Chapter 10 Daniel
DANIEL
Sitting at the table in our yard, a newspaper in my hand, I could hear the sounds coming from the tennis court, where Claudia was having her morning lesson.
Not far from me, Maya was playing with her dolls by the flower beds, and I watched her as she did.
My little girl loved our Hamptons house, as it came with big lawns she could run around on.
I also loved it here, especially how relaxing it was—different from the city, which never seemed to stop.
Although, unlike my previous summers here, I wasn’t as calm this time.
In fact, it almost felt like something was weighing on my shoulders.
To be more specific, it was someone. A certain young man who shouldn’t be around my family at all, and yet, he’d just stepped out of the house carrying a tray with a pot of coffee and some pastries.
It took my daughter no more than a second to let go of her precious doll before she ran toward Elliot, who bent down to be at eye level with her.
Maya fell for Elliot the first time she saw him, which was less than two weeks ago.
Claiming he looked like a prince, she announced they would get married one day.
My wife found it charming, while me? Not so much.
Seeing how well Elliot merged with my family made me bitter and angry.
While Claudia and Maya freely showed their affection toward our new private chef, I watched from the sidelines, bottling it all up.
Seeing my two worlds colliding annoyed me beyond words as it forced me to accept reality for what it was—unfair.
Until Elliot’s outrageous suggestion to come and work for us for the summer, he was my breath of fresh air.
Just seeing him at the bistro provided me with a few hours of peace away from my life, which felt like a race against time on most days.
He was what I wished to have and couldn’t, while my family…
well, they were my reality. I knew yearning for another life while practically having it all was incredibly selfish, hence why I settled for so little when it came to Elliot.
Once a week, I drove all the way to Brooklyn to see him for no more than a couple of hours at a time.
It was more than I could have asked for.
In fact, it was just enough so I wouldn’t ask for more.
But that was no longer possible because now, he was right there, next to me and my family, all day long.
With a kind smile, Elliot gave Maya a muffin from the tray he was carrying.
My daughter chuckled before running back to her dolls, her blonde curls bouncing in the air as she did.
Once she sat down on the ground, my eyes quickly wandered back to Elliot, who looked absolutely stunning with the sun shining on his porcelain skin, adding more to his rosy complexion.
He turned his head, and the moment our stares met, I quickly looked down at my newspaper and pretended to read.
Hearing him getting closer, I stiffened in my chair until he placed a plate and a cup in front of me.
The smell of brewed coffee and freshly baked pastries reached my nostrils, making my mouth water with hunger to taste what he’d cooked.
Yet, I held back from showing my craving and kept my attention strictly on the newspaper.
“I see you’re still mad at me,” he said in French.
Flipping to a new page, I shrugged.
“I’m not mad.”
“So you just don’t want to look at me?” he asked, moving closer until he nearly hovered over me, and poured me a cup of coffee.
His proximity made my heart race faster, and I held my breath until he was done and moved aside. A bitter taste filled my mouth, so I reached for the coffee when he put his hand on the cup. With a frown, I looked up to meet his sapphire eyes.
A satisfied smile spread on his lips, yet before I could ask what on earth he was doing, Elliot reached for the sugar canister.
“I know you like yours—” He added two tablespoons into the coffee. “—sweet.” He slid the glass on the table closer to me.
Out of words, I quickly reached for the cup and took a deep gulp.
It had been like this ever since we arrived last week. While I tried keeping it cool, Elliot was playing game upon game. I wasn’t sure what his goals were, but he’d succeeded at one thing, and that was to grow my frustration to an immense level.
After finishing my coffee, I put the cup down and cleared my throat.
“What do you want from me?”
“Nothing.”
My jaw twitched. “So why do you keep taunting me?”
Elliot put down a basket full of pastries on the table before serving me a fresh croissant, with his homemade fig jam on the side.
“I don’t like being ignored.”
His blatant audacity to admit something like that was unacceptable.
“I don’t know what treatment you expected to receive by coming to work here, but may I remind you this is a job?”
I could feel his body tensing beside me, but I refrained from looking at him.
“I know this is a job. The one who’s acting like it’s more than that is you, Daniel, not me.”
My eyes snapped to his, and astounded by his statement, I stared at him with my jaw clenched. I might have acted like a child around him, but only because he put me in this uncomfortable situation.
