Page 88 of Textbook Defense

ROWAN HADthought he’d dreaded Jordy leaving for a weeklong road trip. Now he was dreading his return.

The day after their explosive phone call, Rowan woke at six thirty to his phone buzzing—someone was at the front door. He hauled himself upright to answer it and found a thirtysomething woman in a business suit, carrying a briefcase.

Rowan had not slept much the previous night. He’d tossed and turned, frustrated with Jordy and annoyed with himself for not growing a backbone sooner. If he’d bothered putting his foot down in September, when he should have, this whole thing wouldn’t have blown up in their faces.

But he hadn’t, and it had, and now, having made his bed, Rowan found it very uncomfortable.

So he wasn’t exactly functioning at peak capacity when the woman handed him a business card. “Hello. My name is Emily Gionet. I’m here from Greater Toronto Emergency Nannies. I was told you’d be expecting me.”

I’ll send someone from the agency over first thing in the morning.

Well. Jordy had certainly followed that promise to the letter.

“Uh,” Rowan said. He didn’t want to be rude, but he didn’t want to let someone in without confirming they were who they said they were either. “Can you just—one moment.”

He took the card and, as calmly as he could, closed the door in her face.

Was he getting evicted? Was that what this was?

What the fuck.

Blearily, he unlocked his phone in search of answers.

He didn’t have any texts or emails from Jordy, and he was too tired to decide if that surprised him. He did have a text from Gem, timestamped just after midnight. It contained an attachment of a CV complete with headshot.Emily will arrive first thing tomorrow and remain on duty until seven. An amended contract regarding your duties concerning Kaira is attached. Please sign it and return to me.

So… not getting evicted. Or not yet. That was—Rowan didn’t know what that was. He needed coffee.

Gem’s second message read,As your very good and concerned friend, I will withhold my I told you so for now, but please do not make this professionally awkward for me. You owe me a drink.

Rowan exhaled shakily and opened the door again. Emily hadn’t moved; she looked nonplussed by his rudeness. “Hi,” he said. “Come in. I’ll make coffee.”

That was three days ago. In those three days, Rowan had never had to do more than drop Kaira off at school, help herbrush her teeth, and read her a story. The Nannies—they were an emergency service, so he got the feeling the agency simply sent whoever had a day off they might prefer to spend working—handled picking Kaira up from school, making her dinner, and keeping her occupied until seven o’clock every day.

On the one hand, he really needed the help. Knowing he could let the agency know if he needed later coverage because of a staff meeting or other commitment took a huge weight off his shoulders. The first day with Emily, he’d come home from work and faceplanted straight into bed for an hour.

But then it was the weekend. And…. Rowan knew Kaira was not his kid. Being able to join his ultimate Frisbee game for the first time in weeks should have put a great big smile on his face.

It just might have been nice, was all, if Jordy had taken Kaira to the park at the same time, and then they all went to a late lunch afterward. Toronto had some beautiful restaurant patios. The trees were a riot of reds and oranges, and the sky was that crystalline sapphire you only seemed to get in the fall.

“Well, well, well,” Pete chuckled when Rowan rolled up. “Look who’s not too good to hang out with the little guy after all.”

Rowan accepted a high-five bro hug, knowing she meant nothing by it, and then moved on to Alex.

“What happened?” they teased. “Your sugar daddy cut you loose?”

Rowan tried not to wince. “Why, you want me to put in a good word for you?” he asked instead. “Come on, are we going to play or what?”

So Saturday was a mixed bag. Rowandidenjoy spending time with his friends. They even invited him out to lunch with them afterward—on a patio like he’d wanted.

It was just that, as they shot the breeze and debated which appetizer to order, Rowan kept thinking about the time he andJordy and Kaira went out for Indian food and ordered a little bit of everything.

Well, Rowan still didn’t have to pay rent. Not for another few weeks, though he’d made a note to talk to a real estate agent tomorrow.

He asked the server to bring one of each appetizer and put it on his tab, and when Pete gave him a weird look about it, he said, “What’s the point of being a sugar baby, really?” all cheek, feeling like he was going to be sick at any moment.

Sunday Jordy was coming home.

Some of Rowan’s anger had burned out, but the heart of the issue remained unresolved. Rowan had been stretched thin for weeks working two full-time jobs because Jordy had—had—well, Rowan didn’t really know what Jordy’s actual deal was, but this middle-ground shit where Jordy was treating Rowan both like the hired help and like a coparent couldn’t continue.

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