Page 41 of Nanny for the Doctor

Sighing heavily, I walk back to the living room to help Stevie move the couch up against the far wall.

“What did Reed say?”

“That he hired me to be a nanny, not Henry’s mother or psychologist.”

There’s a matching stuffed ottoman, and I push it in front of the sofa. The luxurious green velvet is incredibly impractical but makes the room look grand and expensive.

“Ouch. Do you think you overstepped?” Stevie furrows her brow at me, concern shining out through her eyes.

“Maybe. I tried to be as tactful about it as possible, but Reed was immediately defensive and said several hurtful things. I should have just listened to Johnny and stayed out of it.”

“Here.” Stevie gestures to the cushion next to her as she takes a seat. “Sit down.”

I do, offering a sad smile as she wraps an arm around my shoulder.

“Tell me what exactly you said.”

“Okay, well, I’m paraphrasing a little, but essentially, I said that Henry is coming to expect disappointment from Reed because he consistently prioritizes work. He’s looking for other people to ease his hurts when he’s upset, and if this continues, there could be some real damage done to their relationship and Henry’s development.”

Stevie nods and meets my eyes head-on. “You did the right thing. I can tell how much you care just listening to you, and if that’s what you tried to get Reed to understand, and he responded by being defensive, that’s on him. Not you.”

“Thanks. I really needed to hear that.”

“Always glad to help my favorite almost-sister-in-law.”

I laugh, and we squeeze each other in a hug.

“Back to work!”

Stevie pulls me up off the couch, and we start right back up, moving all the little side tables and even more rugs to their final spot in the house.

There are way more paintings than I would have thought could fit on the walls, and several lamps that we scatter throughout the two rooms to provide additional light.

What surprises me the most is they’ve programmed an Alexa for each of the rooms and put color-changing lights in every socket.

“You guys seriously go all out for these stagings.”

Stevie laughs. “Well, the Realtors want it to look homey and inviting. We need to show the potential buyers just how amazing living in this house could be. And with high price tag houses like this one, it’s not way off base to assume the buyers will want or already have this type of stuff in their homes.”

“You are clearly very good at your job because this place is still mostly empty, and I want to live here.”

“Ha ha. Why, thank you.” Stevie does a little bow, and I toss one of the small pillows at her.

As we finish hanging the pictures in the living room and adding a bunch of small decorations, like a wooden tray on the ottoman with a small vase and a stack of books on the end table, I’ve almost completely forgotten about how mad I was.

“Alright. We made really good time. I should invite you with me on the regular. Let’s hit the kitchen next. We can put up the—”

The chime of the doorbell cuts through Stevie’s instructions.

“You expecting the real estate agent or something?”

She looks toward the hall. “No. Not at all. I should have the house to myself for the entire day. Hmm.”

We head for the front door, and I can’t help but smile proudly at everything we’ve accomplished. As I walk past, I also eye the numerous mirrors we hung up.

They’re good for bouncing the light and making the space look bigger.

I remember Stevie’s words, and I’m still considering adding a few mirrors to my studio to see if it actually works.

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