Page 24 of Falling for the Nanny

“I can’t be sick,” Lily said almost in monotone. “I have chess tomorrow.”

I rolled my eyes. “You have bed rest tomorrow, Lils.”

David, though, said, “I’ll see if your instructor can come to the house.”

For the first time since our kiss on Saturday, I stared at him without remembering how his mouth felt on mine. When he looked back, eyebrows raised in question, I said, “She’s sick, David. She needs fluids and Dora the Explorer, not chess lessons.”

“I don’t like Dora the Explorer,” Lily said in the same monotone. Now though, her voice was muffled because she’d laid her forehead on the table. A simple folding over, as though she were a robot powering down for the night.

David stared back at me over Lily’s head, his eyes dark with irritation. “I know how to take care of my daughter when she’s sick, Catherine. This isn’t the first time she’s run a fever.”

“A high fever, and…” I made a sweeping gesture that encompassed Lily’s folded up body.

When he looked at her, his irritation at me disappeared and sympathy softened his face. “If she isn’t up for it tomorrow, of course I’ll cancel chess.”

I flattened my lips together rather than reply that of course Lily would claim she was up for it. The world could be burning down around her and she would still be practicing her Mandarin or plies. Probably both at the same time.

“Come on, Lils.” I stroked her hair back from her face. “Let’s get you upstairs.”

“I’m not done with my English homework.”

“I think Ms. Edwards will understand.”

Lily raised her head halfway. “Will you message her and tell her I’ll get it done tomorrow?”

“Sure, I’ll message her.” I didn’t add that there was no way I was going to tell Ms. Edwards that Lily would have it done by tomorrow.

Lily sat back in her chair, but now I could see the slump in her spine that wasn’t there before. It was like she was just waiting for someone else to acknowledge she was sick before she could acknowledge it herself. My heart broke a little for her. When she stood up, I started to put my arm around her, but suddenly David was there. He scooped her up in a way that normally made her laugh, but now she just leaned her head into his shoulder and let him carry her. He carried her up the stairs as if her weight was nothing, and though I wasn’t sure he wanted me to, I followed behind. When we reached the top, I scooted ahead so I could open her bedroom door and turn down the covers on her bed.

David settled her onto the bed. I grabbed her favorite stuffed animal and tried to pull up the covers. David and I were trying to do the same thing at the same time, and we were getting in each other’s way.

“I’ve got this, Cat,” he said in a voice that would have sounded polite to anyone else, but to me sounded like a warning.

I started to back out of the room, but Lily’s voice stopped me. “Stay, Cat. Read me a story.”

I hesitated. I’d never read her a bedtime story before. That was always David’s territory. From the end of the bed, he was shooting me a go-the-fuck-away look. But then there was Lily’s pale face, her eyes large and glittering, imploring me to stay. “Okay, Lils.” I grabbed the first thing I saw. “The Paper Bag Princess.”

I read it, turning it to show Lily the pages. Her eyes were closed by the time I got to the end when the dragon was defeated and the princess lived happily ever after. I was still smiling when I looked up from the last page and ran headlong into David’s gaze. He was staring at me so intently that the smile slid right off my face and I mouthed what?

He jerked his head toward the door. I glanced down at Lily again and, reassured by her deep, even breathing that she really was asleep, stepped toward the door. I waited in the hall as he turned off Lily’s light and eased her door shut.

“You can go now,” he said briefly as he turned back to me.

I arched an eyebrow at his tone. “Thanks for dismissing me, but it’s not even seven o’clock. She’ll probably wake up again.”

“I’ve got it from here.”

His voice was on the cold side of neutral, and his hands were balled in his pockets. He almost seemed mad that I’d helped with Lily. But that was my job, and besides, I cared about her. “Are you…” I frowned, trying to figure out how to put it, “upset that I read her a book?”

David’s eyes flickered like he was considering denying it, but then he said, “She’s my daughter. I read The Paper Bag Princess in this house.”

I wanted to laugh, but he looked too serious. “You’re telling me Mrs. Barnes never read to her before bed?” I couldn’t picture it. Surely there were plenty of nights that David worked late or went out on dates, even if it made my stomach twist to think about it.

“Mrs. Barnes was different.”

It felt disingenuous to ask why–you didn’t have to look hard to see the differences between Mrs. Barnes and myself. She had more than forty years on me, and I didn’t think she’d ever had David’s hands on her the way I had. My gaze flickered down to those hands again, knotted in the depths of his pockets. “Why was she different?” I asked anyway. I was genuinely curious. What was making David not want me to get too close to Lily when that was what he’d hired me to do.

David’s frown deepened, then he said, “I want to show you something.”

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