Page 4 of The Manny

“You disapproved of her decision to keep the baby?”

He chuffed. “It wasn’t as if I had any say. I knew nothing about the baby until after she’d had her.”

“Oh. I guess you really weren’t close.”

“No. We weren’t.” He frowned. “The thing is, my life isn’t really kid-friendly. I own an auto repair shop in town and work long hours. I don’t have time to raise a kid.”

I forced yet another smile. “That’s why you have me, right?”

“Right.” He sat up straighter. “I suppose since we’re going to be living together you need to know some things about me.”

“Okay.”

“I like my privacy. I never wanted children, so having a kid around is going to be a huge inconvenience.”

I gritted my teeth. “Of course you realize this wasn’t her choice either? I’m sure she’d much rather be with her mother.”

His gaze flickered. “Yes. I know this is difficult for the kid too.”

It irked me he kept referring to her as “the kid” instead of using her name. “Do you think you could maybe use her name?”

He frowned. “What?”

“Well, Mia will feel more welcome if you use her name. You keep calling her ‘the kid’ and I worry that might make her feel like she’s a burden, instead of your niece.”

He shrugged. “Okay. I’ll try to remember to use her name.”

Is it really that hard to remember?

“Anyway,” he said, “I’m really hoping you can keep the—“ he grimaced. “I mean, Mia… out of my way.”

“Is that right?” I studied Jack, feeling uneasy about this job. If Jack accepted me as Charity’s replacement, this would definitely be a challenging situation. I’d been a manny for four years and every child I’d watched over had been a wanted part of the family. Most of them had been the biological children of the people who’d hired me, but either way, there’d always been obvious love toward the children. With Jack, it was very apparent he had no interest in bonding with Mia. He saw her as a burden and he just wanted to hand her over to me to raise. My heart ached for Mia, even as resentment roiled in my gut. “May I speak freely?”

“Sure.”

“From what you’ve said, having a child right now wasn’t in your plans.”

“Never having a child was my plan,” he said gruffly.

I studied him. “Okay, but life often throws things at us we didn’t expect.”

“And your point is?”

“We have to go with the flow. Rise to the occasion—”

“Oh, I get it,” he interrupted with a smirk. “You mean I should look on the bright side? Accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative?”

My face warmed at his mocking tone. “Do you have a better plan?”

“Yeah. I want you to take care of Mia, so that I can live my life.”

With great difficulty, I kept control of my temper. “I will, of course, spend as much time as possible with Mia. But you’re her uncle. She’ll need you in her life.”

“I’m providing a roof over her head and food to eat. What more should she need?”

“Seriously?” I raised my brows.

His jaw tensed. “That’s what I got from my parents. I didn’t expect more. Why should she?”

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