Seven
NAOMI
The third nanny from Paloma’s list that I’d expected to interview never showed up, but Owen’s friend did five minutes before I was supposed to leave for the mom support group Ida Jane and Millie had invited me to.
She wasn’t what I was expecting at all.
For one, she was a he, and he was a burly dude in his mid-fifties with neck tattoos that crawled up his jawline and screamed biker badass. I stood at the door, gripping the wood in my hand, freaking out at how Felix wasn’t in his carrier and I wasn’t ready to drive over to Keelie’s house.
With a thick swallow, I invited Ashley Simmons, the biker/Owen’s friend, into the living room, and offered him a seat. He took one of the club chairs but sat on the edge, feet flat on the floor, eyes dancing around the room, taking in as many details as possible.
I liked that about him.
“Your Owen’s friend?” I asked again, re-checking that was the reason I’d let this man into my home.
“Yeah. I’ve known Owen for thirty years. He was my platoon officer,” he said in a slow rich drawl that made me want to curl up in my chair, sip cocoa and listen to him read…pretty much anything. I’d bet stock reports sounded fantastic if he read them.
“Owen told me to come over here today.” He considered me with those knowing, light brown eyes. “You weren’t expecting me.”
“I know Adam and Owen discussed one of Owen’s army comrades,” I said, hedging my response.
When he leaned forward, my pulse jumped, even though I knew Adam was upstairs.
Ashley pulled out his phone from his back pocket.
He tapped the screen, eyes narrowed the way my boss did when she didn’t want to search for her reading glasses, and then grunted.
He handed me the phone, which had an email from Owen, Adam’s brother, that showed today’s date and time for the nanny interview.
“Look at that,” I said, nervous. “Clearly, Adam, Owen and I need to work on our communication.”
Ashley took his phone back and smiled, which softened his face…what I could see of it. He reminded me of an older Cruz when he smiled, and that softened me further. “I’m guessing you’re juggling a lot, what with your baby being your first.”
“Yes,” I murmured.
“Sweetheart, have you seen the new box of diapers? Felix…Um, hi,” Adam said as he stepped into the living room, holding Felix face down over his forearm that was tucked up against his abdomen. Felix snored softly, clearly enjoying his father’s warmth.
“Adam, this is Ashley Simmons, and he’s here to interview for Felix’s nanny.”
Adam sized him up slowly, which also caused my pulse to race. “You seem familiar,” he said.
Ashley rose and offered Adam his hand. “Know your brother, Owen. We were in the same platoon in the nineties.”
“And you came out to his place,” Adam said, a smile forming, “and gave me pointers on my stick work.”
“You were holding it too high, not protecting that sliver of net on the lower left.” Ashley shrugged.
I relaxed further, enjoying the banter between the two of them.
Adam settled onto the edge of my chair, resting his arm that held Felix on his thigh. “What got you into childcare?”
Ashley rested his elbows on his knees, his eyes bright. “I’ve always loved kids. They’re so fun, but I can’t have my own.” He grimaced, shot me a pained face, then coughed. “An IED took out that option.”
Adam winced, causing Felix to flinch, and let out a cry. “So sorry, man.”
“Yeah, bit of bad luck. I, uh, had a tough time there for a while after I was medically discharged.”
“You and a lot of other guys,” Adam said.
Ashley nodded. “Well, I bounced around, doing some construction work for Owen, but nothing really stuck. So, I went back to school, got a master’s in early childhood development, and all the certification for childcare.”
What he didn’t say, but what I was thinking, was that Ashley didn’t look like a preschool teacher or a nanny. And I’d bet he’d run into a lot of issues, thanks to people’s preconceived ideas about who and what a nanny should appear to be.
“I’m planning to take Felix to a new parent group,” I said. Adam flashed me a quick glance that I deciphered. “And I was hoping you’d be able to join us.”
“Sure,” Ashley said, but I thought I noted a little tension around his mouth.
I turned to Adam and raised my eyebrow, asking him if he had a better idea. I knew he didn’t, and this would give us a chance to see Ashley in action.
“We’ll go in the minivan,” Adam said.
Yes, we were now that couple. Adam and I had pored over safety reports and vehicle reviews. Adam and I bought the world’s safest family hauler for five pounds’ worth of kid. We took overprotective to a ridiculous level. I didn’t care.
Ashley rose with us, his expression shifting. “Hey, it’s fine. If you don’t want to hire me because I’m an older man—”
“That would never play into our decision-making,” Adam said.
“Just…come with us to our friends’ place,” I coaxed. “We can see how you fit in with the other new parents and their nannies. We need to know you can handle Felix, but we also need to be sure that you want to hang out with our crew because we’re a pretty tight bunch.”
“Like my platoon,” Ashley said, understanding lighting up his gaze. “Got it.”
Adam drove and Ashley sat in the front while I kept my hand on Felix’s chest as I sat next to him in the back seat. Why? I couldn’t say except that it was a compulsion, and I felt a million times better knowing that my sweet little guy was sleeping sweetly next to me.
And he was adorable…when he wasn’t crying. Paloma’s much tighter swaddling technique helped at night, so Felix wasn’t startling himself awake as often as he had before.
That meant an extra hour, hour and a half of sleep for me, which was the equivalent of heaven.
If we could get Felix sleeping for another hour or two at a stretch every night, I was pretty sure I’d be able to function.
There was no way I’d perform at my best, but I’d slept well enough to work again.
Not that I planned to head into the office for a couple more months, but I liked to plan, and picking a date to return to work gave me something concrete to look forward to.
“You were a medic?” Adam asked, pulling me back into the moment.
“Yeah, and I’m a paramedic by certification now. I did that for a while after I got out of the army, too.”
“You didn’t like it?”
“Not the pay, no. It was okay, but we dealt with the meth heads as first responders. One guy was so out of it, he thought I was a going to kill him. He pulled a gun. Scariest moment of my life, having a strung-out dude, hands shaking, ranting, pointing a gun at me. Had nightmares for the next three weeks, and I decided I couldn’t do it anymore.
Then, I picked up security work, which was fine for a while, but I’m getting older.
I like to hit the hay by ten, not be up until three.
Those days are behind me. Plus, like I told you before, I love kids.
Love ’em. They’re such fun. Full of wonder and joy.
If I could have, I would have had a house full. ”
“Did you have a partner who also wanted kids?” I asked.
“Nell wasn’t keen—she came from a big family. Eight siblings. She prefers being unshackled.”
I didn’t delve further into his personal life because it was Ashley’s, and we’d arrived. That was the best part of living so close to Cormac and Keelie—we weren’t in the car too long and the driving was all residential speeds.
I didn’t have time to freak out. With Felix, I did that more and more. Too many things in my world I couldn’t control, and I hated the potential catastrophes.
“So, this is Cormac and Keelie’s place,” Adam said. “Cormac’s the Wildcatters’ team captain. Good guy.”
“Still has impressive stats. Last time I checked,” Ashley said.
Adam chuckled. “He’ll appreciate you saying so.”
I’d stepped out of the car and unclicked Felix’s seat by the time Adam got to me. Ashley was there, too, with the diaper bag that he’d pulled from the trunk.
We walked up the driveway, a motley crew of the four of us, and something solid, something important seemed to click into place.
This was…right.
I glanced over at Adam to see if he felt it, too.