Page 26 of Love Me Not

He looked at the screen showing month after month of revenue for one of our smaller products and slowly shut his laptop.I should have been listening, and I mentally kicked myself for worrying so much.

The whole point of getting a nanny was so I could be here and be present, yet somehow, I was ruining it.

“Issues again?”he asked with a raised brow.“I thought this one was the best they had.”

“The best they had actually dropped out,” I said as I turned my phone back over to check.Though a little devilish voice in the back of my mind had a hard time believing my little angel was anything but their best.

Nothing.

“Yikes.”He leaned back in his chair.“Well, you better get home and deal with it?—”

“You’re right, I should get home.”I stood quickly, grabbing my laptop and phone.He was giving me the perfect excuse to take my leave, and of course I was going to take it.What was the point of being at the office if I wasn’t listening and kept worrying the entire time?

I was about to run out the door when my phone vibrated with a message from a number I hadn’t saved.

When I opened it, there was a picture of Bella at the dining table, a large pencil in one hand while the other rested on her forehead.She was glaring at a piece of paper in front of her and had probably the biggest pout I'd ever seen.But Juliette?

She wassmiling.A big, unrestrained smile.Something I knew that likely annoyed Bella even more.I couldn’t stop looking at her, even when I knew I should.I let myself, for one selfish moment, just stare at the beautiful girl on my phone.

The words that followed it made my heart stop.

Unknown

Homework time :)

She’s okay.Had her lunch and dinner will be soon.

Take your time.

How did she know I was worried about her?

Because Juliette was made for me.

Shit.I couldn’t keep having these thoughts.

Still, my mind went back to our time in the room.I had needed her then in an entirely different way, and she had delivered.Now I needed her for something else, and she still exceeded my expectations.

Swallowing the knot in my throat, I sat back down at the desk.She's got this.It was still hard to tear my mind away from them, but seeing the picture of them together and Bella actually doing something productive had hope blossoming in my chest.It was enough for me to pull myself away from my anxiety spiral and pay attention to what Dominic was actually saying.

“Sorry,” I said with a sigh.“My mind’s all over the place.I’m not going home.We can continue.”

“Are you sure?”he asked as he slowly lowered himself back into the chair.I didn't tell people much of anything, especially work colleagues, but Dominic was the one exception to the rule.

We had gone to college together, and when I finally got myself up on my own two feet and started my business, he was one of the first people I thought about hiring.Since then, he had never let me down.He had taken up a lot more work after my sister had died to help me manage both the company and Bella.

I don't know when or how I'd ever be able to repay his kindness, but someday I would.

I nodded.“Let’s get this done.”

I had my phone face up, their image still there.Another message popped up, this time of Bella earlier in the day, running toward the camera, a big smile on her face.

My chest ached at the sight of her smile and the tooth she was missing.

When was the last time she smiled like that?

I’d never seen it.Bella was never playful with me.She was always pouting, whining, or just overall unhappy.There were a few times when she was just…normal, but never happy enough to give me a smilethatbig.

“What’s got you smiling?”

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