didn’t know what she liked, I decided to wait. “Yes. I’ll take my usual.”

“Any food?” Pippa asks, her eyes finding Liv’s once again. “We’ve got fresh pumpkin cinnamon rolls this morning just for you.”

“As delicious as that sounds right now, Carmen actually surprised me by making me a huge breakfast this morning. I’m still full but will absolutely be getting the cinnamon roll at some point today.”

Pippa’s hand finds her chest. “That was so sweet of her. Did you love the inn? It’s cute, isn’t it?”

“Carmen was the sweetest. She got me quickly checked into a room last night and then made me breakfast this morning. Then, when I told her I didn’t have an outfit for this interview, she even helped me pick something out.”

I listen in on the conversation between Pippa and Liv for a moment before Pippa glances over at me, and her eyes go wide. “I totally forgot this is supposed to be an interview. I’ll leavethe two of you to talk for a moment, and I’ll go get the coffees started.”

She spins on the heel of her pink cowboy boots and dashes back to the counter. I stare at the boots as she walks away. For some reason, my mind flashes to the pair of bright red cowboy boots Selena got for her eighteenth birthday. She wore them until there were holes in them. They still sit in a box in our basement with the rest of her belongings I couldn’t get rid of.

I sigh, trying to focus on the interview at hand. The best thing I can do in Selena’s memory is hire the best person possible for Clara. Maybe Liv will be that. I sure hope so because of how much Clara seems to already love her. But I prepare myself to be okay with accepting she might not be a good fit either.

Now that Pippa’s gone and I’ve attempted to clear my mind as much as possible, I look back to Liv. She’s already watching me carefully, her teeth biting into her bottom lip.

She shifts in her chair and speaks up, clearly feeling like she needs to be the one to break the silence. “Thank you again for giving me the chance to talk more about the open nanny position. Although this is an unexpected turn of events, I’m excited to talk more with you to see if it would be a good fit.”

I give her a curt nod. “No problem. Clara adores you. I’m really glad you didn’t bail.”

“Only thought about it for a moment,” she teases, but I’m not sure if she’s joking or not. I don’t know her well enough yet to be able to tell.

“So, tell me about yourself. I’ve read over your resume, and it seems like you have quite the work history.” I remember seeing her age when looking through her resume. I knew she looked young, but she’s barely twenty-three, making her twelve years younger than me. What shocked me even more was the age she started working. She’s been working almost half her life already, making me wonder about her past and why that is the case.

Liv shifts in her seat for a moment as she thinks through her answer. She sighs. “Money was a little tight growing up, so the moment I was old enough for someone to hire me, I started working.”

My thumb dances over my jawline as I listen to her answer. I fight the urge to ask questions about why money was tight and wonder how she was able to work and graduate at the top of her class from high school, both details I found out while reviewing her resume. I decide to hold my tongue, knowing those are questions I don’t need answers to for her to be hired on as a nanny.

“I haven’t had a chance to call your references yet, but from your long work history, it seems like you’re great at committing to a job.”

She tucks a piece of her blonde hair behind her ear. “When you do call them, do you mind leaving out specific details about where I am?”

My head tilts to the side because her question came out a little uneasy. There might even be a little bit of fear in her tone with it. I want to ask her why, but it’s not my place to do so.

She must take my silence as a refusal because she adds, “If it’s too much to ask, I understand. I’m sorry to have even?—”

“I won’t tell anyone about your location,” I say, interrupting her and not wanting her to feel like she has to explain herself any further.

“Thank you,” she whispers, her shoulders sagging a little with relief.

I stare at her for a moment, wanting to know more about the woman sitting in front of me. I’d come up with a list of questions I wanted to ask her for this interview, but all of them seem to have vanished from my mind. The only questions I can think of are ones I don’t need to know to hire her.

Pippa saves me by walking over with our coffees. She sets them down in front of us. “Here’s your usual, Dean, and a pumpkin latte with a dash of nutmeg for you, Liv.”

“Thank you,” both Liv and I say in unison.

---