She’s on the fence. This is probably playing dirty, but I can’t take the chance she’ll turn me down. I need someone who’s reliable. Someone I can trust. Someone who won’t flake out on me. So I take her hand and walk her back to Hazel, who’s happily coloring again. “Hazel, how would you feel if Abby babysat you sometime?”
I’m deliberately vague. Sometime might mean “every blue moon” or “several days a week.” Hopefully the latter. Although I don’t want Abby to feel cornered into this, I’m not an idiot. I need to use my best weapon—my cute-as-hell daughter.
Hazel’s eyes widen and she folds her hands in front of her chest like she’s saying a prayer. “You would be the bestest!” She wiggles out of her booster seat and throws herself against Abby’s legs.
While I knew my daughter would be excited by this possibility, even I’m caught off guard by her enthusiasm.
I hold out my hand. “You heard it yourself, Abby. You would be the bestest.”
Her eyes go squinty as she stares at me. “You don’t play fair, do you?”
Grinning, I shrug. “Does that mean you’ll help a guy out? Pretty please with sprinkles on top?”
Reluctantly, she shakes her head with a laugh as she kneels down to hug my daughter. “Just as long as we’re clear that I’m doing this for Hazel and not you.”
Am I disappointed she’s not doing this for me? Yes. But since I just swore to keep things professional, I need to lock away the memory of Abigail Dawson in that tube-top dress.
So I nod. “I’ll take what I can get.”
10
ABIGAIL
A giggle comes from behind a couch cushion, and I tiptoe closer. “Hmm. Let’s see. Hazel isn’t in the closet, and she isn’t under the kitchen table. Is she behind the curtains?”
I whip it back and smile when she giggles again. “Could she be hiding in the bathtub?” Stomping down the hall, I make a big production of not finding her there before I march back to the living room.
Nick’s house looks like a masculine version of ours, which basically means there aren’t any decorations or throw pillows. Everything is utilitarian. He has a small flatscreen sitting on a beat-up buffet table that holds three baskets underneath with toys, Legos, and stuffed animals.
There’s an old brown leather couch and a reading lamp opposite the TV and a loveseat in front of the picture window, the same loveseat that broke my fall from the awning window above it. That’s where Hazel’s hiding, squished underneath the baby-blue cushions like a tiny assassin, waiting to pounce.
It’s been a couple of weeks since Nick and Hazel came to Moe’s. After Paige gave me the behind-the-scenes version of what happened that Saturday when his babysitter bailed on him and I heard how distraught Hazel had been, I wished I could start working for Nick immediately. But I had to help train the new waitstaff at Moe’s and make sure they could handle everything. I’m still picking up a few shifts, but nothing like before.
Now that I’m watching Hazel in the afternoon and evenings, I feel foolish for turning this job down initially. Nick doesn’t have a thing for me. He’s so tired, he barely looks at me when he gets home.
If a part of me misses those flirty smiles, well, I’ll learn to deal with it.
I sigh and then stop mid-breath.
If I inhale too deeply, I catch a whiff of his sexy cologne, and I’d be lying if I said it didn’t affect me, so I try not to do that often.
I nod to myself. Not sniffing my boss’s belongings sounds prudent.
“Hazelnut, where in the world are you?” I wander over by the couch, where her little arms jut out and grab my leg.
I do a big fake Hollywood scream, and she leaps from the cushions with a huge grin on her face. “You caught me!” Picking her up, I twirl her around and nearly have a heart attack when the front door crashes open.
Nick’s standing there with his chest heaving. “What’s wrong? Who’s screaming? Are you hurt?”
I fold in my lips to keep myself from laughing. “Hazel and I were playing hide and go seek, silly. And when she caught me, I got ‘scared.’” I hope he gets I’m playing up the fear for Hazel.
Holding out his arms for his daughter, he stalks closer. She jumps at him with a laugh.
“You silly, Daddy.” She plants a kiss on his cheek. “We-a just playing.”
We’re just playing. Hazel’s so stinking adorable. I love this child. She’s a pleasure to hang out with all day.
My nose crinkles when I realize it’s only three in the afternoon. “What are you doing home so early, Nick?”
