Jorge’s eyes widened. “I mean, congrats to her. But, why the fuck would your ex lie about something so stupid?”
My arms flopped to my sides. “Beats the fuck out of me! Why would she even lie about something like that? None of this is sitting right with me. The quick elongation of her work contract. Her lying about firing Camila when she really quit. She’s up to something; I know she is.”
“Maybe she wants you back, so she’s eliminating all of the women you’ve surrounded yourself with.”
I shot him a look. “I would rather die.”
He leaned against the wall. “You don’t look any more relieved than you did a few minutes ago.”
“I’ll be relieved when I have answers. And a new daytime nanny.”
“Everything going okay with Eva, though?”
I paused for a bit too long. “Sure, yeah. Why?”
He narrowed his eyes. “Gavin?”
“What.”
He pushed off the wall. “Is everything actually okay with Eva?”
I shrugged. “Yeah. She’s great with Asia. She’s generally nice to have around.”
“But…?”
I sighed. “I wish I could employ your full-time. That would solve all of my issues in one fell swoop. But, she’s still got that job at the spa, and I can’t ask her to quit and come work for me, can I?”
He blinked a few times. “Not what I was getting at, but okay. I’ll play your game.”
“What game?”
He waved his hand in the air dismissively. “Yes, you could always ask Eva to quit. Especially if you can make up the difference in what her paychecks would be. Why wouldn’t you be able to at least ask?”
I knew there was something else on his mind, but I let it fly over my head. “Because it’s rude, for starters.”
“If you want to look at this from purely a practical standpoint, here it is. You could pay her in one job what she can’t even make with two. You could pay her more than that spa ever could, no offense to Guadalupe or Yuslan. So, what do you get by not even proposing the idea?”
I chewed on the inside of my cheek. “You do have a point.”
He put his hand on my shoulder. “The worst Eva can say is no, dude. You’re not asking her to marry you or some shit; you’re just asking her to consider working for you full-time. Employers poach employees with incentives all the time. Just think of it as another business transaction.”
And while I knew it was more complicated than that between the two of us, I didn’t dare let Jorge know that. He was just as bad with gossiping as any woman I’d ever come across, and I knew rumors of my love life would be halfway across the city by nightfall if I mentioned anything.
The idea of having Eva around more did sound fantastic, though.
“Let me shoot her a quick text,” I said.
He smiled and squeezed my shoulder. “’Atta, boy. Just tell her you want to talk with her tonight and that it’s nothing bad. Then, let’s inhale the food I smell coming down the hallway because I’m starving.”
I chuckled as I typed away at my message. “Sounds like a plan.”
Me: Hey. Sorry for the drop-off. Pretty busy here on set. Listen, do you have time to talk tonight before you head out? I have some changes in the babysitting schedule I want to speak with you about.
I didn’t expect as prompt of a response as I got, but as Jorge took our food from his assistant and started setting it up, I watched those three little dots bounce before her message popped up.
Eva: I’m sorry if I contributed to how busy things are. And I’ll definitely make the time. See you when you get here.
I wanted to text back, but I wasn’t sure what to say. So, I simply sent a thumbs-up emoji before closing out the message. It seemed so informal, but what else was there? A heart? A winky face? Did penis and panting emojis exist?
