Page 21 of Learn Your Lesson

Will and I had barely had time to talk about whether this position was permanent or not. Between the string of back-to-back home games he’d had and practice in-between, the only energy he had left at the end of each day was reserved for spending time with Ava.

I respected that, and I’d left him alone, doing my best to just take care of his daughter so he had one less thing to worry about.

Now, I found that my stomach was in knots waiting for him to arrive, wondering if my services would no longer be needed. I had no idea if he had been searching for a replacement, for a more permanent option who had better availability than I did. I couldn’t imaginewhenhe would have found the time to do so, but I still worried, nonetheless.

Because the truth was that I adored his daughter already, and I was going to miss spending this one-on-one time with her.

I was going to miss trying to make her smile. I’d miss listening to her talk me through the beginning of each hockey game before trying her best to get me to let her stayup well past her bedtime — just like she had all week. I’d miss styling her hair — which, God help him, Will tried to do but just didn’t have a clue as to how. I’d miss her quiet contemplation when we did crafts, and how she gave me a hug every day when it was time for me to leave, or every night when I put her to bed, depending on the schedule.

I’d justmiss her.

I knew I’d have her in class still, at least until the summer, but it wouldn’t be the same.

I’d also miss Chef, miss her food and her jokes and the way she made me feel right at home from the moment I showed up for dinner after watching Ava that first day last week.

And though I’d never admit it out loud, I’d miss Will, too.

I swallowed, only half-listening to Chef talk me through how she was preparing one of Will’s favorite Mediterranean dishes while my heart raced thinking about her boss.

Ourboss.

Something about that man called to me, even though the scowl he wore should have made me want to run and hide. Every time he walked through the door, my stomach would flip, heart pumping blood a little faster when his ginormous frame swept into the room.

I told myself it was because he looked like Brendan Fraser circa hisGeorge of the Jungledays — which may or may not have been my sexual awakening.

I was lost in that particularly naughty thought when the security system announced that the front gate of his property was opening, and I blinked, coming back to the present.

Chef widened her eyes at Ava. “I wonder who that could be.”

“Daddy!” she said, and then she slid off where she’d been seated next to me at the kitchen island, abandoning her half-colored image of a unicorn in a field of daisies.

I laughed when I looked at it.

She’d colored the unicorn black.

Will had no sooner stepped through the front door with his giant duffle bag on his shoulder before Ava was running full speed at him. Just like always, he slung her up into his arms like she weighed nothing, kissing her hair and offering her the slightest tilt of his lips.

It was as close to a smile as I ever saw on that rugged face of his.

“There’s my girl,” he said. “How was your day?”

“Okay. I colored a unicorn.”

“You did?”

She nodded. “And at school, we learned about words that whine. Like sink and think.”

I covered my laugh with a hand as Will arched a brow at me.

“Words thatrhyme,” I corrected softly, crossing my arms where I stood by the spiral staircase. That made me feel weird, so I uncrossed them and pinned my hands between my back and the wall, instead.

She scrunched her nose. “Oh, yeah. Rhyme,” she said. And then she lifted her chin. “Give me a word, Daddy.”

“Duck.”

Will’s eyes sparkled when he glanced at me, and I shook my head.

He was asking for it.