Chapter 16 Nina
NINA
My phone was in my hand, but the unfamiliar ringing wouldn’t stop. It had startled me awake, and after scanning the room in a shocked haze, I finally pieced together where I was.
Logan Ashford’s palace.
I looked down at the phone in my hand and saw the telltale flash of gold on my ring finger.
And I was Logan Ashford’s sort-of-kind-of wife.
Everything shifted back into focus.
But where was the noise coming from?
I glanced at the nightstand. A house phone?
“Hu-hello?” I stuttered into the receiver.
I couldn’t remember the last time I’d touched a landline.
“Good morning, Miss Reyes!” A chipper voice sang in my ear. “This is Josie, and I wanted to let you know that I’ll be serving breakfast in twenty minutes. If that doesn’t work for you, just let me know what time you prefer, and I can have it sent to your room.”
“Oh, no, that’s not necessary. I’ll come down. Thank you!”
The absolute last thing I wanted to do was act like a diva.
“Wonderful, then we’ll see you shortly.” She paused. “Fair warning: I’m a hugger.”
I giggled. “I’ll welcome it!”
I got dressed quickly, still smiling to myself.
I was halfway down the main staircase when I realized I couldn’t remember where the dining room was.
I’d already embarrassed myself once by barging into Logan’s bedroom in the middle of the night.
I wasn’t about to let something like that happen again. I pulled out my phone and dialed him.
“Where are you guys?” I asked him after he answered. “I’m lost.”
“Where are you? I’ll send a guide to assist.”
“Front hall. Look for the dweeb in flip flops.”
He laughed. “Hardly. Sit tight.”
The sound of feet slapping marble got closer and closer until Noah rounded the corner, out of breath and giggling.
“Hi, Nina! I’m here to save you,” he panted. “Follow me!”
He took off running, and I had no choice but to speed walk to keep up with him as he tore through the place.
We wound up in an airy dining room that I couldn’t even recall seeing the day before, but it was possible my mind had just blanked it out.
The house tour had been overwhelming after an already long day.
Plus, the house was obviously gigantic and beyond my comprehension.
It was definitely intimidating, but I was relieved to notice that it didn’t seem off-putting or untouchable.
If I ever managed to score some real estate, I hoped I could make it feel as homey as this place.
His interior designer must be a wizard, because the mix of opulence and warmth shouldn’t make sense.
Like the friggin’ twenty-foot-high pillars that ran along the far wall.
They looked like they belonged in a museum, but I could see a couple of Noah’s stickers on the base of one of them.
“Good morning,” Logan said. “Sleep okay?”
I tipped my head toward him, and we shared a moment of acknowledgment about what had almost happened a few hours prior. “Shockingly, I did. But only after I read for a while.”
“Is that so?” he asked, playing along.
I racked my brain for an Austen quip but was interrupted when a stout woman in a black button-down shirt bustled into the room carrying a tray loaded with plates.
“Ah, there she is!” The woman who had to be Josie said to me. “Welcome!”
She placed the tray on a side table, wiped her hands off on her apron, and walked over to me, beaming.
“I’m Josie, and I’m very happy that you’re here.” She did an exaggerated turn to look at Noah. “As is someone else.”
She winked at me, then opened her arms and gave me a smothering hug.
“It’s so nice to meet you!” I said as we untangled.
“I hope you’ve got an appetite, because the little man requested a feast this morning.”
“Yeah,” Noah piped up. “Waffles with strawberries, chocolate chip pancakes, and blueberry muffins!”
“Someone thinks breakfast and dessert are the same thing,” Logan added. “We also have frittata if you prefer less sugar to start your day.”
I joined them at the table, marveling at the spread.
“Do you do this every day?” I asked him. “Eat together?”
“We always do when I’m visiting,” Noah answered. His face clouded over as he remembered that this was now his full-time home.
Even though he’d lost his mother months ago, I knew that the reminders would continue to sneak up on him. And coming down from a very exciting vacation was going to amplify his feelings of being uprooted.
I jumped when I something slapped my foot, and Noah broke out into a hearty laugh.
“Ariel got you!”
I grinned as the kitten danced in front of me beneath the table, rearing up on her back paws and air boxing.
“How’s she doing?” I asked him. “She seems like she’s happy here.”
“She’s good.” Noah stuffed half of the waffle in his mouth.
I shot a glance at Logan, but he was on his phone.
“Hey, hey, careful. Maybe you should cut smaller pieces?” I asked Noah.
