Page 125 of Role Play
Lucy
Erik’s daughter, Mackenzie, or Mack for short sat in my lap coloring. I’d bought her aGolden Age of Hollywoodcoloring book that she was going to townon.
I had to say… even though I’d only been doing this nanny thing for a week, it was fun. Not always easy, but Mack was a sweet girl and Erik was a great boss. Even if it was onlytemporary.
“Where’s Daddy?” Mack asked me for what felt like the millionth time thatafternoon.
I turned my wrist over to show her the face of the watch. “He’ll be here any minute. He said by five o’clock… which is when the big hand hits thetwelve.”
True to his word, Erik showed up right at five o’clock and Mack squealed when she saw him. But when he tried to pick her up she whined. “No, Daddy! We’re not done coloringyet!”
He slid his hand down her tangled pigtails, “Baby girl, Ms. Lucy needs to get going, I’msure.”
I waved my hand at him. “I don’t mind staying a few minutes longer.” I took a sip of my iced coffee which was only half-finished. “Besides, I need to finish mycoffee.”
Erik gave me a grateful smile. “Thank you.” Then, he looked at Mack. “One more page, then we leave,okay?”
“Okay,Daddy.”
“We’ve got to choose a really good page to end with.” I said, helping her flip through the pages and stopped on a scene fromWizard of Ozof Dorothy and crew with their arms linked for the iconic song of the movie. “Here wego!”
“Who’s that?” she asked, with her little lisp, pointing atDorothy.
“Silly goose!” I dove my fingers into her sides and she squirmed laughing. “Don’t tell me you don’t know who Dorothy Gale from Kansasis!”
But she only met my question with a blank look and ashrug.
“You haven’t seenThe Wizard of Oz?” I asked. Okay, I might have been overreacting a bit, but comeon.
She shook her head no and my jaw dropped as I looked up at Erik. His face had turned pink and he was scratching the back of his neck. “What? You never showed herThe Wizard of Oz?” I clicked my tongue and wagged my finger at him. “Shame on you,daddy.”
“Shame on you,” Mack repeated me, not looking up from where she’d already startedcoloring.
“Don’t worry, baby girl,” Erik said, brushing his knuckle down Mack’s pudgy cheek. “We’ll change that soon.” He looked beyond my shoulder, his brows knitting. “Ash?” heasked.
“Ash?” I repeated, spinning in my seat to find Ash there, just outside of the ordering line and staring directly atus.
“Who’s Ash?” Mack repeated us, her eyes still glued on her coloringbook.
I squeezed her in a hug and slid her onto Erik’s lap. “Is it okay if I takeoff?”
Erik nodded, but gave me a careful glance. “Of course. Is everythingokay?”
For a moment, I was caught off-guard by the question, but them remembered he and Ash both frequent LnS. Of course he knew Ash… or at the very least, knew of Ash. And that meant…oh, crap. It meant Ash probably knew him. Knew he was a Dom aswell.
My eyes fluttered closed briefly, and when I looked over my shoulder at him, I could read his thoughts as easily as if they were my own. He thought I was moving on already. With anotherDom.
Which, on one hand, I had every right to move on with anyone I chose. But it’s simply not what thiswas.
“Everything’sfine.”
He gave me a worried smile as I stood and he hugged Mack closer. “Thanks for this week, Lucy. We won’t need you at all next week because she’ll be with her mother at D-I-S-N-E-Y-L-A-N-D.”
“No problem,” I confirmed, and gave Mack another wave before crossing the café to where Ash stood, now with his back tome.
I’d barely approached when he said, “I’m sorry. I didn’t know you werehere.”
“It’s okay. For as big as our city is, it can be pretty small sometimes,too.”
