Page 16 of If Love Had A Manual

I don’t even hesitate. “No.”

“No?”

“You are not taking my niece in that car.”

She gapes at me. “Why not? My license is clean. I sent over all the documents. Didn’t you get them?”

“I got them.” I gesture to the very obvious reason sitting in my driveway. “But I’m pretty sure that thing is ninety percent responsible for the hole in the ozone layer.”

“Ruby is perfectly safe,” she argues, hands on her hips.

“Then you won’t mind waiting until I can have a look at it.”

What can only be described as fear flashes in her eyes. “Look at it?”

“Yeah. Make sure it’s roadworthy. You know, confirm that it’s not going to fall apart if you hit a speed bump.”

She huffs, muttering what I’m sure is another string of curses under her breath.

If Rosie’s first word isshit, Lena’s fired.

If it’sfuck, well, that’s on me.

She peeks at her watch, cheeks flushed. “Aren’t you going to be late for work?”

Right. Work. The whole reason I needed a nannyin the first place.

She steps closer and lifts her arms like she’s done this a million times, and sure enough, Rosie goes right to her.

“Yeah,” I mutter, stepping into the house alongside her.

It hits me again, that weird pang in my chest. I’m actually leaving her.

It’s for the best. Rosie can’t hang out in the shop forever. It’s better for her, I know that.

“You cleaned?” Lena asks, brows raised, as we step into the living room.

I rub the back of my neck. “Believe it or not, you caught me on a bad week last week. The house isn’t always a shit show. With you starting today, I wanted you to be able to find anything you needed.”

Her expression softens. “You didn’t have to do that.”

“I did. And it wasn’t all me. Kate helped.”

She pauses, her gaze flicking to me as I move into the kitchen. “Kate?”

I grab the milk from the fridge and pour some into Rosie’s bottle before handing it to her.

“She’s a mechanic at the shop, and happily married,” I say, catching the hesitation in her tone. “But she loves Rosie and helps out when she can.”

“That’s nice.”

Rosie kicks her legs and drinks her milk, utterly oblivious to the fact that I’m still mentally stalling.

The room goes quiet for a beat.

“So…” Lena prompts, tilting her head while swaying on her feet.

I take the opening to rattle off everything I’ve laid out for the day. “Her snacks are in the second cupboard. I’ve left her lunch in the fridge, but if shedoesn’t want it, there are backup meals in the freezer. She naps at one, but don’t let her get overtired, or she’ll be a demon. Her clothes are in the wardrobe. Vests in the first drawer, pajamas in the second—”

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