Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
OVERNIGHT
Dinner feels almost normal.
That is what makes it unbearable.
Noah sits in his highchair, throwing pieces of pasta onto the floor.
Gavin picks one up and places it back on the tray, even though I have told him a hundred times not to do that.
Noah throws it again.
Gavin laughs.
I laugh too.
For half a second, I can see the family we were supposed to be.
A husband. A wife. A baby making a mess between them.
Gavin then checks his phone beneath the table.
His expression changes.
A softening around his mouth.
He puts his phone face down.
I do not need to see the name.
I know.
I continue cutting Noah’s food.
Gavin asks about my day.
I remind him of the sink leaking.
“I said I’d call someone,” he says.
“You were busy,” I say. “Plus, it’s fixed.”
“Who fixed it?”
“Dean Harper,” I say.
His fork pauses. “The guy down the street?”
“Yes.”
“You called him?”
“Audrey gave me his number.”
Gavin looks at the sink. There is something in his face I have not seen in a long time.
Jealousy would be too generous.
Ownership is closer.
“He just came over?” Gavin asks.
“That water was everywhere,” I say. “Well, it was filling the bowl I put under the sink.”
“You could have waited, Claire.”
“For what?”
He looks at me.
I stare right back.
He breaks eye contact. “I would’ve handled it.”
I almost ask when.
“Half a turn,” I say with pride in my voice, not sure if he understands what that means.
Gavin smiles at me, but it’s the smile he uses when Noah does something small and adorable.
“That’s good,” he says.
The condescension is so familiar I almost missed it before.
Now I feel every edge.
We finish dinner and I clear the plates.
Gavin wipes Noah’s hands.
He’s attentive tonight. Extra attentive.
He even asks if I want him to give Noah his bath.
I say yes.
That seems to surprise him.
As he carries Noah upstairs, his phone lights on the table.
I do not touch it.
I do not need more proof.
Still… the screen is so close…
I lift it a little.
A text from Paige.
I don’t know how to
I let the phone fall back face down and I turn away.
Gavin comes down the steps a few moments later.
Without Noah.
“He’s playing in the tub.”
My body goes cold. “You left him alone?”
“I can hear him.”
I am already moving toward the stairs.
Gavin catches my arm. “Hey. He’s fine.”
“Noah is never alone in the bath,” I say.
“I’ve been gone for ten seconds.”
“Down a flight of stairs and now talking to me.”
He exhales like I’m being unreasonable.
I refuse to think I’m overreacting or being anxious.
Then again, maybe Gavin is trying to get a reaction out of me.
I don’t care.
I go upstairs and sit beside the tub until Noah is finished.
When I bring him downstairs in pajamas, Gavin is setting two glasses of wine on the table.
I’m not interested in wine, so he can drink both glasses himself.
Then the doorbell rings.
To my surprise, Paige is standing outside holding Noah’s blue blanket which was in his crib just this morning. There’s no reason for her to have it. Not now. Not ever.
“Thanks,” I say as I take it from her.
Paige does not leave.
Gavin appears behind me, the definition of perfect timing.
“Come in,” he says.
Paige gives me a hesitant look, as though my permission counts now.
I step aside and she enters.
The three of us end up in the kitchen, well, four with Noah as he starts to doze off.
This is the same kitchen where I watched Gavin’s hand slide around her waist.
The nanny cam is still in the living room, where it should have been all along.
What would life be like if someone hadn’t made that error?
“He seems so tired,” Paige notes about Noah.
“He is,” I say, almost coldly.
“He had such a strange nap yesterday.”
Yesterday? That was not one of Paige’s scheduled days.
Gavin makes small talk by opening the refrigerator and asking Paige if she wants a drink.
Paige declines.
Gavin then touches the back of his neck. “Paige’s building has a plumbing issue.”
I look at her. Her lips press together.
“Water damage,” she whispers.
“Her landlord needs her out for a few nights,” Gavin continues. “Maybe longer.”
I wait.
The neck rubbing is now a performance of discomfort.
I know he’s already given the answer.
Not once thinking about talking to me.
He’s offered her our home, after offering her his body.
Paige shakes her hand. “I already said no. I can’t do that. You’ve been so good to me…”
I look at Gavin.
He’s trying not to look at Paige.
I can hear his voice telling Paige he would handle me.
I’m a problem to them.
That’s what I’ve become in their conversations.
My first instinct is to say no.
The second is to drag her outside by her hair.
My third… Vivian…
Knowledge is leverage. Time is leverage. Preparation is leverage.
Comfort makes people careful.
Careless people leave proof.
If she’s here I can watch how she behaves with Noah, and not through a nanny cam.
“Of course you can stay,” I say.
There’s a slight pause and Paige blinks.
Gavin’s shoulders relax. “Really?”
I turn toward him. “Why wouldn’t she?”
“I just know you like your privacy,” Gavin says.
I ignore the comment and look at Paige. “We have the room. Paige takes care of Noah. I would hate for her to be displaced.”
“I don’t want to intrude,” she says.
“You won’t.”
I take Noah upstairs, hating that I’m leaving the two of them alone.
My heart slams inside my chest, but I focus on my son.
Noah goes down the easiest he’s ever done and out in the hallway I’m surprised to find Gavin waiting.
I look at his lips, wondering if they’ve touched Paige’s while I was up here putting his son to sleep.
“I hope this isn’t awkward,” he whispers with a smile.
“You have no idea,” I say and walk around him and back downstairs.
He doesn’t follow.
Paige is gone to somewhere in my house.
I take out of my laptop and add another record.
Temporary Guest Arrangement
I type the necessary notes and save it.
I check the smart-lock access and see that Paige’s code has already been changed.
Instead of losing access after her shifts, she now has twenty-four access to the house.
There’s a timestamp.
It was done this afternoon, long before Paige showed up with Noah’s blanket, long before Gavin brought up her staying.
I save the screenshot.
Paige is now sleeping beneath my roof.
She thinks that means she is closer to taking my place.
It only means I will not have to look for when she makes her next mistake.