AllFreeNovel
Share Us
His face turned red and I got the impression that if I didn’t get out of his way he was going to run me over. Before he could figure out what to do with me, I took off down the hallway.
7
***Joe***
Istaredafterthenew nanny and absently rubbed at my chest. How was it possible that she’d given me heartburn in the few minutes she was in my presence? Instead of going back to my own office, I stepped into Collin’s again and shook my head at him. “What the hell was that?”
He put his phone down and blew out a deep sigh. “I don’t have a fucking clue. She’s crazy, right?”
“She has to be crazy. Is she safe to leave with the kids?” I thought of the way Milo had been curled into her chest. “She got Milo to nap.”
“The second he was in her arms, he stopped crying. He’s never gone so silent so fast.” Looking back down at his phone, Collin tapped something and then slid it across to me. On the screen on his phone was a live feed of the nanny bent over as she smelled a bouquet of flowers. Her heart-shaped ass was the star of the show, without a doubt.
Collin and I both watched her move around the house for a few more seconds before he cut the footage. We stared at each other and I finally broke our agitated silence. “We don’t really have a choice.”
“No, of course not.” Collin’s scowl was deeper than normal. “She’s…smiley.”
An image of her wide smile and blunt, white teeth filled my mind. The eyes didn’t exactly match the smile, though. Even in the short time she’d been in front of me, I felt like I could sense a different story happening behind her eyes. I felt hungry to know the truth about what she was thinking because I was sure it wasn’t as smiley as her mouth. “I don’t trust people who smile that much.”
“You don’t trust people at all.” Collin tapped his fingers on the paperwork in front of him. “Call the nanny service if you want to hear her reviews for yourself. She comes highly recommended. She’s just a little weird.”
I checked my watch and shook my head. “I have shit to do.”
“Yeah, me too.” He leaned back in his chair. “Jud can’t just disappear into his studio all the time now that Milo is here full-time. When we got home from breakfast, he could hear Milo screaming just as much as we could. We’re going to have to talk to him.”
The heartburn intensified. I glanced back at the door and regretted not making my escape earlier. “I don’t know what to tell you.”
“Don’t tell me anything. Tell your brother.” He stood up and leaned over his desk. “Matilda is the third nanny to quit on us. Milo needs some sort of fucking stability.”
“I can’t deal with this right now. I have a meeting.” I stalked towards the door and stopped with my hand on the door handle. “This woman seems…fine… She’ll handle Milo.”
“Her name is Ada.”
I grunted. “Ada will handle Milo.”
I turned towards the kitchen instead of my office and I could hear Ada’s bright voice all through the hallway and all the way into the kitchen. Our chef, David, was standing at the stove, a confused look on his face. I walked behind him and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge.
He cleared his throat and spoke over the sound of Ada’s singing. “Dinner tonight will be-”
I frowned. “What is she doing?”
David adjusted his chef’s coat. “I think she’s singing, sir.”
I shot a look at him and walked towards the sound. She was in the library, singing way louder than ever would’ve been appropriate. Milo was still in her arms, though he was awake. His eyes were focused on Ada and his smile was wider than I’d ever seen it.
Ada broke into another song and the pitch was so sharp it hurt. I hurried away from the library and back to my office, horrified by the woman we were moving into our house. Every other nanny we’d ever had could’ve given Ada a lesson on how to act. She was loud and I got the feeling there would never be a time when I wasn’t aware of the woman moving around our space.
I stopped by Collin’s office again and ignored the frustrated look he sent my way. “Hire someone else.”
“Let me call you back in just a minute, Mark.” He jabbed a button on his phone and scowled at me. “Youhire someone else. I’m busy.”
“She’s out there singing. It sounds like shit.” I shuddered. “It’s loud, Col.”
His eyebrows climbed higher. “No, she’s not.”
“Go out there and listen. You can’t get away from it.” I yanked open his office door and the pitchy sound of Ada’s singing drifted in. “Does she think she’s Cinderella? None of the other nannies have ever burst into loud singing.”
Collin winced. “Close the door, for the love of god.”
