“Hey, baby girl. It’s okay.” Athena lifts Peony from the swing, but her foot gets caught on it.
I lunge forward and gently untangle it, taking care not to further upset Peony. “No one will hurt you, little flower. I’ll make sure of that.” I put my fingers on her shoulder. “I’m your daddy, and it’s my job to make sure you’re safe and loved.”
Her small body trembles under my touch, but she doesn’t pull away. She stares at me, perhaps processing my words. Or willing me to vanish in a puff of fairy dust.
Her trembling eases after a beat, but she continues to stare at me with uncertain eyes.
Dad looks no less uncertain than Peony. “It was nice to meet you, Peony. Joanne, we should go and give her a little space for now.”
Mom’s gaze moves between Dad and Peony. She’s clearly torn between leaving with Dad and staying with her granddaughter.
“Okay,” she replies on a sigh. “But let me know when I can see this little angel again. Or when you need someone to look after her.”
Athena’s body goes rigid, her shoulders pulled back. “I’mlooking after her.” There’s a possessiveness to her tone, the extending of claws. “I mean, I’m the live-in nanny. I can look after her.” The possessiveness dulls only a fraction. The claws remain fully extended.
My brow furrows, and a spark of anger flares in me at her reaction. I open my mouth to…I don’t know what I plan to say.
But Mom cuts me off before the words can form. “And you’ve done a great job taking care of my granddaughter.” Mom smiles patiently at her, not at all put off by Athena’s reaction. “But you’re not her mother.”
Athena’s eyes widen, and she jerks back a step as if Mom has just slapped her, though upsetting her would never have been Mom’s intent.
“You get to have time off from the job,” Mom continues, undaunted by Athena’s reaction. “That’s the law. And during your off hours, when you get to take a break and enjoy your downtime, I’m happy to step in and help out.”
Athena looks like she wants to argue, hurt burning in her eyes, but she just nods, her jaw tight.
What the hell was that—Athena’s reaction—all about?
21
ZARA
Thursday after work,I let myself into Garrett’s house and follow the sound of Peony and Athena playing in the living room. Poppy and several other stuffed animals and a large squirrel pillow are lying in a row on the floor in front of Peony.
“Hey there, Peony. Hi, Athena.” I give them a friendly wave.
Peony waves back. A small smile bends the corners of Athena’s mouth, but there’s something half-hearted about it. “Hi.”
I crouch next to them. My hips and the base of my spine grumble, waiting for the recent dose of ibuprofen to kick in. “What are you two playing?”
Peony grins up at me and picks up Poppy. “Dac-ter.”
Athena strokes Peony’s back, the adoring smile on her face solely for the little girl. It’s the same smile Mama often has for my brothers and me. The smile that tells us we’re loved. We’re her sun and her universe.
An image of Athena as Garrett’s wife and Peony’s mother slithers into my head and takes root. My chest constricts, my stomach drops, and my limbs feel like dead trees during the winter freeze. That’s it. No more reading romances in which the single father falls for the nanny. I don’t need the trope fueling my imagination more than it already is.
True, Garrett and Athena would make a beautiful couple and producebeautiful babies. But they would be nowhere near as beautiful as the little girl I get to spend the next two hours with while Garrett teaches Athena self-defense.
“Da-ter?” I ask the nymphlike nanny. Her strawberry-blond hair is secured in a messily sexy ponytail. Peony’s coils are tied up in two cute little buns on top of her head, decorated with red bows.
“Doctor. We’re playing doctor.” Athena looks at me—reallylooks at me—as if trying to get a solid read on me. Her head then turns to where Garrett is standing in the entranceway to the living room, near the huge screen TV. “Maybe we should bring Peony with us. She can watch.”
“No, it’s better she stays here with Zara. It will be hard to teach you self-defense if we’re distracted, keeping an eye on her. But we can always delay the lessons a few weeks if you want.”
“No!” The word flies from the usually soft-spoken Athena, its edges whip sharp. “I mean…I want to learn some moves. So I can protect Peony. Just in case.”
O-kay. I can understand that. The odds of someone attempting to hurt or kidnap Peony while she’s with Athena are low in Maple Ridge, but it doesn’t mean it can’t happen. Athena is thin, like a dancer, but without the muscles that come from training. She’ll need any advantage she can get, whether or not she is Peony’s nanny.
“Peony and I will be fine while you’re learning to be a bad”—I glance at Peony, catching myself in time—“a bad-antelope.”
