Page 12 of Twisted Fate

She giggled and squealed, demanding to go higher and higher as I pushed her on the swing. Growing tired of the swing, she set her sights on the slide. When it was time for lunch, we came inside, and I made us both peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with a side of fruit.

It wasn’t long before her eyes grew heavy, and she was ready for a nap. When she awoke again, we got back to work. I continued her classroom instruction for two more hours, calling it a day around three o’clock. Kids her age could only handle so much in one day. We decided to watch a movie in the family room until it was time to make dinner. Vance hadn’t asked me to take care of dinner, but I needed to feed Charlie, so I figured I might as well cook something for both of them. From the looks of it, he’d been surviving off frozen pizza and protein shakes lately and was probably in desperate need of some nourishment.

I’d just taken the casserole out of the oven when I heard the front door open. Charlie dropped the cookie scoop in her hand and climbed down from her step stool. She’d been helping me spoon out oatmeal raisin cookie dough and placing it on a baking sheet. Clearly, her daddy coming home was more exciting.

“Hey, munchkin,” came that smooth, masculine voice. “Where’s Miss Delilah?” I stiffened at the way he addressed me. It felt so impersonal, like I was merely the help and nothing more.

“Making cookies,” came Charlie’s excited response.

They came through the door at the next moment, and I busied myself with the cookie dough.

“I wanna do it!” Charlie demanded, running toward me and reaching for the scoop. I relinquished it to her, silently observing as she finished her task.

“Good job,” I praised, sliding the baking sheet off the counter and placing it in the oven. I set the timer and turned to face Vance. His expression was unreadable as he looked from the food to me.

“You know, you’re not contracted to cook dinner?”

“I know,” I replied, clasping my hands together in front of me. He made me nervous, especially when he watched me with that intense, assessing gaze of his, as though he could see straight into my soul. “But I’m already cooking for Charlie. It’s no trouble to make something for both of you.” He simply nodded in understanding. His stoic demeanor unnerved me. Had he always been like this or was this simply how he dealt with his grief?

“When that timer goes off,” I began, motioning toward the oven, “take the cookies out and let them cool on the sheet for a few minutes,” I instructed, ready to take my leave. He nodded again. I bid Charlie goodbye, promising to see her again soon and left without another word to my employer. That was all he was to me. He clearly desired to keep things professional, judging by his behavior today. Maybe I’d overstepped and made him uncomfortable by helping him with his tie the other day, and he was setting the expectations for our working relationship. The problem was, I was certain he needed more than just a nanny and teacher for his daughter. He needed a friend. All the man did was go to work and come home to his child. That wouldn’t sustain him for long. Eventually he would break. One day, he’d need someone to lean on. And for some reason, that felt like my responsibility.

* * *

I’d been workingfor Vance for two weeks when I finally saw what had caused Charlie to need in-home care. Everything had gone smoothly up until this point. She was a happy child, nearly always cheerful, but we’d never left the confines of her home. Until today.

Vance had agreed to let me take Charlie to the park to get her out of the house. She wiggled with excited energy as I buckled her into her car seat. The drive didn’t take long, and when I parked the car, she was anxious to get out. She slid from her car seat and bent to look in the floorboard and the empty seat next to her.

“Where is he?” she asked as she began to frantically search the back seat.

“Where is who?” I asked, keeping my voice low and calm. She was agitated, and I didn’t want to add to the frenzy.

“My teddy!” she cried.

“I don’t know. You must’ve left him at home.” She continued to search even though the stuffed animal clearly wasn’t there.

“We can get him when we go back,” I assured her. “Let’s go have some fun.” I reached for her to help her out of the car, hoping the prospect of the park would distract her from her missing bear. As soon as my hands came up under her arms to cradle her, she snapped.

“No!” she screeched, swinging her arms wildly. Her palms smacked against my forearms as she continued to scream. Stunned, I released her. She lost her balance and stumbled to the floorboard.

“I need my teddy!” she cried. Her face turned red, and tears coursed down her cheeks as she kicked and wailed.

“Okay,” I soothed, “we can go back for him.” It took several minutes but she finally calmed down and let me buckle her into her car seat. When we got back to her house, she immediately ran upstairs to her room. That was where I found her, sitting on her bed and hugging the stuffed animal tightly. I sat next to her and brushed my hand over her head.

“You found him,” I proclaimed cheerily, hoping to brighten her mood.

“I forgot him,” she lamented, clutching onto the teddy bear. The weariness in her eyes caused my heart to crack. She’d been petrified when she realized she didn’t have her teddy. The stuffed animal brought her great comfort. I wasn’t sure what was so special about it, but I certainly wouldn’t forget it again.

11

Vance

“I needto talk to you about something that happened today.” My hackles rose, and I turned sharply to find Delilah wringing her hands.

“Tell me,” I demanded more harshly than I intended. I’d just gotten home, and Charlie was sitting at the kitchen table, molding different colors of Play Doh into shapes she insisted were animals.

Delilah winced and nodded toward the door. We stepped out of the kitchen so as to not be overheard.

“Charlie had an episode today when we tried to go to the park.” I scrubbed my hand over my face and took a deep breath to calm my frustration. It didn’t work. “We left her teddy bear here and when we got there, she became extremely upset. It was almost as if she was scared to be outside her house without it.”

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