Page 31 of Worst Nanny Ever
“You’re suddenly taking care of his son,” Briar says. “And you’ve been checking him out for months.”
Sophie nods slightly in agreement.
“Oh my God, I have not,” I insist. “I check out every thirst trap equally. Except for Rob, obviously, because you’ve got that locked down.”
“We’ve been to a lot of band performances with you,” Sophie says hesitantly, “and you’re always looking at Karen and her friends or Travis.”
“Who the hell is Karen?” I ask.
“Travis’s ex-girlfriend. The one who’s always at their shows with her friends. I thought you knew.”
“How would I know?”
My stomach twists a little at this new information. So it’s Karen who’s always checking him out, watching him sweat. Karen in the low-cut outfits.
Of courseher name’s Karen. She probably lives out the stereotype unironically, complaining about her brunch orders and other people daring to take up space around her.
Obviously I don’t like or dislike people based on who they’ve dated—my present company is proof of that—but I don’t have a lot of checkmarks in Karen’s pros column. She annoyed me before I knew her name. It’s the way she looks at Travis, like she thinks he belongs in her back pocket.
“Ididn’tknow,” I double down, “and I don’t care. I was only watching those women because they act like groupies, and I will absolutely defend your claim if I need to. Up until a few days ago, I hadn’t even spoken to Travis for over a month. He’swaytoo uptight for me, and besides, he’s Rob’s best friend. I only agreed to help with Ollie because I care about Ollie. I know how hard it was for Connor after my mom left.”
“He was a little baby,” Sophie says in her usual empathetic way. “It was probably harder for you and Liam.” For a second, it’s enough to transport me back to that time. To the gut-wrenching feeling of being left alone with barely a backward glance.
“Maybe at first,” I say. “But Liam and I are built from stronger stuff. Connor’s a big softie.”
“You were going to tell us something,” Briar prompts.
“You kind of took the wind out of my sails,” I pout, but I have to laugh at my own turn of phrase. “Wind. Sails. That’s on point.” I glance around again, making sure no one’s paying attention to us. Even Travis seems otherwise engaged, so I lean forward and say, “I just found out that Travis’s dad was the star of theShips Ahoyseries.”
“Oh,” Briar says, nodding. “Cool. I sort of remember those movies.”
Sophie seems a little more interested, but it’s obvious neither of them consider this news to be earth-shattering.
“Come on, guys.” I wave my hands over my head. “This is huge. Travis’s dad was the guy who always said, ‘Maritime law is mine,’ in that epic voice. Can you believe it?”
They exchange a look.
“Are you doing okay, Hannah?” Sophie asks. “We’ve been a little worried about you. Liam mentioned he hasn’t talked to you much since you left Big Catch.”
I rub my arms. “He knows why. I’m mad at him, but we’ll be fine with each other eventually. We always are.”
They exchange another of those silent but knowing looks that are way more fun when you’re included in them.
“Liam said you really loved your job, Hannah,” Sophie continues. “Everyone else at Big Catch seems to love you too. They honestly seem desperate to have you back.”
“I’m not going to pretend hearing that doesn’t feel good.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to go back?” she asks. “This isn’t…” Worry fills her eyes. “You didn’t leave because of Jonah, did you?”
I met Jonah, who used to work as a beer distributor, at a networking event Big Catch threw for beer professionals. His job in the beer industry is how he met all of us—Sophie used to work in the tap room at Buchanan Brewery, Briar works at Silver Star, and GingerBeerBabe, aka Nora Leigh, is the head brewer-slash-part-owner of The Ginger Station.
Nora helped us reveal Jonah’s true nature to the whole town in a public reckoning a few months ago, but she hasn’t exactly seemed eager to buddy up with us. Still, I don’t know the meaning of the words “give” and “up” when they’re grouped together, so yes, I emailed her a week or two ago and made themistake of telling my friends about it. No doubt they’re worried about that too.
In all honesty, they have more reason to worry about Norah rejecting me than freaking Jonah. He had nothing to do with me quitting my job, and I never give him half a thought anymore, now that we’d served up some well-deserved revenge. He is irrelevant.
“No, it wasn’t because of Jonah,” I say. “And yes, I loved my job for a while, but I couldn’t work with Liam anymore. We were codependent for too long. I don’t need some expensive therapist to tell me that.”
“Are you being purposefully vague?” Sophie asks, raising her eyebrows.