He nodded, opened his mouth, fished out the piece with his fingers, and dropped it on the plate in front of him.
“Noey, gross,” Logan chastised lightly. He placed the phone face down on the table. “We need to talk about manners.”
“Agreed,” I said.
“But I’m not good at cutting,” he whined.
Most likely, Noah’s mom had happily helped him cut up his food, and Logan had been too distracted to clock it when they were together.
“Oh, come on, you’re big. You can totally cut your own food,” I said. “Let me see you do it.”
Noah picked up his knife and held it like a caveman.
“There’s your first problem, kid,” Logan laughed as he eyed the knife. “Try this.”
And from that moment on, our breakfast turned into a silly lesson about proper utensil usage.
Noah laughed as Logan and I riffed off each other, pretending that pinkie placement could impact how aerodynamic your cuts were. I could tell he was loving the silliness.
He wasn’t the only one. There was such a warmth and ease to the meal, despite the fact that father and son were still finding their way around relating to one another.
But the sunlight shining through the open doors and the cute kitten trying to jump up on the table to join us made the moment feel like something out of a movie.
It was almost too perfect.
I had to remind myself that this was a job, not a lifestyle. In a few months, I’d be back to my closet of an apartment, trying to forget about my time pretending to be Cinderella.
But for now? Cutlery lessons with a little boy who was coming out of his shell.
“It’s not hard,” Noah said with surprise in his voice as he sliced through a strawberry. “I can do it!”
“I knew you could,” Logan smiled proudly. “I guess you’ll be carving the Thanksgiving turkey for us this year, huh?”
Noah glanced at me, chewing with his mouth open. “Can we do the wishbone on Thanksgiving, Nina?”
The room went quiet except for the clanking of forks on plates. I swallowed the lump in my throat. Thanksgiving was months away, and he was assuming I’d still be around to take part in their family celebration. I needed to dodge the question, gently.
“Is that a tradition you like?” I asked.
“Yes, lots,” he nodded. “But last year I did it with Uncle Harry, and he cheated.”
Logan laughed at the reveal.
Josie bustled back into the room and started clearing the table, so I jumped up to help.
“Oh, you stop doing that, there’s no need. I’ve got this,” she scolded me gently.
I opened my mouth to protest and realized that this was her job. It was going to take time for me to get used to having help on call.
In fact, I was going to have to completely retrain myself during my stay at Chez Ashford, because the impulse to pitch in was part of my marrow.
If I was the one to scrub out the greasy pots and pans, clean the litterbox, and mop the floor, there was no way I could be considered an imposition.
Folks would want to keep me around because I was just so darn helpful.
Logan pushed back from the table. “I need to follow up on some work stuff, but you two go have fun. Noey, why don’t you take Nina on a tour of the yard and show her your playset?”
“Okay!”
He hopped off his chair, leaned down to pet Ariel on the head, and then took off running.
“C’mon!” His little voice echoed down the hallway.
I glanced at Logan. “I’m assuming that you have a daily schedule for him, so maybe I should take a look—”
“Not yet,” Logan interrupted. “I thought it might be better for the two of you to acclimate to this new normal for the week, to come down from the vacation vibes, and then we can map out his new schedule together.”
“Hold on, did you get body-snatched last night?” I joked. “You’re giving your over-scheduled son…free time?”
He smirked at me. “Please. It might come as a surprise, but I know when to listen to an expert.”
My cheeks went hot. Was that a full-on compliment?
“Okay then. I guess we’ll go have fun!”
“You do that,” Logan agreed.
We both paused, like we needed to address the Austen-inspired make-out session from the night before. But what was there to say?
That I had naked and sweaty dreams about him once I finally fell asleep?
Nope, I would definitely not be bringing that up.
It was best to keep all of that ridiculousness in my head, because a true relationship with Logan was surely impossible.
I needed to keep reminding myself of that fact, because the way he was smiling at me right now made me want to tear down all of my walls.
“What?” I demanded.
“I’m just feeling really positive about how things are going to go with Noah. For the first time in a long time, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel for him.” His smile widened. “You, here? This is good.”
“Thank you. Agreed,” I replied quickly.
Yes, the way through my dumb attraction to my boss was to shift my focus to the actual reason I was under his roof.
“Neeeeenah!”
I laughed at the little voice echoing down to us. “Duty calls.”
“Have fun,” Logan said.
I found my way to where Noah was waiting for me.
“Come on!”
He opened the door and raced out to a field of grass that looked like it had been painted the perfect shade of green and precision-trimmed with scissors.
