Page 76 of Crush
He held the bouquet out to me. “They're for Brynn, of course.”
“Yessssss!” Chloe hissed and pumped her fist.
“Shea,” I said, straining. “You shouldn't have.”
Like, really shouldn't have, ever.
Chloe continued her victory dance. “That's so sweet, Dad! Good job! Good going!”
Giving Shea the stink eye, I begrudgingly took the bouquet from his hand.See how worked up you've made your daughter? Was this really supposed to impress me?
“Well, they are gorgeous,” I muttered as I immediately slid off the couch and began the search for a vase large enough to hold all four or five dozen roses.
Meanwhile, Shea sat on the couch next to his daughter. “How was your week, sweetheart? I missed you.”
She leaned her head on his shoulder. “I missed you too, Dad. My week was good. I'm sorry your games didn't go so well.”
I kept an eye and an ear trained on those two while I arranged the roses in a vase.
“Hey, it's okay. It's not over just yet. What's that sage piece of advice I'm always telling you?”
Chloe quoted him, with a disaffected teen groan. “'Play to the whistle.'”
“That's right.” He bopped her on the shoulder. “Hey, it's pretty late, kiddo. Why don't you run upstairs and get ready for bed?”
“Okay.” Chloe jumped off the couch and ran upstairs, but not before giving me a giant, exaggerated wink.
Ugh.
When it was just the two of us alone in the den, I quietly reprimanded him. “Are youinsane?”
He smiled. “Maybe.”
“It's not funny! Why are you smiling? Did you think roses would change my mind about quitting?” I pointed angrily at the bouquet on the table. “Did you even stop to think how badly those damn things would screw with your daughter's head?”
“Don't worry. I'm going to talk to her in a few minutes.”
“And tell herwhat,exactly?”
“I'm going to tell her the truth, which is what she deserves to know.”
I slapped my forehead. “And what exactlyisthe truth, in this case? At this point, I can't keep track of what we're telling her anymore. Or each other, for that matter.”
“Hey, take it easy.”
He neared and tried to grab my hand, but I snatched it away.
“I'm only going to tell her that she was right—that I did have a secret crush on you all along. That she noticed it even before you did. Which is all true, by the way.”
“Risky,” I said, a stern finger in his face. “Very risky to tell her something like that. You'll only get her hopes up.”
Shea began to pace back and forth. “Unfortunately, because of my unprofessional crush on you, you can't continue to be our nanny anymore.”
“She'll be crushed when you tell her that,” I said, shaking my head.
“She'll be crushed when you tell her you're leaving regardless. At least this way, Chloe understands there's areasonbehind you leaving, rather than being told that she's too young to understand why it didn't work out with a nanny who is otherwise a perfect fit. She already suspects we're pulling the wool over her eyes—she'll just hate us both when we break her heart and expect her to believe even more lies. This way, if anyone has to be the bad guy over you leaving, it'll be dumb ol' Dad with his hopeless, but totally understandable, crush.”
I grumbled. He had a point. “Okay, what else? Or is that the extent of your big master plan?”
