Page 20 of Big Balls
I swallow hard. He’s giving me the distinct impression that he’s barely controlling himself, even over the phone. “I don’t know how you’re going to get a flight at this hour. It’s a weird time of day and I’m not sure how late flights arrive here…” I let the words die off, recognizing my panicky verbal diarrhea is not helping anybody.
“Zoe, I have plenty of fucking money. I will go buy my own private airplane tonight and pay someone a big bag of money to fly it home if I have to. Just keep my girl company for me until I can be next to her.”
I lick my suddenly dry lips. “O-okay.” I manage to utter the word, even though it takes all of my strength to get it out. Hearing him talk so boldly about money when I’ve always struggled to make ends meet leaves a fresh wave of unease washing over me. “Okay, I can do that.”
He makes a rough sound that rips through me like a knife. “Now can I please speak to my daughter?” His voice is soft, and deceptively gentle.
I nod, which again he can’t see, and then remember to use my words. “Of course you can. Yeah. Just a moment.”
I slide the phone over to Katy then nod to her to go ahead and speak. She unzips her lips then picks up the phone and presses it against her face. She tilts her head to one side, and her smile pops out, little dimple in her cheek and all.
“Yes,” she says.
Her eyes slide to meet mine. “Yes.” She’s nodding, but just like when I did it, he can’t see her either.
The third time, she looks away when she answers him, another one-word affirmation. Then I watch her hit the red button.
“Whoa,” I say. “I needed him to talk to the doctor.” I stare at the phone, debating whether I dare to call him back.
Katy nods. “He said he’s got somebody on it.”
I nod right away but then go back to staring stupidly at the phone in my hand. I’m right here, next to his kid. Shouldn’t I be the somebody who is on it for him? Isn’t that exactly what a nanny is supposed to do?
I look over at Katy then back at the oddly silent phone in my hand. Well, at least he didn’t fire me right away. I thought for sure he was going to lose his temper completely.
But he still might, especially when he finds out Katy fell from the treehouse that he didn’t think was safe enough even before we built it.
I sigh. It’s going to take a miracle to get him to agree to let her play out there again. The fierce way that Ethan Alexander protects his daughter makes perfect sense to me, but I know he needs to let her live her best possible life, too. It’s not enough to keep her locked up in the house in the name of safety.
Katy is smart and a heck of a lot tougher than her father gives her credit for. She loves trying new things, and she’s really capable of a lot more than he thinks. When she told me she’d never had a meal at a restaurant, we did it that same week.
And recently, I found out that she has a real talent for drawing. Whenever she’s not busy doing something else, she draws all these little cartoons. She’s so talented, and nobody would have known until we tried something brand new.
I want Ethan Alexander to see his daughter the same way that I do—strong, capable, and able to do a lot more than be seen and not heard.
She’s got so much in common with her daddy. Katy is stubborn and tenacious. She makes the same skeptical face when she worries that he does pretty much anytime I’m talking to him.
But today when she was playing in the treehouse, she wasn’t worried at all. She was laughing and happy. Well, right up until she fell.
“Auntie Zoe?” Katy’s little voice breaks into my thoughts. “Am I going to be okay?”
I squish her little hand in mine and raise it to my lips for a kiss. “You’re going to be so much more than okay. You’re going to heal faster than any other kid, and when you’re all better, your arm will be even tougher afterward.
“I think that I read that or heard it once, that a bone that’s knit together is stronger than the original bone.” I nod at her, willing her to believe in what I’m telling her. I do know that having a positive mindset has a direct correlation with length of time of recuperation. So if I hype her up, Katy should be up and back into mischief much sooner.
I pour as much positivity as I can into my smile and let her have it. “Do I need to call your daddy back? I want to make sure he talks to the doctor so they can fix you up.”
Katy gives me a look like I’m beyond stupid. And I admit, I’m definitely not at my best. I’m tied up in a knot of tension and anxiety, my stomach still churning from having to tell Ethan Alexander that his daughter broke her arm while I was taking care of her.
At this point, it’s entirely possible he explained who was coming and when, and I had glossed over it due to my ongoing bursts of panic that made everything sound like white noise. Maybe that’s why she’s acting like nothing bad is happening.
But if instead he’s cool, calm, and collected about Katy’s accident, then maybe everything is going to be okay.
Nah, I don’t believe it. Not for any of the time I spend giving Katydid little hand squeezes and waiting for the doctor or somebody else to come and talk to us.
Then finally there’s a noise at the door, and I turn to see who’s arrived. Surely it can’t be Ethan yet.
7
