Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
Forest
We’re approaching dinnertime when Autumn and Josephine finally get home, laden with a shameless amount of shopping bags. Autumn grins like a fiend when she sets them on my coffee table.
“I saved all the receipts,” she says, producing a tall stack she pulls from her purse.
“I’m sure you did,” I grumble. In truth, I can’t be too miffed about how much today is going to cost me, considering Josephine is over the moon, her cheeks warm and rosy.
“Look, Daddy! We got the same color!” She splays her fingers and nudges Autumn so she’ll show me her nails as well. Then she wiggles her foot to show me her pedicure.
When Autumn does the same, jutting out a long, bare leg to show off her toes and a new ankle bracelet, my mouth waters. I lock down my expression…or so I think I have.
After Josephine bounces away, taking only half the shopping bags that likely weigh more than she does to her bedroom, Autumn says, “For two hundred bucks, I’ll let you suck one of my toes for thirty seconds.”
I jerk my head up. “You say the most out-of-pocket shit I’ve ever heard.”
“Am I? Out of pocket?” She taps her foot. With a sultry voice, she says, “Come on, baby, you know you want to.”
“Fuck, angel,” I groan under my breath, my cock twitching, barely resisting the urge to look down once more.
“Ha! Knew it.”
I count my lucky stars when Sebastian runs to me just then with a carton of apple juice so I can unwrap the plastic straw and poke it through, saving me from Autumn’s horrible teasing.
Benjamin is an early crawler, and he makes his way from his activity mat to tap Autumn’s leg with his chubby palm, and she swiftly lifts him.
Josephine skips back, wearing a new sundress and a poofy, white headband.
“That would be dinner,” I say when the timer on the oven goes off. It’s another stroke of luck, since I get to turn away from Autumn’s victorious posture.
“I’m starving,” Josephine says, taking Autumn’s hand and dragging her to the kitchen table.
Autumn gives Josephine an apologetic smile. “Sorry, honey, I have to get home. My family is expecting me for dinner.”
Josephine asks, “Ooh, can I come too?”
Autumn flicks her eyes above Josephine’s head to me.
After pulling the steaming dish of homemade enchiladas from the oven and setting it aside to cool, I squeeze Josephine’s shoulders. “Not tonight.”
“Why not?” Josephine asks with a pout.
“I’m sure Autumn is tired, and besides, I want to have dinner with my best girl.”
Strangely, Autumn looks as disappointed as Josephine.
Bending to give Josephine a one-armed hug, Autumn narrows her eyes at me, daring me to object when she tells Josephine, “You can come next time.”
I barely manage to keep from groaning because Josephine immediately brightens and says, “Okay!”
Autumn kisses Benjamin’s cheek automatically before passing him to me and gathering all her shopping bags, save for one.
I grab the small bag she missed when I walk her to the door, and I dip my head. Lowering my voice, I tell Autumn, “You can’t promise her things like that without consulting me first.”
Autumn’s mouth tightens, like she wants to challenge me, but she must know I’m right. I lift a brow, waiting for her to acknowledge what I said as she lingers just inside the door. Her attention drifts to the kitchen table for a long, silent minute before bringing her gaze back to my face.
“Fine, I’ll run it by you next time,” she says sourly, then lifts her bags. “Don’t forget, you owe me. And you better not send me something ridiculous, like four dollars and seventeen cents.”
“As if you’d let me get away with it.” I regret not sending her money earlier.
Three hundred dollars would have been a steal.
I’m sure she’s blown right past that amount, if the wicked gleam glowing in her eyes is anything to go by.
“Here, you forgot one,” I say, trying to hand her the last shopping bag.
Autumn cracks a smile that doesn’t quite reach her eyes when she looks wistfully toward the kitchen. “That one’s for you.”
“For me?” I peek inside the bag, finding two colorful ties that will clash with my suits, funny-patterned socks, and a white gold tie pin shaped like a sword.
I’m touched, lost for words for how much these gifts mean to me, even if I’m the one who’s going to end up paying for them. I choke out, “Thank you.”
“See you tomorrow, BigDawg,” she says, breezing out the door.
I’m already dreading it, since this sarcastic yet sweet angel will more than likely disappear, and she’ll go right back to giving me hell at the office. I already miss this side of her.
“We need to talk,” I tell Autumn when she strides into the office right after me on Monday morning, and I quickly close the door.
She stows her purse in her desk drawer, then crosses her arms. “About what?”
I drop my laptop bag on my desk and shrug off my jacket to hang it on a hook. “About you and Josephine.”
