Ivy dramatically clutches at her chest. “Say it isn’t so. You’re really leaving? Who’s gonna make my margaritas extra spicy?”
“I’ve left Stephanie with explicit instructions to take good care of you.”
“You’re the best,” she says, taking a sip of her drink.
“I see how it is.” Cade sidles up beside me to fill a pint glass from the tap. “I’ve been keeping a stash of sour Skittles under the bar just for you, and you’ve been cheating on me with the ginger.”
Ivy shrugs. “What can I say? He’s prettier than you.”
Luca cages his wife against the bar from behind. “And you’re married, Trouble.” He leans in next to her ear,whispering something that makes her face flush. She downs her drink and snags her purse off the back of her chair. “Gotta go.”
As Ivy drags him out the door, Luca calls over his shoulder, “Congrats on the job.”
“They’re totally going to fuck in the parking lot,” Cade says.
I nod, wiping down the bar top and picking up Ivy’s empty glass. “Yep.”
Chapter 7
Heaven-sent & Hellbound
? Circles Around This Town - Maren Morris
Liam
Seven interviews deep, and I still haven’t found someone to take on the part-time nanny position. My current interview is with a fifty-something retired math teacher who looks great on paper but spends several minutes droning on about her borderline abusive disciplinary practices, proving exactly why she’s aformerteacher.
“I’ll stop you right there, Linda. I don’t think this is the right fit for us.” I stand, offering her a begrudging handshake. “I’ll walk you out. Thank you for your time.”
“You know, parents your age are far too lenient. That’s why kids these days don’t know anything about respect.”
“With all duerespect,ma’am, people like you are the reason kids grow up to be adults who cut off contact with their blood relatives. Abuse does not garner respect, and I won’t teach my kid to fear me or any other adult he should be able to trust.”
“Well, I never?—”
I cut her off with the slam of the door in her face.
“Fuck off,” I say to the solid wood panel.
My patience ran out several interviews ago.
I throw my head back and groan. I’m not looking for Mary Poppins, but I’m not about to settle for someone likethat. She wasn’t even the worst interview of the day. No, that award goes to the handsy woman who tried to interview me like we were on an episode of The Bachelor.
What the fuck am I going to do? I start my job at the station in three days, and I still don’t have someone to stay with Aiden while I’m on shift. It’s different from my part-time schedule, and it will take some adjusting for both of us. It’s not like the perfect nanny is going to walk up to my house and knock on the fucking door.
I must be imagining it when someone knocks on the door. I look through the small window, and Ruby is standing there; it’s like the universe is finally on my side.
She offers an awkward wave. She’s wearing a bright smile, with that familiar dimple, and my heart does that weird little flip it does every time she’s around.
“Goldie,” I say. “What are you doing here?”
She’s in a pair of cutoff jeans with her worn cowboy boots and a cropped Shania Twain tee that shows off a sliver of skin at her midriff. Her hair is up in some sort of messy knot with a few strands effortlessly falling around her face.
This is the version of Ruby the rest of the world doesn’t get to see—the stripped-down country girl without the glitter and sequins. This is the girl that caught my attention all those years ago and has held it every damn day since, no matter how hard I tried to forget.
“Rylin sent me. She found Aiden’s dinosaur.” She holds out the plush T. rex that’s seen better days, the one Aiden clung to the first day we met.
He had a minor meltdown last night because it was missing.
