Page 41 of Worst Nanny Ever (Babes of Brewing #2)

“Don’t you dare pull my job out from under me.” She pauses. “Not yet. You were right about a few things too. It’s not a good time for another big change for him.”

My throat feels thick with emotion, so I swallow. “We’re at a stalemate?”

“For now,” she says with a sly smile, her hand still pressed against me. “But the games continue.”

“I need to get my shit together anyway. I’m a mess.”

She lifts an eyebrow. “Lucky for you, I have terrible taste in men.”

She probably doesn’t mean for her words to affect me like they do, but they hit like a gut punch. I don’t want to be that guy. The boss who screwed her when she was supposed to be taking care of his child.

“I don’t want to be your next mistake, Hannah.”

“So don’t be,” she says, lifting her eyebrows. Her hand is still on my chest, pinning me in place, and my eyes lower to her lips. She’s got beautiful lips, a Cupid’s bow with the top perfectly curved and the bottom lush and begging for my teeth.

I lean in and kiss her once, softly, so she knows I mean it. “I want to do something for you.”

“Other than leaving money on the dresser?”

I sigh, but this is the game we’re playing, and I know my part. “I always use Venmo.”

“You don’t need to do anything for me. You already overpay me. Just figure out your shit. If you do that, you’ll be doing something for me.”

“What’s your favorite flower?”

“I hate flowers.”

“I’m going to come up with something good.”

“I look forward to seeing what you come up with,” she says with a grin.

“Your cereal is getting soggy!” Ollie calls out.

I nod toward the door. “Duty calls.”

“You didn’t answer earlier. Do you have practice later?”

I shake my head. “I want to spend the day with him. It’s past time I explained some things to him. People will be talking. He needs to know what to expect.”

I was about to say before Lilah comes back , but I can’t bring myself to acknowledge it. Still, I’ll be on the phone with my lawyer first thing on Monday to prepare for a potential custody battle.

“Good,” she says with a nod. “Do you want me to stay? Off the clock, I mean.”

Yes.

Right now, I feel like I need her to stay forever, but I don’t want to be one more person who needs her, like Eugene. Like Liam, even.

I want to support her the same way she supports me.

“I have to do this part alone,” I say. “But I would appreciate it if you could stay late on Wednesday. I have a meeting with the guys.”

“Of course,” she says, way too polite for my taste. “Is this about that producer?”

“Yeah,” I reply with a sigh. “We’ve got to form a united front. One way or another.”

She grips my arm, surprising me. “You’re not going to say yes to be agreeable. ”

“Yeah, that’s me,” I joke, “Mr. Agreeable.”

“You can’t say yes, Travis.”

“I’m not going to.” Glancing at the door, I lower my voice. “I wouldn’t agree even if I wasn’t worried about Lilah finding out. I’d quit the band first.”

I open the bedroom door, then nod for her to precede me through it.

“You don’t have to treat me like I’m a queen,” she says with an amused smile.

“You’re the queen of this household. It’s time I started treating you that way.”

She plucks the polo shirt up off the floor and runs out like she thinks she’s gotten away with something. Fine by me. I like the thought of her wearing it, not that she ever would.

I follow her out, and a couple of seconds later, I find Ollie sitting at the kitchen table. There’s a soggy bowl of cereal at one place setting, and the rest of the table is occupied by the packages we picked up at the toy store, minus the art supplies he and Hannah used yesterday.

He found all of them.

Hannah and I exchange a look, and we both start laughing, sharing our appreciation for my son’s hustle.

“What if I bought all of that for myself?” I ask.

“You didn’t.” Ollie pauses, a worried look filling his eyes. “You didn’t, did you?”

“He is a child deep down.” Hannah gives me a weighing glance. “Deep, deep, deep down. But no, that’s all for you.”

“When can I open them?” he asks, bouncing a little from foot to foot.

“Go for it, kid,” I tell him, walking over and ruffling his hair. “I figured we could get a better handle on what you’re interested in. Maybe we can find something we both like to do.”

Hannah gives me a pointed look that reminds me of something I hadn’t forgotten. Show him what you love, and teach him to play.

