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“June might be your nanny,” Cash says. “What do you think of that, Alex?”
“That’s cool,” Alex says. “I mean, do you like kids or whatever?”
It’s a funny and very practical question. “Yeah, I do. I want to go to college to be a teacher.”
“Aren’t you kind of old for that?”
Cash palms his face. “Alex.”
“That’s fine.” I laugh. “Yeah, I am kind of old for that. I guess you can say I’m catching my second wind.” I flap my arms in what I hope is a comical fashion, and Alex laughs.
She casts a sidelong glance at her dad. “I think it would be nice if you were my nanny,” she says, “but I don’t know if my dad’s going to like it.”
“Oh?”
“He’s likes things done like, properly. Like, in a specific way,” Alex says, patting the side of one hand into her other palm. “The dishes at a certain time, stacked exactly right, and the beds always made, and—”
“Alex.” Cash shakes his head.
“Don’t worry,” I say to her. “I’m pretty good at following instructions.”
“But one of the instructions is no ice cream.” Alex sighs. “On weekdays.”
“That’s not a bad thing,” I say. “Too much ice cream isn’t good for the digestive system.” I’m on the brink of telling Alex that it gives me the trots before I remember that Cash is literally right here.
And as much as I’d love to discuss bowel movements with my old best friend slash crush, I’m thinking I’ve been through enough over the past couple of days.
“Maybe for old people stomachs.” Alex wriggles her nose. “Kids are great with ice cream. Like, I bet I could eat a tub of ice cream right now and run all the way to Ganny’s house and back. But Dad won’t let me do that. He also has a schedule for when I get to play computer games. So lame.”
“Alex,” Cash says. “I can hear you, you realize that, right?”
I stifle a laugh. Alex is a card. She’s a little troublemaker, and I like her already. “Do you like to read?” I ask.
“Yeah, sometimes,” she says. “It depends on the books.”
“Have you tried any fantasy books? Because there are a couple I could share with you.” I meet Cash’s gaze. “They’re for kids, don’t worry.”
He breaks eye contact. “Alex, have you made your bed and gotten ready for Ganny to pick you up?”
“Yeah,” Alex says. “I’m ready.”
“Great. You can play out back until she arrives.”
Alex grins and waves at me before running through the house to the back door.
“No running in the house,” Cash calls after her.
The screen door at the back slams shut a second later. “She’s great,” I say, turning toward him. “You’ve done an amazing job with her.”
“I can’t take all the credit,” he says. “She’s just like that.”
“Well, she got it from somewhere.”
Cash’s expression closes off like it did last night when I asked about Olivia, and I curse myself for putting my huge foot in my even bigger mouth.
I tuck my hands into the back pockets of my new blue jeans, and Cash studies me. “So,” I say, “you have schedules and instructions for everything.”
“It’s in a document online. I have SOPs. To simplify the process.”
