Chapter 9
BEING NOSY
“You’re prompt,” Brennan said at three when Alana walked in his front door.
He’d seen her pull in and jumped up to get the door before she could ring the bell and wake Becca. He wouldn’t mind some time alone to get a feel for her.
Was she only coming around for his daughter or was there room for him in there?
He’d always had the worry before that it’d be all about him and the hope was there’d be room for his daughter, not the other way around.
Nothing he’d ever thought he’d have to worry about before.
“Bad habit. Normally I’m early.” She looked around his living room while she toed her shoes off. “Where is Becca?”
“Napping,” he said.
“Oh. You could have texted me and told me to come later.”
“It’s fine. I like to enjoy the calmness during these times.”
She laughed. “I guess I can understand why you’re thin. You probably never sit still.”
No dude wanted to be told they were thin.
Fit was a better word.
He worked hard to be in shape. One, to keep up with his kid. Two, to be healthy so he could be around for a long time for his daughter. Third, to help be attractive to a woman.
Thin didn’t scream attraction.
What the hell?!
“I don’t. Not when she’s awake. I keep thinking she’ll slow down as she gets older, but she only gets more energy. My mother claims it’s from me, but I don’t remember being like that.”
His memories as a kid were not wanting to wake up in the morning or begging to lie around and watch TV or play video games. He had to be pushed out of the house to run outside with his friends.
Looking back, it wasn’t the best usage of his time, so he was going to make sure Becca spent more time doing than sitting.
“I think we don’t remember our childhood the same as our parents. What do you remember?”
“Sitting around and complaining if I had to go outside. It’s not like we had much yard though. We lived in a condo.”
The older red brick row home he grew up in had three floors. They were in the middle. No backyard, not even grass.
But that three-bedroom two-bath place his mother and father bought when he was a baby was worth almost three million when his mother sold it over the summer. Best retirement fund she never thought she’d get.
It not only allowed her to buy her dream home on an island, but also gave her a much bigger cushion added to his mother’s federal pension.
“It makes it hard to go outside and do things then. I grew up just outside of Boston so had more space. My parents have a home on the island. Actually, I’m living in it now.”
“I learned that housing wasn’t easy to come by and I didn’t want to raise Becca in an apartment.
She had that in Boston. I wanted her to have a place to run around.
She gets it in the back. Even when it’s colder, I let her dash around kicking a ball.
She’ll be happy next summer to be so close to a beach. ”
“You can bring her to my place,” she said. “One of those memories I’ve got as a kid here is there were always these big family gatherings in the summer with cousins. More here than Boston unless it was a holiday. I miss those things. It’d be nice to have it again. Even just having a kid around.”
Already he liked what he was hearing.
She had memories of things he wanted in his life and never had. She said she missed it too.
“Are you on the beach?” Damn. Then he had to remember that she was part of the Bond family. Her house could have been in the family for generations.
“We are. Not a huge house. This was a summer home for us. My mother was a teacher. Well, when my brother and I were in school. She was home with us full time until then. But once we were out for the summer, she didn’t want to sit around, so we were here.
My father worked from here when he could.
Now it’s easier with technology than it was back then. ”
“What does your father do?” he asked. “Sorry, I’ve got no manners. Come in and sit. Can I get you something to drink?”
He felt like an idiot standing in his foyer just chatting.
“I’m good,” she said. “You know I’m from the Bond family, right? I mean I’m positive you do, but I don’t hide those things. I learned the hard way that it can bite you in the butt.”
“I know you’re related to Kelsey. I assumed it was from the Bond side and not Karen’s side.”
“Our great-grandmothers were twin sisters.” She closed her eyes for a second. “I’m trying to think of the easiest way to say this. How much do you know about the Bond family?”
“I grew up in Boston. I know the basics. Five siblings, founded the island, two really wealthy sides. Blah, blah.”
He didn’t pay too much attention to it. It hadn’t mattered to him and he’d never crossed paths with any of them.
“Okay. Good. Kelsey and I are from Patricia’s side of the family. Not the billionaire side, but no one is complaining about what they have.”
He laughed. “Got it.”
“You know of Atlantic Rise hotel, right?”
“I do,” he said. The tallest hotel on the island.
“Penelope and Emily Rauch, before they were married, they own it. Their mother and my father are siblings.”
“More tourism,” he said.
“That’s what a lot of our family has. My immediate family doesn’t own any businesses. I think we are the odd ones right now.” She waved her hand. “My father is the VP of Finance for Bond Enterprise. Owned by Mitchell Bond.”
“The billionaire side,” he said, laughing.
“Yes. So though we are not related closer, our families are close. Mason Rauch works for Mitchell also. Lots of crossover. I won’t bore you with more. Prior to coming here, I worked at one of Mitchell’s businesses as a finance director.”
“I wondered why you were only a senior accountant. Not that I know your age, but I don’t think you’re right out of college.”
“I’m thirty-two and, for my age, behind the ball in my position for this field. I came in at that position, but it’s a big change from what I was doing.”
“Why the change? Why the move?” She seemed to weigh her words. “Sorry if I’m being nosy.”
This was getting to know people better in his mind.
“It’s fine. It’s not a secret. I was engaged. Had been with Jonathan for seven years total. One year engaged. We never set a wedding date. Thank God for that.”
“That doesn’t sound good.”
“Nope. I found out he’d been cheating on me for eight months.
Right under my nose and I had no clue. He also worked at a Bond business.
