Page 15 of When to Call a Blitz

“It hasn’t been my favorite either. What happened?” I shift into gear and pull onto the road. I’m not sure where I’m supposed to go, so I start toward home for now. We can drive for awhile longer if need be.

“I just, I don’t know. I got to my shoot today and my camera broke. I don’t even know if I like photography at this point. But if I don’t like photography, then what else am I supposed to like?” Heidi sighs, tossing her head back against the head rest.

“Have you thought about getting a different job?” I ask her. I know she’s been a photographer for a long time from Briar. Shewas talking about having Heidi help her find a photographer for their wedding at one point.

But I can tell in an instant when her steely eyes meet mine, mascara running down her face, that I said the wrong fucking thing.

The woman next to me instantly shuts down. She doesn’t respond to me, instead sinking into herself, her arms wrapped around her body as far as they can go.

I open my mouth to apologize, but nothing comes out. What do you say in this situation? I’m trying to help, but clearly I’m lousy at it. I bite my lip. “I’m sorry.”

Heidi shakes her head. “It’s fine.”

“It’s not fine if you’re upset.”

“You’ve been just fine with upsetting me in the past.”

Pulling into my driveway, I put my truck in park.

“Hey,” I say as I turn to her. “From everything I’ve heard, you’re amazing at what you do. Sometimes people just have shitty days?—”

“Try years,” she mumbles.

“Shitty days, years, or decades,” I correct myself. “But you have something with that. You have talent. I think you’re going to do fine.”

She shakes her head. “It’s over. My camera is fucked, I’m at my whit’s end, and I’m just done with it. I don’t know what I’m going to do, but it’s not going to be that.”

The car is silent for what feels like hours until Briar’s words hit me.

I close my eyes, hoping and praying I’m not about to regret this.

“Juniper needs a nanny. Briar suggested you, and Juni already adores you,” I take a deep breath. “Do you want the job?”

Heidi’s head whips in my direction. “What does it entail?”

“Pickup and drop-offs for school, making sure she’s doing her homework and stays fed, maybe the occasional playdate. I’m not really sure, to be honest. She’s never really had a woman in the house and she’s been acting up. I just think that having someone here would help her a lot.”

She considers this for a second. “I would consider it, but I don’t have a car.”

“I can take care of that.”

6

HEIDI

It takes me a long time to process that I am, in fact, in Emmett Gardner’s house.

In fact, I’m naked in Emmett Gardner’s house. But it’s not the kind of naked I one time daydreamed of.

Emmett’s bathroom is huge. Although his house is a little more understated than I thought a professional football player’s house would be, it’s still big, and it’s still pretty lavish.

But it’s also very clearly the house of a man. No character, no frills, just the basics. If it weren’t for the occasional toy laying around, I would think it was just him here.

The bathroom is no exception. Emmett has three bathrooms in his house. The main one is more of a powder room, so he insisted that I use his personal bathroom with his giant, fancy shower I spent five years trying to figure out how to turn on.

It aged me.

Which is how I found myself sitting naked in Emmett Gardner’s shower, my legs pulled into me and my chin resting gently on my arm draped over my knees.

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