Page 3 of The Unexpected Nanny
“Yeah, I was,” I said much too quickly as I climbed down the ladder, still holding the giant monkey. “Here you go, Joy. Can I help you find anything else?
“Um, I think this is enough toys for me today. My daddy’s takin’ me to eat at my favorite place when we leave here. Do you like chicken nuggets?” Joy asked me.
“Are you kidding me? Who doesn’t?” I said with a smile then tousled her curls. “Your daddy’s very good to you, isn’t he?”
With a shrug, she said, “I dunno. I guess he is. I mean, I don’t have nobody else to compare him too.”
“Okay, Joy, let’s get going. This nice lady has work to do,” her father said then took her hand as he carried her stuffed monkey. She carried the doll she’d picked out in her other hand and looked back at me as he tugged her to leave me.
“Um, uh, I wanted to see if you could go to lunch with me,” the little girl said.
“Joy, she’s working,” her father said as he kept on going.
I stood there, like an idiot, just watching them leave and feeling so damn odd for reasons I couldn’t grasp. The way the little girl kept looking at me with her big blue eyes was unnerving.
He took her around a corner, and I lost sight of them. Turning around to put the ladder back where I’d got it, I saw a cell phone sitting on the edge of one of the shelves. It had to be the kid’s dad’s. Picking it up, I hurried after them.
I found them, standing in a line. Some woman was trying to talk to the little girl, commenting on her gorgeous curls. But Joy was burying her face in her father’s leg as she held tightly to it. “I’m sorry,” her father said. “She’s very shy.”
The kid I’d met was anything but shy!
As I made my way to the guy, the lady remarked, “That’s an enormous monkey, where do you plan on putting him?”
Joy still ignored the woman who I got the feeling was trying to get the kid’s attention to get to her daddy. Her father said, “Don’t be offended, Miss. She never talks to anyone. Well, except for the lady back there. That was the first time she’s ever talked to anyone, other than her grandparents and me. It’s crazy, really.”
I stopped for a moment to let that sink in.She liked me!
Shaking my head to clear it, as it didn’t matter at all if that kid liked me or not, I stepped forward and said, “Sir, I think you forgot your phone.”
Joy’s head turned my way, and a smile split her face. “Hey, did you decide to come eat lunch with us?” She jumped up and down as she came to me and actually held up her arms for me to pick her up. Which I did without thinking about it at all.
Before I could say another word, my shift manager walked passed me, saying, “Skye, you have to take your lunch now, or you won’t get one. You have one hour.”
“K,” I said then I was stuck as Joy had heard what he’d said. “You can come to lunch with me. Lucky me! This is my best birthday ever!”
I caught the other woman’s eyes as she gave me the once over. “Her grandmother?” she asked with a smirk.
Joy’s father wasn’t smiling as he said, “No, just someone Joy’s decided to cling to. So, are you free to go to lunch with us, Skye?”
His blue eyes looked a bit sad. It was then I noticed the wrinkles at the corners of them. There was one frown line that ran across his forehead. It was plain to see that he didn’t want me to go but for his kid, he’d do just about anything.Even take a stranger to her birthday lunch!
Joy took my face in her hands and said, “Pleaseeee…”
“How can I say no to that?” I said then gave her father a nod. “Sure. I can follow you in my car.”
“No, ride with me! Pleaseeee….” Joy pleaded with me.
“Please, ride with us,” her dad said. “My name’s Aiden Copper by the way. I don’t expect you to get in a car with a complete stranger.
“The Aiden Cooper?” I asked in surprise. “How did I not recognize you? I’ve read everything you’ve ever written. I love horror stories, and you’re like a master at them.”
I was shocked to see his cheeks go a light shade of pink. “Thanks. I haven’t written anything lately.”
“I know. I’ve been wondering what happened to you,” I said then felt bad about it as I dimly recalled a news story on him a couple of years back. His wife had died, and his daughter almost died. And there was some other news along with that. His wife was cheating on him too, and he’d found that out at that time also.
And all I could think was, poor man.
Chapter Three
