Page 8

Juliette

B ella was like any other eight-year-old.

She loved to play—with her toys and her food. Loved to get dirty and run around. She had a give-no-fucks attitude that I absolutely loved. Honestly, she was a really good kid.

But it was obvious that she was extremely lonely.

“One more time, then you have to change into something clean and take a water break, okay?” I said as she stood in front of me, panting.

Even through all of the playing, she still respected me as the one in charge, something that shocked me based on her earlier attitude toward me. Maybe it was less about her pushing the nannies away and more about how those nannies had treated her.

“I know I can make it. Just one last chance!” She took off running to the far side of the yard before I could say anything else.

I looked at the stopwatch on my phone. She was nowhere near the ten second mark, making the trip to the end and back in about thirty. Forty if she was tired.

I paused it, letting her catch up a bit before starting it again.

“You’re better than the others,” Gina, who I came to know as her personal chef, said from behind me. I looked up to see her holding some finger food and water with cucumbers in it.

“I’m not doing anything,” I replied, giving her a smile. “Just letting her play.”

“Maybe I should say that I think she likes you more.” She handed me a glass of water. It was cool, the condensation already wetting my skin.

“Thank you,” I said and took a sip of what was probably the most refreshing water I'd ever had. Rich people.

I still couldn't get over it. I had worked for some wealthier families, but no one this rich.

I knew that the size of the property itself was a testament to how much money she had.

Surrounding us were multimillion-dollar houses, but hers was nothing like them, which meant she had opted to build this thing from the ground up.

That made me wonder what she did to make this kind of money, so I decided to look her up when I got home. The file probably didn't have anything about her specifically, so I'd try Google and maybe LinkedIn.

A smile pulled at my lips as Bella made her way back toward us. I had yet to help her put her hair back in braids. so her hair still whipped around her as she ran. Her smile was so wide it looked like it might be making her cheeks hurt.

“Food!”

Gina laughed and lowered the tray so Bella could come in and grab two handfuls of snacks.

“Time?” she asked me, already shoving them into her mouth.

I picked up my phone and showed her. “Closer! Twenty-six!”

She let out an exaggerated moan and fell to the ground. A chuckle escaped my lips. She spread out in the grass, her fingers grasping the blades and her eyes locked on the sky. Her chest rose and fell as she tried to catch her breath, and slowly she started to calm down.

“I have to say, I think you’re the best kid I’ve ever had the pleasure to nanny.”

She tore her eyes from the sky to send me a suspicious look.

“Are you lying?”

I brought my hand up to my forehead in a salute-like gesture.

“Scout’s honor.”

She gave me a black stare.

“What’s that mean?”

Gina laughed. “She’s just promising you it’s true.”

“Okay!” With that, Bella pushed herself up from the grass, and she was off again, racing to the far end of the backyard. I noted the fresh grass stains against the back of her dress.

“Water, Bella!”

“When I come back!”

Gina and I were silent for a beat. I was just about to turn to her and offer her a seat when she spoke.

“I think it’s because no one mentions her mom,” she said. I turned to look up at her. “Like everyone tiptoes around it. Almost like she never existed.”

I pursed my lips. That wasn’t uncommon. People had done the same when my parents died. No one talked about them, and that angered me. I loved them. I missed them. They deserved to be talked about and remembered. They had made a difference to me.

But now that I was an adult, I understood this side a little bit more. I mean, how would anyone look at such an innocent young child and bring up the fact that their parents were just brutally ripped from them and their life turned upside down?

“Grief is hard. To be honest, I’m not sure how to navigate this.” All I knew was what I had experienced myself, but I had been a teenager, while Bella was barely entering her childhood.

“I think she’s just lonely and misses them.” Gina’s voice was soft. “We’ve been trying. There’s only so much any of us can do. But you two seemed to hit it off right away. I think you’ll be good for her.”

“I hope,” I murmured and forced a smile to my face as Bella reached us again.

“Hydrate, Bella,” I told her, handing her the glass from Gina’s tray. “Then you have one last round. Remember what you promised?”

She gave me a pout.

“Homework, ugh .”

“That’s right,” I said. “You, me, and that English assignment you’ve been putting off.”

English, math, history. Because of what happened, Bella hadn’t been going to school, but she still had to do her homework—by herself. And what eight-year-old wants to do that? So, of course, there was quite a pile of it for us to do before she had to go to school the next day.

“Two more times?” she bargained.

I restarted the stopwatch.

“If you can make it under twenty, I’ll give you three more times.”

And she was off once more, giggling as she ran.

* * *

“I don’t know how you did it.” Lux’s voice came from behind us, causing me to jump as I looked up from my Kindle. My eyes fell to the pile of blankets on the couch across from me. I was on the other couch, the fireplace roaring between us.

After a full day of play and homework, Bella knocked out at seven before Lux came home. But she hadn’t wanted to go to her room and instead camped out on the outside couch until she fell asleep.

The night air was a little bit chilly, so I made sure to bundle her up with the blankets and sit as close to the fireplace as possible, but I hadn't expected Lux to take so long getting home. Bella had already been asleep for an hour and a half.

“She tried to wait up, but she was exhausted,” I said as I started to pack up my stuff. “We finished English, and I tried to get some math in, but she hates that even more. It’s due Wednesday, though, so we will try again tomorrow.”

When I glanced back at Lux, she was staring at me. I paused for a second. The tiredness in her eyes was obvious, her suit slightly disheveled, strands of her black hair sticking out.

“Busy day, huh?”

She let out a sigh and sat down on the couch, running a hand through her hair, pushing it back and out of her face. I found myself entranced by the sight of her.

It was easy to forget everything when she wasn't there during the day, but everything started slowly coming back to me with her nearness.

“First day back at work in weeks,” she replied. “I wasn’t lying before. I can’t tell you how many nannies I’ve been through. This seems like… a miracle.”

Seems like Bella isn't the only one who’s had it hard.

She leaned her head back on the couch, and my eyes immediately fell to the column of her throat. I swallowed thickly.

Such a perfect, sinful sight. When Lux had stepped into the room that night, I thought she was drop-dead gorgeous. Sexy in a sophisticated, sharp way. And now, seeing her here, her shirt slightly undone, her hair tousled, it was almost too much.

“She’s a great kid.” I forced the words out through a very dry throat. “Misses you. And… them.” I kept my voice lower at the end.

“You can go,” she said without looking at me, her voice devoid of any emotion.

Shit. I guess I didn’t pass the trial run.

I grabbed my bag and moved to leave. I could turn back and beg her again, but there was no use if she had already made up her mind.

“Tomorrow, seven sharp. It’s her first day back to school after a while,” she said, her voice following me. “Drop-off is at seven forty-five.”

I turned around, unable to stop the smile from spreading across my face. Lux had turned her head to the side, finally meeting my gaze, exhaustion clearly weighing her down.

“I’ll see you then, sir .”