Page 138 of Giddy Up, Daddy

Bo

The new nanny is a teenager whose parents got thrown in jail on her 18th birthday, as part of the whole trafficking scandal that tore the town apart. She's nineteen now, and her choices are the live-in nanny job or the group home for teenagers who are in the same situation as her.

I wanted to hold out for someone else, maybe one of the new-to- town beauties, or a retired schoolteacher, but Nate is a bit of a bleeding heart, and Angelica did come with piles of experience and good references.

Besides, I have selfish reasons for not fighting him. We both agreed not to give up on Elle and part of that was to get this position filled so she wouldn’t feel like we were only interested in her due to an ulterior motive.

Besides, having a built-in babysitter does give us more time to focus on winning Elle back. The problem is we have no idea how to do that. I’ve texted her a few times, sent an email, no response. We haven’t tried talking to Sadie again, because the first time was so disastrous and we feel terrible for putting her in that position.

So now we’re sitting here at the Dutch Diner, over plates of burgers and fries discussing our strategy.

Spoiler alert: We don’t have one.

“Flowers?” Nate asks.

I roll my eyes. “Too cliche. Impersonal.”

“Candy?”

“How is that any better?”

Nate scowls. “I don’t hear you coming up with anything.”

I sigh. The problem is simple. We put off really getting to know Elle because we thought we would have time to get to know her. And now we have no idea how to woo her. Or how to get her to even talk to us.

I angrily bite a french fry. This feels impossible. Are we overthinking it? Should we just show up on her doorstep with some romantic speech where we lay it all out on the table? I’m not opposed to doing that, but I’d like to get to a point where I’m at least certain she’d open the door to hear it. I don’t even have that yet.

“This is dumb,” I grumble. “We don’t even know her. What were we thinking?”

Nate frowns. “What happened to my confident, self-assured Daddy? The one who trusts his gut and works hard for what he wants?”

“Yeah, what happened to that guy?” A voice cuts in, and I jerk my neck in time to see Sadie sliding into the booth beside me. She steals a fry on my plate and takes a bite, then twirls the uneaten part between her fingers.

I frown. “I figured you wanted nothing to do with us after that last encounter.”

“Nah.” She shrugs. “I was annoyed, but mostly because I had no idea what was going on.” She takes another bite of the fry, then admits, “She stopped talking after your guys’ date. Wouldn’t return my calls, wouldn’t text…”

I’m a bastard, but that almost makes me feel better. At least it wasn’t just us.

I frown at Sadie. “Should we be worried?”

As I’m inwardly berating myself for what a stupid question that is, she shakes her head. “No, I don’t think so. She’s better now, or she’s getting there.”

“Okay, good.” I nod and my panic settles, but it doesn’t solve my problem.

Sadie steals another fry, and I give her the side-eye, wondering why she slid into our booth in the first place. We’re acquaintances, and I like her and all, but we aren’t likefriends. At least not the kind of friends who randomly join your table without an invitation. I’m still not sure why she’s here.

I'm trying to figure out how to ask when she tells me. “I’ve talked to her now, of course. I understand what’s going on.”

“Any chance you’ll fill us in?” I ask hopefully.

She bites the fry, then points the bottom half at me. “No. But, I will answer questions.”

Interesting. Nate’s eyes meet mine and we have one of the silent conversations we’re known for.

She doesn’t have to break confidence that way.

If we ask the right questions.

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