Page 76 of The Bossy One

I grumbled but acquiesced, sliding under her bed.

At least there were no dust bunnies. I’d have to give my cleaning crew a raise.

I heard the door open and saw Catie’s stocking feet burst into the room.

“Let’s go get you breakfast, hon,” Olivia said, trying to usher Catie back out of the room.

“I need to find Uncle Declan,” Catie said. “So I can ask him something.”

“Okay,” Olivia said. “Let’s leave my bedroom so we can go look for him.”

Silence fell while Catie thought about that solution. Then she clearly came up with a better one. “Or I could ask you instead.”

“Sure thing,” Olivia said, her voice increasingly harried. “Let’s go down to breakfast and talk about it.”

“I already made myself breakfast,” Catie announced. “I had ice cream.”

I would have been impressed with Catie’s stubbornness, if I wasn’t trapped under a bed naked.

“That’s not…” Olivia trailed off, clearly regrouping. “Okay, Catie, what do you want to ask me?”

“Can Imani come over to play?” she said.

Who’s Imani?I thought.

Olivia must have looked equally confused, because Catie elaborated. “I met her at story time at the bookstore.” She kept talking, explaining that the playdate with Thomas’s daughter was okay, but she didn’t share Catie’s interest in bugs. “Imani likes bugs. And books. So I have decided we can be friends.”

That sounded like solid, straightforward logic to me.

But Olivia reacted like it was some sort of big emotional breakthrough. “Oh,honey. I’m so glad you decided you wanted to make friends.”

Something in my chest twisted. Catie hadn’t wanted to make friends?

“That’s a wonderful idea,” Olivia said. “I’ll see if Molly knows Imani’s parents, so we can ask her over. But if that doesn’t work, we’ll just ask her over the next time we see Imani at story time. Do you know what you want to do with her? Maybe a tea party here at the house? Or a beach day at Salthill?”

I coughed, reminding Olivia that I was still here, before she got too deeply into planning mode.

“You know what, let’s talk about it over breakfast,” Olivia said brightly.

“I already had—”

“Ice cream is not breakfast,” Olivia said, firmly steering Catie out of the bedroom.

After they left, I showered and dressed and sent a few pressing work emails. Then I went downstairs to check on Olivia, who was doing breakfast dishes while Catie colored in the next room. She and I needed to have a conversation.

“What the hell was that?” I asked, keeping my voice low enough so Catie wouldn’t overhear me. “What happened to ‘always tell kids the truth’?”

Olivia scrubbed at a frying pan. “There’s a difference between lying to a kid who asks you a direct question and simply neglecting to tell them about an adult subject they haven’t even thought to ask about.”

I crossed my arms. “So if she asks about us, you’ll tell her the truth?”

“She won’t ask about us if we’re discreet,” Olivia countered. She looked cheerfully prim and professional, wearing the mask she’d worn when I’d first hired her.

I didn’t like it.

I moved closer to her and took her by her shoulders, forcing her to face me. “Olivia, why is it so important to you that she doesn’t find out we’re dating?”

She chewed her lip. “Kids don’t deal well with instability. I don’t think it’s a good idea to introduce your romantic partner to your kid, unless you think it’s something that could last.”

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