Page 83 of Nailed (Dad Bod Contracting 3)
“Watch your language, young lady,” Nina says, without looking away from the phone.
Audra frowns at her. “Who are you calling a young lady?”
Nina giggles. “Sorry. You watch your language, old lady.”
Audra nods primly. “Much better, thank you.”
Nina just shakes her head. “You’re so weird. I called Papa old man once, and I think his head almost exploded.”
Audra laughs, a loud guffaw. “Oh, honey. Something you should learn while you’re young—men have very fragile egos. Your papa is probably very sensitive to the fact that he’s not a spring chicken anymore.”
Nina glances at Audra. “What’s a spring chicken?”
Audra tilts her head to one side. “Um, you know, I have no idea where that phrase comes from. I just know it means he’s not exactly young anymore.”
Nina nods seriously. “I caught him plucking gray hairs out of his beard the other day.” She shrugs. “I told him women like the gray. Grandma was talking about how sexy Anderson Cooper is, and his hair is all silver.”
“Ooooohh, hon-EY,” Audra drawls. “Anderson is all kinds of fine. I think James could pull off the silver fox look.” She glances at Nova. “What do you think, Nova?”
Nova just gives Audra a death glare. “You’re lucky there are kids around, that’s what I think.”
Audra throws her hands up in the air. “You have the worst case of denial I’ve ever seen, you know that?”
Nina is watching this exchange very closely. “Papa likes you, you know,” she says to Nova.
Nova’s eyes narrow, and she shoots another glare at Audra. “You put her up to this, didn’t you?”
Audra lifts her hands palms out. “No! I don’t know what she’s talking about.” She tilts her head to one side. “Well, I do, in that I know for a fact James likes you, but I don’t know how Nina knows.”
“If Papa didn’t like Nova, he wouldn’t have asked her specifically to keep an eye on us. Normally, the uncles and Grandma and Grandpa are the only ones Papa lets watch us. But when he brought Ella and me here, he specifically asked Nova to keep an eye on us. It’s, like, a sign.”
Nova rolls her eyes. “Or, I was the first one here, and the only person available to watch you until everyone else got here.”
Nina grins at Nova. “It’s okay, you know.”
Nova frowns, perplexed by the seeming non sequitur. “What’s okay?”
“You and Papa. You can date him. You have my permission.”
Nova just blinks, remaining silent for a long time. “Wow. Well…thanks, I guess. That’s not happening, though.”
“Why not?” Nina asks. “Maybe if you and Papa dated, Papa wouldn’t be so cranky anymore. He used to be nicer. Now he’s a butt all the time, and it’s super annoying.” She smirks. “Maybe it would make you nicer too.”
Nova just huffs in disgust, opens and closes her mouth several times, and then gets up out of the spa chair, her pedicure half-finished, and walks barefoot out of the salon, the pink foam toe separators still wedged between her toes.
Nina is confused. “Why did she leave? Did I say something wrong? I was just teasing her.”
Audra smiles at the girl. “I know you were, honey. It’s just that Auntie Nova is kind of sensitive about your dad. We probably shouldn’t tease her about it anymore.”
“Why is she sensitive?” Nina asks, and then pauses to think. “Is it because she likes him?”
“Honestly, I’m not sure,” Audra says. “I just know she is sensitive, and we probably should respect that.”
A few minutes later, Nova comes back in and takes her seat, apologizing to the nail technicians—none of whom speak more than a few words of English, and she just smiles and nods at Nina.
She sits in silence for a minute, and then sweeps a glance at us. “Can you all please just accept the fact that nothing is going to happen between me and James?”
Nina rests her head against Nova’s arm. “I’m sorry, Nova.”
“Me too,” Audra says. “I like to push buttons, and I don’t always know when to stop. So, I’m sorry—I won’t bring it up again.”
Nova sighs and waves her hand. “You don’t need to apologize, you just…you all need to respect the fact that I have my reasons for not dating James, and that I’m not comfortable sharing those reasons right now.”
“Are we done getting pampered yet?” Ella asks, apropos of nothing. “I’m hungry.”
“Same!” Nina says. “When do we go to the restaurant?”
“Actually our reservation is in thirty minutes,” Nova says. “We should probably wrap it up here and head over.”
So, once we’re all finished with our pedicures, we pile into Nova’s SUV and head to the restaurant. We timed it so the boys would get done with their paintball game about an hour before the reservation, so they’d have time to get cleaned up, which means they should be arriving in the next few minutes. While we wait for them, Nova fusses with the decorations, and Imogen has the waitstaff bring the cake in, along with a large knife to cut it with.
