“Hmmm.” I stroked along her spine. “Freddie taking care of Joey. I don’t know, that’s auspicious. I have a good feeling about Freddie.”
She tilted her head back. Some of her panic had ebbed. “That’s a really good point.” She shoved my arm. “Have I been making you uncomfortable nursing without a cover all this time? You never said anything, but you seemed horrified when Sam was here.”
“No. If I’m uncomfortable, I rectify the situation.”
“Then what was your problem?”
“He was looking at you.”
Her eyes narrowed. “He wasn’t looking at me inappropriately. We were talking to each other—”
“Trust me, Catherine. I know when a man is interested, and Sam was. If you’d hired him, he would have been a problem.”
She pulled back, huffing. “I can’t even feed my child without men falling all over themselves? You don’t look.” When I didn’t reply, she leaned in, studying my expression. “Do you?”
“Contrary to popular belief, I’m human, not cyborg.”
Her mouth fell open, forming an O. “You’ve looked at my boobs, Elliot?”
“A glance here and there.”
This was the most embarrassing moment of my life. Even more than when my mother showed up at my high school in pajamas demanding I show her how to change the batteries in the remote.
I should have picked up the skill of lying somewhere along the way, but I was my father’s son. Dishonesty wasn’t in my wheelhouse, and I looked down on those who thought the truth was theirs to stretch and mold at their whim.
Catherine snickered at my admission. “I can’t deny it. I’d probably look too.” Then she shoved my arm again. “So why’d you blame Sam for looking?”
I caught her hand before she could assault me again and held it between us. “I didn’t like his eyes on you.”
She sucked in a soft breath. “That simple?”
“For me, it is.” I stepped back from her because I had to. “I’m going to do some work until Freddie arrives.”
She held up her crossed fingers. “Let’s hope she’s awesome.”
If she wasn’t, I’d find someone who was.
Anything less than the best wasn’t acceptable for Josephine.
Chapter Twenty
Catherine
Freddie had turned out to be everything I could’ve possibly wanted in a nanny. In her upper fifties, if I had to hazard a guess, she’d been a stay-at-home mom until her kids were grown then started taking care of other people’s children. With her lilting Jamaican accent and a chest that was like a pillowy shelf, Joey had taken to her instantly, and Freddie had been absolutely tickled by my smiley girl.
Even Elliot had conceded Freddie was wonderful.
That hadn’t stopped him from installing security cameras that linked to both our phones in all the living areas, though. He trusted Freddie, but only so far.
Although it was overkill since we wouldn’t be living with him long term, inwardly, I was relieved to have a way to check in on my girl throughout the day.
This was day one, and so far, so good. I’d ripped myself away from Joey-Girl with only a couple tears—and that had mostly been because she’d seemed content to hang with Freddie.
Elliot had gone to the gym first thing in the morning, so we’d driven to the office separately.
Getting back to my routine was like riding a bike. I wrote out his schedule as always, but when I got to the bottom, I hesitated.
I didn’t have a scathing postscript to write. That might change tomorrow, but for now, Elliot was on my good side in a huge way. He was more than tolerable. In fact, I liked him.
I wasn’t really sure what we were. Not really boss and employee, and calling us roommates would have been a stretch. We weren’t quite friends, but we almost were.
I guessed we were some strange amalgamation of all those things, yet none of them at the same time.
At the bottom of his schedule, I wrote out my postscript.
P.S. I hope your pillow is cool tonight.
I sliced it off, pleased with what I’d come up with. Tomorrow, I might return to scathing, but for today, I was feeling generous.
The envelope was right where I’d left it, but I didn’t feel right adding this slip of paper with the others, so I fished out a new one and stashed it on top of the old one.
Right on time too, because Davida and Raymond were charging toward my desk.
“You’re back,” Davida announced. “Thank god you’re back. Poor Daniel.”
Raymond pulled me out of my seat to give me a squeeze. “Welcome, welcome, now where is Angel McChunk-Cheeks? Who have you left her with, and why wasn’t I consulted?”
Grinning, I grabbed my phone and turned on the screen that showed the living room. Freddie was walking around with Joey in one arm, pointing to things in the room. I turned on the sound, and Freddie’s sweet singing voice filtered through.
“This is the window, pretty girl, smart girl. This is the light, strong girl, wise girl. This is the light switch, sweet girl, brave girl.” And she kept going with each object she pointed to.
Raymond raised his hands. “Okay, I get it. You hired the top of the line for our angel. I forgive you for not asking me if I wanted the job.”
I scoffed. “It isn’t like I could afford you, Ray.”
He pointed at me. “True. You definitely can’t.”
Davida took the phone from me to watch the screen. “Can I have a nanny who walks around with me singing affirmations all day?”
Raymond crossed his arms. “Did you just come up with a business idea?”
I giggled. Man, I hadn’t missed much about work, but I’d missed them. I hadn’t seen them enough over the last few weeks since moving in with Elliot.
“I don’t know if that’s really a business plan with wings. What if we just compliment each other?” I quipped. “Davida, your new haircut is looking mighty fly.”
She fluffed the bottom of her razor-sharp bob. “Thank you, darling. Your return has brightened up this dull place.”
“Why, thank you, Davida.” I turned to Raymond. “The brief you sent me to proofread was really good. The lack of grammatical errors was incredibly sexy.”
He did a dramatic bow. “My mastery of commas is unmatched.”
“Raymond doesn’t need a compliment nanny. He gives them to himself,” Davida drawled.
“Damn right,” he agreed.
A hush fell over the space around us, which could have only meant one thing: Elliot was here. Davida and Raymond moved to the side of my desk so we could all watch him slice through the air of the hallway like his body was a samurai sword. Swish, swish, he made ribbons of the distance between us, stopping in front of my desk.
“Davida, Raymond.” He nodded to them.
They greeted him in return then made hasty retreats to their desks.
“Good morning, Elliot.”
“Good morning, Catherine. Before we have our meeting, I’d like to show you something.”
“Okay.” I pushed back from the desk and circled around to where he stood. “I’m intrigued.”