In operations, not finance. We met at a retreat for several of Bond businesses and he worked his way up.
Once he found out who my father was, he was spending a lot of time getting his name out there. ”
“Sounds like a prick to me.”
“I didn’t see those things. I wish I had. His new work friend was Susette. He told me she was gay. I had no reason to think otherwise. Others had said Susette had a girlfriend too, then I met them both.”
“Which means nothing.”
“So I learned. Susette was cheating on her girlfriend with Jonathan. He had no problem being the tool she used to figure out her preference. Even tried to tell me it wasn’t anything but sex.”
His fists curled into tight balls.
“Excuses don’t justify cheating. Ever.”
“Nope. I should have pushed more but put my head in the sand. That’s on me for not following my gut.
So there I am, more angry than brokenhearted, but the embarrassment tracked me like hounds after ducks during hunting season.
People talked, saying that I should have known.
I guess I was more na?ve than I realized.
I wanted to start over and what better place than the island?
Part of me never felt comfortable in the city anyway. ”
He admired how open she was being with him, making him feel as if he could open up the same.
He couldn’t remember the last he felt that urge.
“I always did, but once I had a child I started to think differently. Especially when I found myself short a nanny.”
“Kelsey knew what happened between Jonathan and me. She’s a riot. I won’t tell you some things she said. But she told me she had an opening she couldn’t fill if I was looking for a change of pace. Even if it was for a year.”
“So it wasn’t something you were thinking of yourself?”
“No. But once she said it, I gave it a shot. This is horrible, but if I didn’t like it, I knew I could find another job.
Not that I’d ask for one with Mitchell. It was hard being my father’s daughter and most figured it out.
It’s why I didn’t want to work at the main office. But I’m a CPA. I can get another job.”
“You can,” he said. “Just like me. But I love working for Karen.”
“Kelsey is different,” she said, grinning.
“She’s more laid back and I enjoy it, but I’m good anywhere.”
He didn’t want to talk about work with Alana. He wanted to talk more about her personally. She’d volunteered something and if he wanted her to open up more, he’d have to share too.
“Can I ask why you wanted to come to the island? You said you lost your nanny. That’s it?”
“Pretty much. Being a single father isn’t easy.
Not when I’m working a lot of hours. Between the nanny and my mother, I had everything covered.
I will admit it’s much cheaper here for childcare, but that wasn’t my reason.
It was my mother who suggested it. I thought Becca was young enough to try it. ”
“Starting over,” she said. “That is how I look at it. I love my job. I never thought I would. I’ve met so many wonderful people.”
“And have immersed yourself into helping their causes.”
He knew all about her volunteer work. He’d heard bits and pieces of it in the few months he’d been here.
“I have a lot of time on my hands. It keeps me busy.”
“Daddy!”
Just when he was going to ask if she was single, although he was pretty sure he knew the answer to that based on why she moved and that she was here having dinner with him and his daughter.
If she had a significant other, she wouldn’t do this. He knew right away, she felt the same way he did about cheaters.
“Coming,” he shouted and stood up. “Excuse me. She knows she can’t come down the stairs alone after she wakes up. I’m afraid she’ll stumble.”
He took the stairs two at a time and turned into Becca’s room. He didn’t get the two-hour nap out of his daughter as he’d hoped.
Because she was too wound up, she didn’t go to sleep right after lunch at one. She finally fell asleep at two and didn’t even make it ninety minutes.
“Hey there,” he said. “You didn’t sleep long.”
“Is Alana here yet?”
Becca was sitting on the bed on her knees and bouncing.
“She is.”
His daughter climbed off the bed and ran toward the stairs, but he snatched her up and brought her to the bathroom first. If she got distracted, she’d wet herself.
Once she finished in there, he carried her down the stairs, set her down, and watched her dash into the living room and launch herself at Alana.
“You’re here!”
“I am,” Alana said, picking his daughter up. “Did you have a nice nap?”
“I did and now we can all dance.”
“Huh?” he asked.
“I want a dance party. Daddy can make up the dances. He does it best. Let’s dance.”
He wasn’t sure which one of them was more stunned by Becca’s announcement.
Alana’s face was almost as red as the sweater she had on.
“Maybe let’s try that another day.”
“Nope,” Becca said, shaking her head. “You told me we’d do a new dance this weekend. You promised. Why can’t we do it together?”
“Well,” Alana said. “If you promised.”
“I’m going to get some costumes and accessories too,” Becca said.
“Oh God.” His daughter was dictating this outing in the most embarrassing way possible.
Becca ran into her playroom.
“You can say no,” he whispered.
“No way. Not with costumes,” she said, laughing. There was mischief in her eyes he’d never witnessed before. He wouldn’t mind seeing more of it, even if it was at the expense of his manhood.
“That’s what I thought.”
“Here, Daddy. Your favorite.”
Becca handed him the pink-and-white feathered boa to put on his neck, then gave a purple one to Alana. “If you tell anyone about this,” he warned and rolled his eyes.
“My lips are sealed.”
“I’m putting my skirt on.”
Becca pulled on her little pink tutu over her jeans. “That’s pretty.”
“I want Daddy to get a matching one, but he said no.”
Alana put her tongue between her teeth. “Hmmm. I’m not sure that’s your daddy’s style.”
“I put pink lipstick on him. Pink looks good.”
He closed his eyes and let out a breath.
This was why he’d never get a woman.
But his daughter’s giggles told him he was doing something right.