With a ghost of a smile, she eyes the bright green tie and sword pin she had gifted me that I’ve chosen to wear. “What about her? Is she okay?”
A knot forms at the base of my throat as I sit on the edge of my desk and shake my head. “She told me last night she wishes you were her mom, and she cried herself to sleep.”
“Oh.” Autumn drops her arms to twist her hands together. “How was she this morning?”
“I could barely get her up and dressed for school, and she didn’t respond to Lainey when they saw each other.”
“Crap.” Autumn sits heavily in her chair, hanging her head back on her shoulders, closing her eyes. “I’m sorry.”
I bob my head. “I am too.”
“What are we going to do?”
I shrug. “Find a new babysitter, I guess.” It’s the last thing I want to do, but it’s probably for the best, for both my kids and my wallet.
Autumn’s brows crash together, staring down the length of her straight nose at me. “I don’t think we need to go that far.”
“Don’t we?”
“No. After going through so much change, Josie needs stability, not a new babysitter. I’ll talk to her.”
I cross the distance to her desk, leaning over it with my hands braced on the edge. “I would think you’d be relieved since you hate getting ‘roped into babysitting’ those who aren’t family. And we’re not family.”
Autumn’s eyes sharpen, her icy-blue eyes taking on a chillier quality that makes my insides shrivel up.
“Knock, knock—whoa, what’s going on?” Megan asks when she swings open the door and steps into the office. “It’s too early for you two to already be at each other’s throats.”
“We’re not,” Autumn and I say at the same time. Then she spits under her breath, “Jinx, asshole.” She swivels her chair to the side, crossing her arms under her chest, the button on her pale blue blouse straining to hold on between her breasts. “What’s up, Megan?”
“Just dropping by to say we’re not going to need a babysitter this weekend, so you’re off the hook,” Megan says. “But thanks anyway.” She gives us one more searching look before she leaves.
I push away from Autumn’s desk with a sigh. “One dollar in the swear jar, and then it’s time to get to work, Ms. Fischer.”
Wednesday afternoon, with my elbow planted on my desk, I rub my brow with increasing agitation. “Can you not throw papers on my desk?” I ask when Autumn flings the stack she had printed out for me, the reports scattering across the surface.
“I don’t know. Can you not be a giant asshole?”
I grab the quite-full swear jar and rattle it before setting it down hard on my desk.
Autumn has already had to drop five dollars in it, and we still have three hours left before it’s time to clock out.
I shove one of my own dollar bills in the jar in advance and ask, “When have I ever been an asshole?”
From her wallet, Autumn pilfers a few more bills, then stuffs them into the jar. “You’re being an asshole right now.”
At a loss, genuinely wanting to know the answer, I ask, “How?”
Autumn taps her foot. “You’re comfortable leaving your kids with a total stranger for two whole nights while we’re out of state?”
I crack my neck, breathing deeply so I don’t lose my composure.
It was a surprise to both of us when Autumn’s Dad invited us to attend a conference in Georgia this coming weekend, where he will be speaking.
When her dad found out that she was no longer babysitting for Megan, he assumed Autumn would jump at the chance to go, as she had with all the others.
As a new employee, wanting to stay on my boss’ good side, I didn’t feel like I could decline the invitation.
“Mrs. Schwartz came highly recommended,” I tell her, speaking of the woman who nannied for Shayla and James during the summer.
“So? She’ll break a hip the first time she has to chase Sebastian down.”
“Forty-seven isn’t old enough to break a hip.”
Autumn narrows her eyes. She’s going to develop deep wrinkles alarmingly fast for her age. “She’s still a stranger, and the kids need—”
“Stability. Yeah, yeah, I heard you the first twelve times.” I lean back in my chair, my temples throbbing. “You were a stranger when you watched them the first time, and I trusted you enough to do it. Even let you take Josephine out on your own.”
“Well…” She turns up her nose. “You shouldn’t have.”
“Don’t I fucking know it,” I grumble, stuffing another dollar in the jar.
Autumn’s mouth falls open. “See? You’re such an asshole.”
I grind my teeth, organizing the loose papers, and shuffling them back in the right page order. “There’s too much work to get caught up on, and I can’t deal with your temper tantrum right now.”
“I am not throwing a temper tantrum. You’re just being unreasonable.”
“You are not their parent. I am.”
“I know that!”
“No, you clearly don’t, and what I do with my kids is not up for discussion.”
“Fuck you,” she sneers.
That’s it. I’ve had enough. I snap my finger and point at her. “Shut your mouth and get back to work, Ms. Fischer.”
Autumn bares her teeth. “Make me, asshole.”