Page 38 of Beneficial Misfortune

“We’ll be back later tonight, probably around dinner,” Nathan says, placing his cup in the sink and heading out, once again leaving Alex and me alone.

“Have fun today, Kitten,” he all but purrs before following Nathan.

I let my head drop to the counter with a sigh, only to pull back and rub at the spot. Damn, that hurt more than I thought it would. Hopefully, it doesn’t leave a mark. The last thing I need is to have a bump that looks like a horn in the middle of my head.

“Kat!” Addison’s voice rings from down the hall, and Ruby quickly gets up and wanders off in her direction. I’m standing at the sink, rinsing the cups I just washed, when she comes in with a smile, rubbing sleepies from her eyes.

“Good morning, Addison,” I say, reaching for the towel to wipe my hands, but she has other plans, and I have a split second to decide between catching her or risking her taking us both to the ground.

I scoop her up, pulling her close as she buries her head in my shoulder, squeezing me tight with her arms and legs.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” I ask, rubbing circles on her back as she clings to me.

“I thought you left,” she whispers, her breath hitching, sounding like she’s on the verge of crying.

“Oh, honey, no.” I hug her back and rock her a bit to try to comfort her. “We made a promise, remember, and I take my promises very seriously.”

I feel her nod, but she doesn’t let up. She is still holding tight to me, but that’s okay. I don’t mind a good hug. Before long, she’ll be used to me being here, but until then, I can comfort her. She’s probably used to nannies leaving, so I can’t blame her.

“What do you say we eat some breakfast and go play? You can show me all of your favorite toys or the jungle gym you haveoutside. That looks like a lot of fun,” I tell her, trying to get her mind on something else.

She pulls back, peeking up at me before she gives a tiny nod. I smile before finding us something simple to eat with her still in my arms.

Addison perks up a bit after some cinnamon sugar toast. It was a treat my mom used to give me when I was a kid, and it always made me happy, so I’m glad it worked for her as well.

The movers arrive while she’s eating, and all they seem to need to know is what I want to put in the room and what can go into storage. Everything is packed neatly in boxes that are labeled, and honestly, the whole thing is way more efficient than when I moved my own stuff. In all, the whole thing takes maybe fifteen minutes before they don’t need me; it’s kind of crazy.

By the time we head outside to play in the backyard, you would never know she’d woken up so sad. We climb, swing, play hide and seek, and by the time lunch rolls around, I’m sweating my butt off and starving.

“Alright, I think it’s time we go make something to eat,” I tell her with a laugh when her stomach grumbles. A smile lights her face, and she quickly slides down the slide to join me on the grass.

“We’re going to make something?” she asks with a smile, but her question confuses me.

“Of course we are. How else would we have something to eat?” I ask, taking her hand and leading her back into the house through the large sliding glass door.

“Usually, Dale makes all the food,” she says with a pout, and now it's my turn to be confused. “He’s our chef.”

Oh, well, I guess that makes sense. Nathan did mention there was other help, though I have yet to see them.

“Well, your dad didn’t say anything to me about a chef, so I think for today, we'll make something for ourselves and see how you like it.”

As we enter the house, she jumps up and down, looking around at the kitchen with wonder, much like she did at the playground earlier.

“So, what do you think we should make?” I ask, realizing I don’t know much about her preferred foods or if she has any allergies. Figuring out what she likes should be easy enough just with time and talking to her, but I don’t want to mess with unknown allergies.

Fishing my phone from my pocket, I debate texting Nathan. I know he said they had a meeting, but he also told me to text or call him should I need anything. Sinking my teeth into my bottom lip, I decide to just go for it. Worst case, he’s in a meeting and can’t get back to me right away. We can always stick to things I’ve seen her eat at school for today.

Sorry to bug you, but I just wanted to check in and see if Addison has any allergies to foods or in general before we made lunch.

Typing out the message, I quickly hit send before I can think too much about it and talk myself out of it.

Addison is looking through the cabinets for something she might want, humming a happy little tune as she goes, and I stand watching while I wait for a response.

It doesn’t take long before the three little dots pop up on my screen saying he’s typing, and with them, my anxiety spikes.

Don’t apologize, I told you to message me if you need anything. This is new and going to take some time to get used to, but no, she doesn’t have any known allergies.

My anxiety melts away as I read the words, but before I can tuck my phone into my pocket, the dots pop up again.

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