Chasing His Nanny: A dad's best friend, age gap, single dad romance (Chasing Her Book 1)

3. Bast

“Thank you everyone. Good job,” I say, turning away from the operating table. My job is done.

It’s just another routine surgery. Still, I’m glad it went smoothly. It was a non life-threatening procedure, but that never stops the relief I feel when I know my patient is breathing. And when they wake, they’ll be well again.

After I remove my mask, I snap off the rubber gloves and scrub my hands and forearms. I dry my hands with paper towels before I leave the surgical area and head down the antiseptic smelling corridor toward my office.

Still unable to stop thinking about Bree.

I don’t know what happened to me when Bree left for the US. Or what happened to the way I thought about her since she returned? But something has shifted. And it’s not only me.

I sense she is looking at me differently, too.

I shake my head.

I can’t understand why Bree is suddenly on my mind more than she was. Not that I didn’t notice before her trip. How could I not? She’s full of life, and as bright as her hair. But now it’s so much more.

The entire time she was in the US, I missed her smile. I missed her laugh, and the way she made my girls happy. The house seemed empty without her there.

I thought it would be just the girls who’d miss her, but I missed her, too. She’s not coiffured and high maintenance and I love that about her. Love the way her hair is so unruly and bouncy, just like her, and the way her green-eyed stare bores into mine.

“Dr. Havers,” a female calls from behind me.

A voice I recognize.

I plaster a smile on my face as I turn and glance over my shoulder. “Afternoon, Dr. Landers.”

She quickens her pace to catch up with me.

“How many times? Please call me Geri,” she says with a cluck of her tongue.

I don’t offer her the same deal. I like to keep my professional life separate from my personal life. In the hospital, I am Doctor Havers, nothing else.

I don’t dislike Dr. Landers. After all, she’s a good doctor. She’s diligent and her patients love her.

Me, not so much.

Like is as good as it will ever get.

“I was hoping to catch you.” She lifts her arm and tucks a stray strand of hair behind her ear as she tries to catch my eye.

It reminds me of Bree when she’s flustered. She plays with her red curls before she even realizes she’s doing it, and when she does, she quickly pushes the tendril behind her ear and her face flushes as red as her hair.

Though Geri’s doing it in a flirty way.

“Are you free this weekend for the medical function?” She softens her tone. “I thought us both being single and so busy we’re usually dateless we could attend together.”

I inwardly sigh. This is now the third time she’s asked me on a date and each time I’ve let her down gently. I admire her persistence, but at what point will she take the hint?

“I don’t date.”

“Oh,” she whispers before she quickly laughs. “I thought—“

“Geri,” I begin, keeping my tone gentle, “I really appreciate the offer, but—“

She lifts her hand in the air and waves her obvious embarrassment away with a flick of her fingers.

“It’s okay. I just thought.” She shrugs her shoulders. “But we could still go together. It’ll be fun. We both work really hard. And it’s just a function, not a date.”

Her determination is almost admirable.

Almost.

“I’m sorry it’s because I’m already taking someone,” I lie, hoping she gives up on me and stops asking.

Her eyes widen. Not only surprise flickers across her face, but a big dash of disappointment.

“Oh. Anyone I know?”

“My nanny.” The words come out of my mouth before I can stop them. I fake a smile and say, “She really needs a night out.”

“I thought you don’t date.”

“It’s not a date, date.”

But it’s perfect.

Bree needs an escape from whatever her mother is trying to do. I don’t think she wants anyone serious.

After all, Bree is too free and wild. She proved that after giving the flight attendant a blow job on her vacation.

Why does that irk me?

I shake off the thought and get back to the matter at hand.

Bree will thank me for getting her out of her dilemma, and so will my parents-in-law when they get to spend more time with my children.

“I wasn’t asking for a date, date.” Geri forces a smile, but it looks more like a smirk.

“Sorry. It’s already planned. I can’t get out of it.”

“It’s okay. Enjoy your non date ... maybe another time.”

“Yes, another time.” I lift my wrist and check the time. “Must get on. I’ve got a ton of paperwork to prepare before my next patient.”

I also have to work out how I tell Bree she’s gone from looking after my children to being my date.

I hear Bree before I see her. There’s nothing unusual there - she has this glorious but loud, infectious laugh that carries through the house. Sometimes, I see her staring into space and I wonder how happy she truly is.

But she’s always the same with my children. Joyful. She has a way with them that I love to watch. The smiles I see and the laughter I hear are priceless.

I close my eyes as I think about her.

Then I shake all those thoughts away when I hear my children giggling uncontrollably.

I peek around the doorway to the playroom. The scene that greets me makes me shake my head with amusement.

Bree is sitting on the floor, her curly hair tied up in a gloriously messy bun. Streaks of bright blue and yellow paint adorn her face, the shades clashing terribly with the freckles that dot over her dinky nose.

She’s surrounded by a slapdash of wet paintings and art supplies that are strewn across the floor. A painting lesson which certainly looks like it has gone wonderfully awry. Or knowing Bree, exactly as she planned.

Havana, my unruly daughter, is half-collapsed on the floor beside Bree, holding her sides as she dissolves into a fresh peal of giggles. She points her finger at Bree’s face. “Your nose is blue. You don’t look like a Disney princess!”

Bree feigns wide-eyed shock, her hand flying to her paint-smeared nose. “What do you mean, it’s blue? What’s happening to me? Am I sick, Hettie? Oh no, I must look like an ogre.”

Hettie, the quietest of my twin five-year-old girls, regards Bree with a serious expression as she shakes her head slowly. “No silly, it’s paint. You’re still very pretty.”

I’m glad to see serious Hettie’s face streaked with smudges of crimson and emerald.

Bree places her hand on her forehead. “Are you sure? It could be something serious.” Bree continues in an unsteady voice. “I could have blue nose disease?”

This time, both girls explode into fresh howls of glee at her theatrics.

Bree spots me at the door and winks conspiratorially at me over their heads before launching into an overly dramatic scene. “Please help me. Call your father and tell him I need a warm cloth and hot water. A bath. That’s what I need, then I’ll feel better.”

“I think you need to go to the hospital,” Hettie says seriously. “What if you’re really sick and we never get to Disney World?”

“Now you’re being silly, Hettie. Bree only needs this.” Havana walks up to Bree and plonks pink paint on her nose. “All better. You’re pink again. No blue nose disease and you look pretty again. Now she can talk Daddy into taking us to see all the Disney princesses.”

“The princesses live here, not Disney World.” She kisses my daughters on their heads.

I lean against the door frame, warmth blooming in my chest as I take in the laughter and the messy chaos.

Bree does that.

She’s brought laughter into my home. And at first. I never wanted it. Now, every magical moment she gives them is all I live for.

“I think you’ve painted Bree enough. She deserves that hot bath. Don’t you agree, my princesses?” I say, walking into the chaos. Tentative so to avoid the mess—the artwork on the floor.

“Dad,” the girls groan, together.

“Did I hear someone saying they wanted to go to Disney World?” I say, holding my ear.

Hettie and Havana shriek together.

Bree smiles. “Now you’ve said it, they’ll never forget it.”

“We’ll pick up some brochures later.”

The girls scream again.

Bree laughs as she picks up the paintbrushes from the wooden floor. “I’ll take the girls and give them their bath. Hopefully, the warm water will calm them.”