Page 65 of Bad Nanny

Attending this shindig was as much for me as it was for Delaney and Gabriel. I needed to make some friends, and the neighborhood seemed like a good place to start.

Gabriel kissed my cheek and took Delaney’s hand. “Screaming kids, here I come.”

I shook my head, unable to stop smiling as I walked toward the table. The group of women clustered around it seemed welcoming enough. The neighborhood was a mixture of older and newer homes with tree-lined streets and little traffic.

As I approached, one of the women glanced up and waved. “Hey, you must be Josie!” Emily smiled, recognizing me from my comments on posts.

“That’s me.” I set down the fruit next to another fruit dish. “Nice to meet you all.”

“I’m Amy.” A petite redhead with a pixie cut gestured to the other women. “This is Julie, Lauren, and, of course Emily, our ringleader.”

They all exchanged quick hellos before Julie, a woman with a toddler on her hip, looked at me curiously. “We haven’t seen you around before. You have such an adorable family.” She nodded toward Gabriel, who helped Delaney take off her shoes before she scampered inside the bounce castle.

A flicker of panic sparked inside me. Family? I cleared my throat gently. “Oh, well, thank you...”

Lauren chimed in before I could correct Julie about my family status. “Are you guys new to the area? It’s always nice to see new faces at these things.”

I bit my lip, torn between spinning a tale and spilling the truth. Honesty won out, partly. “Gabriel and Delaney aren’t. I recently moved back to L.A. after college.” I gestured toward them in the distance. “I’m the nanny.”

The surprise on their faces would have been comical if the situation didn’t involve me. What must be going through their heads? If I were them, I’d have about a million questions.

“So, the mom...” Emily sounded unsure if she should even be broaching the subject.

“She’s not in the picture.” It wasn’t my business to tell them what had happened, but I also didn’t want them to think I was a homewrecker.

“Phew.” Lauren sighed dramatically. “Although someDesperate Housewivesdrama would be entertaining, you seem too sweet to deal with that.”

“You said you just finished college?” Amy looked between me and Gabriel, who was standing at the entrance of the bounce house, his arms crossed over his chest.

“Yes. I work with puppets, but I’m still figuring out exactly what I want to do.” It wasn’t a complete lie; I did need to figure out my long-term plans.

“Puppets?” The toddler-wrangling woman looked intrigued. “Oh my God, did you guys see the new Sarah Swoon episode on Friday? There are two new puppets, a number six and a nine.”

My heart skipped a beat. There it was again—Sarah Swoon brought into daylight conversations when I least expected it. But I should have known with the number ofviews I was getting, and with me bringing up puppets, people were bound to mention her.

“The six and nine are genius. The playboy and the virgin.” Emily giggled. “The argument about the hymen was fascinating and hilarious.”

Could they see my face turning red? Because it sure felt like it was. I’d wanted to address the misinformation about virgins having an intact hymen and bleeding during the first time. Hell, some women weren’t even born with a hymen at all.

As they all started sharing stories about losing their virginity, my thoughts wandered back to Gabriel and Delaney being referred to as my family.

My dad had asked me if I was ready to take on a mother-figure role, and I’d brushed it off. Even though only a few weeks had passed since that conversation, things felt different now.

But then there was Sarah Swoon and crew. My alter egos were inching closer to being outed by the minute. It was past time to come clean about what I did behind the closet door. But I was even more scared to tell Gabriel than I’d been to tell my dad.

With my dad, I knew he’d still love me, and had he reacted badly, he would have eventually gotten over it. But Gabriel? His top priority was Delaney, and I wasn’t sure how my puppets worked into that equation. Even if I kept myself anonymous—which was my plan, anyway—there was still the taboo element about what I was doing.

He’d called it “inappropriate” and “perverted,” but howwould he feel once he watched it and knew it was me behind everything?

I excused myself from the group with a promise to chat more later and made my way back toward Gabriel and Delaney. Delaney was just coming out of the bounce house, little baby hairs plastered to her forehead.

She rushed over to us, happy as can be. “Daddy, my new friend Antonio wants to show me his wiener. Can we go see? Please?”

“Excuse me? A boy asked you what?” Gabriel’s neck was reddening, and I looped my arm through his as I stood next to him.

A little boy, who looked about the same age as Delaney, rolled out of the bounce house before jumping to his feet. He had a fruit punch mustache and looked like a ball of energy. “Laney! Are you coming? My dad has him over there!” He pointed in the general direction of the grills, where a man stood with a dachshund on a leash.

“Thank fuck.” Gabriel put his hand over his heart. “I thought I was about to go to prison for murder.”

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