Chapter 18
“We looked everywhere but we never found any gold on the beach, and we never found the ghost.” Annie shoveled another bite of plain buttered pasta into her mouth. It was the first time she’d paused to take a breath in the last twenty minutes.
After landing in Boston and saying a strained goodbye to Jo—strained for Derek, since she would hardly make eye contact with him, though she had no trouble hugging Annie and promising to send his daughter a care package from her friend’s bakery—Derek had taken Annie home to Chelsea’s townhouse in the Boston suburbs.
His ex-wife took one look at him and announced he should stay for dinner.
He must have looked worse than he thought.
“Annie, sweetheart, there’s no such thing as ghosts,” Chelsea said, sliding the basket of garlic bread across the table with a pointed glance in Derek’s direction.
But Derek didn’t want garlic bread—though he appreciated Chelsea’s concern. He didn’t want anything. Except Jo.
“There could be. You don’t know. Even Giddy said the ghost might be real. But it definitely wasn’t in the ice cream shop or the library or anywhere we looked.” Annie drained her glass of milk in one long gulp. Someone watching her would have thought he hadn’t been feeding her for the last few days.
“Well, if Giddy said it, it must be true,” Chelsea said.
“Can I go play with Duchess now? I want to tell her all about California.”
“Alright, but wash your hands first.”
Annie jumped up from the table and dashed down the hall to her bedroom where her giant fluffball of a cat was likely sleeping on her pillow. Derek watched her go, but he could feel Chelsea’s eyes on him. “Just say it.”
“What happened with the nanny?”
Derek turned back to the table, picking at the garlic bread. “Nothing. It was a temporary hire.”
Chelsea’s lips pressed into a flat line. “That’s not what I meant, and you know it.”
Derek sighed. “What do you want me to say, sugar?”
“I want to know why you bothered hiring an overnight nanny if our daughter was going to spend half her nights with Kat.” Shit. “I want to know why Annie is seeking out wishing wells to make wishes about you and the nanny living happily ever after if this woman was just a temporary hire.”
He scraped his hand over his face. “It didn’t work out. Not the nannying part—she was an excellent nanny.”
Chelsea leaned back in her chair, studying him in a way that only someone who had known him for years could.
“From what I hear, she was pretty great at a lot of things. Including making you happy.” His eyes darted to hers.
“Annie’s seven. She’s not blind. And, for the record, Kat seems to share her opinion. ”
“I’m sorry. I tried to keep it away from Annie. I know our rules about not introducing people to her unless it’s serious.”
“Is that why you think I brought this up?” Chelsea sighed and shook her head as though he’d somehow disappointed her. Again. When was he going to stop disappointing the women in his life? “That rule isn’t meant to keep you from finding happiness.”
“Protecting Annie’s happiness is more important.”
“You think she’s happy when you aren’t?” Derek glanced down the hall towards Annie’s room, the sound of her chatter floating towards them. “She worries about you, Derek. We both do.”
“I’m fine.”
“What happened with the nanny?”
“I don’t know!” He sprang out of his chair, needing to move, to walk off some of this frustration, even if all he could do was pace in his ex-wife's dining room. “I offered her a job on the tour. I asked her to come with us. I—”
“Did you tell her you love her?” He grunted and continued his pacing. “Derek. Did you tell her?”
“It’s only been a few days. You can’t fall in love in a few days.”
“Some people do.”
“It’s against our rules.”
“Not if you love her. Will you sit down, please, before you wear a hole in my carpet?” He forced a deep breath into his lungs before he took his seat across the table from his ex-wife. “We made the rules. We can change them when they’re no longer serving us.”
Derek planted his elbows on the table, resting his head in his hands with a groan that felt torn from his chest. “I don’t know how to do this, Chels. I offered Jo a job on the tour and she said no.”
“That wasn't the offer she wanted.”
“So I shouldn’t have offered her a job? She’s good at managing the band’s social media. Jackson specifically requested that she continue on in that role. They need her. And she needs a new job. That hole in the wall she’s bartending in isn’t paying her enough.”
“She needs a job. Midnight Storm needs a social media manager. What about what you need?”
“I need her,” he whispered, closing his eyes against the searing pain behind his sternum.
“Did you tell her that?” When he didn’t answer, Chelsea rounded the table and took a seat next to him, resting her hand on his back. “You’ve always been so good at taking care of everyone but yourself. Sometimes you’re so busy fixing the problem you forget about the way people feel.”
“She said she didn’t want to be the boss' dirty secret.”
“Please tell me you did not suggest that you keep seeing each other in secret while she is your employee.” Derek winced, which was admission enough for Chelsea to suck in a startled breath and smack him upside the head.
“Hey!” He ducked away from her.
“Derek Owens, so help me God.” Chelsea took a steadying breath before leveling him with a look that could turn a man to stone.
“You’re so concerned about protecting Annie from your relationship?
Then protect her from thinking it’s okay to be some man’s secret.
You are setting the example for what that little girl is going to think she deserves from her romantic partners.
You are not stealthy enough to hide your relationship, but the more you try—despite the fact that our daughter has made it abundantly clear she knows exactly what’s going on between you two—the more you are teaching her that it’s okay for the person you love to keep you a secret. Is that what you want for Annie?”
“That’s not—I didn’t—” His mouth fell open as the weight of his ex-wife's warning settled over him. “Fuck.”
“I’m not saying you need to maul each other in front of our kid, but you aren’t helping anyone by trying to pretend she isn’t important to you. Look at my relationship. Annie knows Miles is important to me, but she doesn’t know we’re dating.”
“She knows.”
“What?”
“She knows, sugar. She told Jo you have secret sleepovers after she goes to bed.”
Chelsea fell back in her chair. “Well, damn. That kid is too smart for her own good.”
He chuckled. “She’s pretty great.”
“So are you.” She nudged his shoulder with a soft smile. “And, according to our kid, so is Jo.”
He nodded. “I don’t know what to do here. How do I give the band the social media manager they need and be with her without making her feel like I’m trying to buy her?”
“I don’t know. But you’re a smart guy and a good man. I’m sure you’ll figure something out.”