“Okay, but eat your cereal,” he says. “Hannah told me it was important to eat a complete breakfast.”

I glance at the soggy mess in the bowl, raise my eyebrows at Hannah, then sit and scoop up a disgusting spoonful.

“That’s love,” she says, grinning at me. Then her eyes widen, and she snaps her fingers. “Oh, before I forget. I promised Alice I’d get you to sign some headshots of yourself that I could send to her and the other Ships Junior bodyguards.”

“Headshots?” I ask blankly. “I don’t have headshots.”

She takes out her phone and snaps a photo of me. “You do now. I’ll get them printed out.”

I groan but nod. Alice was helpful yesterday, and I appreciate that she and her friends didn’t try to mob me.

Hannah hugs Ollie goodbye and then turns to leave us. Once she’s gone, the house instantly feels darker. Drabber.

“This place feels different without her,” I say, because my filter is apparently broken this morning.

“It does,” Ollie agrees.

I expect him to start tearing into the boxes, but he sits down in the chair across from mine. “Do you like Hannah in an adult way, Travis? Mom only shared a bed with people she liked in an adult way.”

Way to stab me in the chest from thousands of miles away, Lilah.

I try to breathe out my anger over her exposing Ollie to her cheating ways. “I think a lot of Hannah, but that’s not something you need to worry about right now, Ollie.”

“Hannah’s my friend, but I don’t mind if you and Hannah are friends too,” he says. “You smile a lot more when she’s around. ”

I rub my hands over my temples. “Thank you, Ollie. I think you’re right about that.”

“Will you date her? Aunt Dottie said you might want to date her. Like when people kiss each other.”

Jesus Christ, I’m way too hungover for this conversation. I make a mental note to have a talk with Dottie about what is and isn’t appropriate for children.

“Maybe, but I can’t do that while she works here, buddy. It wouldn’t be appropriate for us to date.”

“If you say so.” He pauses, his expression thoughtful. “But Hannah would still be around here a lot if you were dating each other, right?”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Well…we might need to think about interviewing a few other people to be my nanny.”

“Seriously, Ollie? You didn’t want anyone else to take care of you. You drove them all away.”

“I think you’ve learned what a good nanny is like. You needed someone to show you.” He shrugs. “Are you going to tell me about Ships Ahoy now?”

I drop the spoon into the mushy cereal. “Did Hannah tell you about that?”

“No, but she talks really loudly to Sophie and Briar sometimes when she thinks I’m asleep. Your dad was in some old movie, wasn’t he?”

“Yeah,” I say woodenly. “There are six of those Ships Ahoy movies. He was in them before I was born, and he was really proud of himself. I’m telling you this because some of the other kids might start talking about it. You deserve to know from me.”

“That’s pretty cool. I’ll bet Mickey’s grandfather wasn’t a movie star.”

“Probably not, but you should know my dad wasn’t a nice man, Ollie.

We didn’t get along. He was always pushing me to be someone I wasn’t.

Both of my parents were.” I take a deep breath.

“I had a nanny, too, when I was a kid, and my parents didn’t spend much time with me.

I’d like things to be different for us, but I haven’t done a good job of showing you that. ”

“You haven’t played the drums with me,” he says, watching me closely. “You don’t want to.”

I spear my hands through my hair, practically hearing Hannah whisper, I told you so.

“And you don’t want to introduce me to the kids you teach or the rest of your band. I haven’t even met the third guy who plays the weird guitar.”

“He’s not too happy with me right now,” I say.

“But I’ll introduce you to him eventually.

And if you want to come meet the kids at The Missing Beat, Hannah will bring you.

She’s already offered. I just…” My mouth feels dry.

My heart is pounding. “I didn’t want to push you to do something only because I like it, Ollie.

My father wasn’t interested in figuring out who I was.

He wanted me to be just like him. I don’t want to do that to you. ”

He gives me one of his serious looks, his face so like mine I’m taken aback. “But Hannah said I should watch the turtle show so I could see if Mickey and I had anything in common. Isn’t that the same for us? How am I going to know whether I like playing music if I never learn how?”

“You really are smarter than me.”

He just grins expectantly.

