Page 6 of Faking With My Grumpy Billionaire

“Daddy!” I gave Zoey a big smile as she ran towards me with her arms opened. I easily scooped her up and spun her around. I had only been gone for a few hours, but it always felt like years whenever I spent any time away from her.

“Hey baby girl. How was school today?”

“Fine,” she answered in a monotone, and I knew she didn’t have a good day, but she didn’t want to talk about it yet.

“You’re early,” Ms. Wilson said as she came out of the kitchen.

“Yeah, we wrapped training up early today thanks to the heat.”

Ms. Wilson had been a huge help to me when Elizabeth left three years ago. She had been our babysitter whenever Elizabeth and I decided to go out for a date. When Elizabeth left, she had offered to be my nanny and to help whenever I needed it. I greatly appreciated it, and she was often here throughout the week whenever I had a late training session or a charity event. She was a sweet sixty-seven-year-old woman. She never got to have kids of her own and she had no husband. Most of her family were spread out throughout the country, and a good chunk of them were older than she was. She had become a grandmother of sorts to Zoey, and I couldn’t appreciate her enough.

“Who is she Daddy?” Zoey asked, and I knew who she was referring to.

“This is Daddy’s friend. Her name is Maya, and her car broke down so I said she could come by here until we could figure it out,” I explained as I set Zoey back down.

“Hi Maya,” she said with a big welcoming smile as she went over to her.

To my surprise, Maya bent down, so she was eye level of Zoey, “Hey Zoey. I love your shirt.”

“You know Naruto?” I could hear the surprise and joy in Zoey’s voice. I was not an anime fan, and I had been trying to watch some of it with her, but it really wasn’t my thing. It wasn’t Elizabeth’s thing either, so I had no idea where she got the interest from.

“Know? I love it. Who’s your favorite character?”

“Kakashi. He’s so cool. What about you?”

“Sasuke, all the way.”

I turned my head to look at Ms. Wilson, and she gave me a big smile with two thumbs up. I knew what she was thinking, but that was not what this was.

“Really? But he’s so mean.”

“He comes across as mean, but he’s really just deeply hurt. He lost his whole family; he’s all alone. That can be really hard, and it makes it hard for you to let people get close to you. He gets nicer; it just takes him some time. How far along are you? Is it the TV show or the books?”

I couldn’t help but wonder if maybe Maya saw herself in this Sasuke character. I didn’t remember the show enough to remember the details, but it was interesting how she spoke about him. About how hard it was to be on your own.

“The Chounin Exams are gonna start. I watch the show. Daddy let’s me watch some after my homework is done.”

“Okay, so you still have a lot left to go. You got plenty of time to see how the characters develop. You got a lot of good stuff coming up. Is it the first anime you have seen?”

“Mhmm. How many have you seen?”

“Over a hundred.”

“Wow!” Zoey’s eyes got very bright, and I knew she was filled with questions.

“I’ll write you a list of ones that will be good for your age that you can always watch when you run out of Naruto episodes.”

“Yes!” Zoey said with a little dance, and Maya chuckled. I couldn’t help the small warmth that went through my chest at seeing them.

“Okay my little anime lover; no TV until your homework is done. What do you have tonight?” I asked.

“Math and science,” she said with a slight pout.

“Why don’t you get started, and I can always help with things you don’t understand. Afterwards, you can watch some Naruto on the TV. Deal?”

“Deal,” she said with a big smile before she took off for the stairs.

“Well, I think you have everything handled here. I am going to start making my way home. I am sure my plants are dying of thirst in this heat,” Ms. Wilson said.

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