Page 22 of Bad Nanny

I read through them in disbelief, each word making me want to vomit. I’d been so worked up that I’d just started texting away, not paying attention to anything other than my thumbs hitting each letter.

Do I apologize? Do I run after her and demand for her to give me her phone, so I could delete the messages?

This was bad. This was very bad.

My chair fell backward as I got up and ran to the studio, not caring that I was probably going to cause her to quit with my behavior tonight. I knocked loudly before trying the knob. It turned, but I couldn’t barge in on her.

She flung the door open. “What?—”

I plucked the phone from her hands andnearly had a cardiac event at seeing her text messaging app open, but the messages were from her sister, Nora.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Josie grabbed for her phone, and I turned my back to her, exiting the conversation she’d started with her sister.

I found mine unread, luckily with only “Nope. Not going there”as a preview. I deleted the entire message thread before Josie was able to reach around me and grab her phone back.

“What did you do?” She looked at her phone and then at me. “You’re unbelievable.”

“I apologize.” That seemed to be my new favorite phrase. “I’ll let you get back to...” I waved my hand at her studio. “Whatever it is.”

“Gee, thanks. I’ll make sure I add recovering the deleted messages to my to-do list.” For the second time, she shut the door in my face, the lock immediately sliding into place.

“Josie!” I tried the knob, even though I’d heard it lock. “Don’t do that! It’s private!”

Like that was going to stop her.

Chapter 8

Chief Eating Officer

Josie

I’d never been soexhausted in my life. Taking care of a child all day, while following a strict schedule and working on my videos, was a significant adjustment. After getting about four hours of sleep over the last few nights, I was so glad it was Friday, I might cry.

The week had been awkward around Gabriel after our disagreement. We interacted as little as possible, keeping our brief conversations on Delaney’s day. I hadn’t bothered restoring the deleted texts; the last thing I needed was to know why he was so frantic to delete them.

But he didn’t know that I hadn’t.

Though I was still undecided on whether to look at them, if I did, it would be at the end of the day, so I’d have the whole weekend to recover.

But I wouldn’t really have time to recover, because I had an emailinbox overflowing, over a thousand comments to look at, and another video that was scheduled to go live at noon, right when I was off for the day.

Gabriel worked half-days on Fridays, so he could take Delaney to therapy every other week and spend extra time with her. If he hadn’t been such an overbearing ass on Monday, I’d find him even more attractive than I already did.

With a yawn, I walked into the kitchen, surprised to find it empty. Usually, Gabriel was up before the crack of dawn, sitting at the table or island in his perfectly pressed suit, drinking black coffee and checking emails on his phone. But today the kitchen was quiet.

I needed coffee as soon as possible if I was going to be able to function today. In fact, I should keep a pitcher of it in the fridge. Iced coffee was just as good as hot.

“Morning.” Gabriel’s voice made me jump.

I turned to see him standing there in jeans and a plain T-shirt, instead of his typical work attire. “Good morning. No suit today?”

He gave me a tight smile, which I’d become very familiar with the last several days. “Decided to work from home. I still expect you to keep to Delaney’s schedule like normal.”

I nodded slowly, immediately becoming suspicious. CEOs of billion-dollar companies didn’t randomly take the day off. And the fact that he still wanted me to work while he was home made me extremely nervous.

Was he checking up on me? Spying to make sure I stuck to his precious schedule? The very thought irked me. But I kept my expression neutral.

“Of course, her schedule will stay the same. She has therapy today, right?” I turned back to fix my coffee.

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