“This way,” he pointed ahead of him and took off running.
I followed him around a wall of shrubbery that opened up at a playset so huge it should’ve been in a public park. It looked like a pirate ship, with a skull flag on top, turrets, and a cannon that shot tennis balls.
“Wow, Noah, this is amazing!”
“It’s new! Daddy got it for me right after…” he trailed off, and his expression clouded over.
I remained quiet to see how he’d process the fresh wave of grief.
“After I moved here,” he finally said, and my heart broke for him. I had known adults who couldn’t talk about the deaths of their loved ones. I could only imagine the enormity of a six-year-old trying to process it.
His little shoulders slumped, so I walked over and knelt in front of him to look him in the eyes.
“Do you want to talk about how you felt when you first moved here?”
He shook his head and looked down at the ground.
I couldn’t blame him for not wanting to. Distraction it was, then. “Okay, that’s fine. Do you want to talk about…who needs to walk the plank?”
He brightened a little. “This ship doesn’t have a plank.”
I made an exasperated huff. “In my imagination, it sure does! It’s right over there, by the ropes. See?”
He smiled a little wider, even as he shook his head. “No.”
“If you really can’t see it…” I sighed dramatically. “Then I guess I’ll just have to show you. Watch me.”
I jogged over to the ship and climbed on, then assumed the stance of a wizened pirate. I pointed my imaginary sword toward the invisible thief in front of me.
“Ahoy, fellow pirates! This landlubber has attempted to plunder our gold! And what’s the penalty for such a crime?” I held my hand up to my ear and looked at Noah. “What’s that? I can’t hear ya!”
“Walk the plank!” He giggled.
“Aye, that’s right! Now who’s ta help me with this scoundrel? I need strong hands and a swift sword!”
“I will!” Noah shouted.
“Get over here, matey,” I yelled back to him, way louder than necessary.
Logan appeared at the same moment looking faux-confused. “Hey, hey, what’s going on out here? I heard screaming all the way in my office. Something about pirates?”
“There’s the thief,” I screamed dramatically. “Nab him!”
“Daddy!” Noah laughed as he ran over to his father. “You stole our gold and now you have to walk the plank.”
“Aye, he’ll be sleeping with the mermaids in no time,” I added, raising a fist.
Noah grabbed his father by the hem of his shirt and pulled him to the playset. I wasn’t quite sure how he’d respond, but to his credit, he was a good sport. He clasped his hands behind his back and even managed to look suitably terrified.
They paused next to me.
“Any last words, vermin?” I asked Logan.
“I didn’t do it, I swear.” His voice trembled believably. “Give me another chance, I beg of you!”
I looked down at Noah. “What say you, brother? Does he deserve one more chance?”
Noah was about to burst from glee. “No! Walk the plank, you robber!”
Logan crumpled with a wail.
“Show him the end of your scabbard to hasten the job,” I commanded.
Noah grabbed a stick from the floor of the playset and jabbed it at his father. “Go!”
“But I’m innocent,” Logan pleaded. “Please don’t do this.”
The man was quite an actor. I could’ve sworn I saw his eyes misting.
“Walk the plank, Daddy!”
Noah screamed with laughter as his father stepped to the edge and jumped down to the grass, then pretended to struggle in the water.
“I’m drowning! Save me!”
“Wait,” I cried out. “It’s true, he isn’t the thief! We must save him.”
I jumped off the boat, and Noah followed, and the three of us wound up in a giggling heap on the grass.
My legs tangled with Logan’s for a moment, and I was rewarded with a flashback of sleeping with my cold feet on top of his warm ones.
“What in the…” a voice drifted over to us.
We paused to find Josie hovering nearby with a tray of cookies.
“I thought someone was being murdered out here!”
“Nay, just saving the life of a trusted sailor wrongly accused,” I answered in my pirate voice, which made Noah giggle. “Sorry for the fright. But don’t worry, the pirates of the Queen’s Revenge will always look after Castle Ashford.”
“Ohhh, okay. That’s very comforting,” Josie nodded. “Anyway, you’ve probably worked up quite an appetite with all that plundering. I brought you some warm oatmeal cookies.”
“Cookies!” Noah jumped up and ran over to her.
Logan and I got up slowly and joined them.
“This is nice,” Josie mused. “Different. The laughter. We’ve needed this.”
She couldn’t say more since little ears were tuned in, but I understood what she was getting at.
After a long quiet spell, a certain sad little Ashford was finding his smile again. It felt good to think I was part of making that happen. Almost like I belonged here after all.