“I’d love to teach you the drums, Ollie. I’ll teach you on my own kit. And if you like it, but only if you like it, I’ll get you one too. Or maybe you’ll like playing the guitar. I know Uncle Rob or one of the kids at the Beat would love to teach you.”

“Can we start now?” he asks, ignoring the whole table full of toys in their packages .

My head feels like it’s being mined for gold, but there’s only one possible answer.

Hell, yes.

I take him into the music room, and we start with a lesson on how to hold the sticks and alternate hands while drumming. Keeping a steady beat.

He regards me with wide eyes. “This is harder than it looks.”

“But it’ll become easier. Once you’re used to it, you become the beat. You feel it down to your bones, and it feels good. It feels right.” I pause, embarrassed. “If you like drumming, obviously. It’s not like that for everyone.”

“Can you feel it when you’re not at the drums?” he asks, watching me with an interest that surprises me.

“Sometimes. Sometimes when I’m feeling anxious or spun up, I can slip into it. I can get into the same state I’m in when I’m playing, and it makes me feel better.”

“That sounds cool, Travis. I want to learn how to do that.”

We’re still at the drums when Rob comes over an hour or so later to check on me. Perfect timing, I figure, and ask him to show Ollie how to hold a guitar and play a few chords. I could have done that, too, since I play passably enough, but it feels right for “Uncle Rob” to be the one.

“He’s a natural musician, just like his old man,” Rob says with a grin.

“I’m bringing him to the Beat this week,” I tell him. “He wants to come.”

“They’re going to love you, Ollie,” Rob says. “Our students are going to compete for the right to play with you.”

Ollie beams at him, and my chest hurts in a new way, because damn, I should have seen what Hannah did. I should have let him decide how much he wants of my world .

Before Rob leaves, I ask Ollie to go play in his room for a few minutes so his uncle and I can have an adult conversation.

“So this producer,” he says once we’re alone together, cutting right to the point. “We’re going to tell him we’re not interested in any Ships Ahoy publicity, obviously.”

I laugh and instantly feel my headache from earlier reassert itself.

“Bixby’s already writing some yacht rock songs, isn’t he?

And I’m sure Drake has probably put in an order for some sailor hats for all four of us.

If he gives one to me at our next practice, I reserve the right to shove it up his?—”

“This is our band,” Rob says. “Ours. We started it. We wrote the music. This is our garbage fire, and we’re telling them no Ships Junior shit. End of story.”

Emotion rises in my throat. “You mean that.”

“I fucking do. You’re my brother. My real brother. I’d do anything for you. You saved my life.”

“We saved each other’s lives,” I say. Because it’s true.

He’d been struggling when I met him, deep into drinking, trying to drown out the pain of what he’d lost when Bad Magic moved on without him.

I’d been struggling in my own way, too, still reeling from getting thrown off the roller coaster Lilah and I had been on.

Rob and I had found purpose together, and for a long time, he was the only person I trusted, and I was the only person he trusted.

That’s changed, but the connection we formed back then is as strong as ever.

“Thanks, man,” I say. “You know how it is with all of that shit.”

He nods to show he does indeed know.

“But Bixby’s going to want to do it,” I point out.

He laughs, then gets serious, saying, “Look. This is your personal business. You get to keep that quiet if you want to, no matter what anyone else has to say about it. ”

I hug him, because no amount of back patting could express how grateful I feel for our friendship.

“Bixby will understand,” he says.

“And Drake?”

“If he doesn’t understand, fuck ’im. He’s been in the band for a week. He hasn’t even played a show with us yet.”

We both laugh.

I feel like I should tell him about the rest of it too, how I won’t be going on tour. How I want to be home most nights so I can say good night to my son. We’ll have that conversation soon, but I can’t handle anything else today. There’s been so much change piled on me at once.

Rob doesn’t press me about Hannah, probably because he’s already said his piece. He isn’t one to push. We talk for another few minutes, and then he hugs me again, says goodbye to Ollie, and leaves.

Dottie Hendrickson texts me almost immediately after Rob steps out the door.

Dear, I was wondering if I could come over to help with the placement of the crystals.

The timing is so impressive I know it must have been choreographed. Rob is passing the baton, but it’s kind of nice that they care.