“Daddy, look what I found!” Maya’s cheerful voice cut into the tense atmosphere, and I removed my eyes from Elliot to see the ladybug she was carefully holding in her palms.
“That’s lovely, sweetheart,” I told her while stroking her hair, only for Maya to quickly move from my side to Elliot’s.
“Look, Elli, it’s a ladybug!”
Elli. If things weren’t bad enough, that was what Maya called him.
“Beautiful,” Elliot said in English as he crouched down. “I love the points.”
Maya giggled. “They’re called dots.”
A smile spread on Elliot’s face. “Oops.”
“Here, you can hold her, too.” She put the ladybug in his palm. “Just be careful ’cause she’s so small.”
Elliot nodded, and with his eyes fixated on the ladybug, he slowly rose to his feet. The small red bug traveled along his fair skin, and he chuckled as it did.
“It’s tickling,” he said to me in French, sounding so cute I nearly let go of my anger. But then, the ladybug flew away, and with it, so did this charming moment.
“Maya, go back and play with your dolls until breakfast is ready, okay?”
“Can Elliot play with me?”
“No.”
She pouted. “But Daddy—”
“Elliot is here to work.”
Maya’s lips started to tremble right before Elliot jumped in.
“We play later,” he promised her with his heavy accent. “D’accord?”
Maya smiled at Elliot before running back to her dolls. Hoping he also got the message, I picked up my newspaper when he huffed.
“I never realized you were such a little man,” he muttered.
And while his words boiled my blood, they mostly hurt because the last thing I wanted was for him to see me that way. And yet, at that moment, I couldn’t help but bite back.
“And I never knew you were such a spoiled brat—”
“Oh, there you are!” My wife arrived at the worst of times, escorted by her tennis coach, whose name I never remembered. “Here I was just telling Lucas how starved I am.”
Oh, right, Lucas. What a stupid name.
“Bonjour, Claudia,” Elliot cheered from beside me as those two stopped by the table.
“I see Maya’s busy with her dolls.” Claudia glanced at our daughter before looking at us. “Please tell me breakfast is ready, Elliot. Honestly, all I could think about during practice was your… what did you call those delicious French toasts?”
“Pain perdu,” Elliot said, voice melodic and full of magic.
“Yes!” Claudia clapped her hands together. “I told Lucas all about those delicious pain perdu.”
When Claudia said the same words, all magic was left out of them. It might have been cruel of me to think that way, but it was the truth.
“She sure did,” the tennis coach said with an idiotic smirk that made me tense. “Please tell me there will be some leftovers for me?”
Elliot chuckled in response, and the sound danced on my nerves.
Even more so when I noticed the way he just checked out Lucas, who stood there in those tennis shorts that showed off his thick, tanned quads.
Moreover, I didn’t enjoy his handsome face and his wavy blond hair tucked behind his ears.
I was even more displeased when he opened his mouth to talk again.
“Did I tell you I know French?”
Elliot’s eyes grew wide. “Seriously?” He switched to French when Lucas nodded.
“Oui. Learned it in high school.”
That made me roll my eyes, and with a grunt, I finally stood up.
“Do you know any words other than a simple oui?” I challenged this moron, who answered me with a smile.
“Maybe bonjour?” He butchered the word with his pronunciation. “Safe to say, I wasn’t the best student…”
Claudia and Elliot laughed together while I tsked. “Why am I not surprised?”
“Daniel—” Claudia pinned me with a harsh look when Lucas spoke.
“It’s fine. Don’t worry about it, Claudia.” He then turned to look at Elliot. “Maybe you can teach me some French?”
Why on earth would Elliot teach this douchebag anything—
“Yes! Of course, I teach francais.”
My throat turned to dust, and I struggled to keep it cool when Claudia rubbed Lucas’s arm. “How about you stay for breakfast?”
“And why would he do that?” I asked before he could respond.
A nervous smile coated Claudia’s lips as her eyes locked with mine. “Daniel?”
“What? You don’t see me inviting the gardener to dine with us, do you?”
An uncomfortable silence settled between us as Claudia narrowed her eyes at me as if I’d said something inappropriate. If anyone was in the wrong, it was Lucas who practically invited himself to join us.
“That’s okay, guys; I need to go anyway. I’ve gotta get to my next practice.” He ran a hand through his ridiculously long hair.