Page 105 of Sweet Thing

“Honestly. He wouldn’t have made a move if I hadn’t gone there first. I’ve always had a crush on him.”

“Well, I knew that.” Oh. Who else did? Not my father. He would never have encouraged me to become Mabel’s nanny if he had an inkling. “I just can’t believe he’d go there.”

“I’m not a kid who can be taken advantage of, Mom. I’m a grown woman.” Was it any wonder I couldn’t tell my parents about Greece? They still saw me as the naïve innocent who had things happen to her instead of the other way around.

“I don’t want to see you hurt, sweetie.”

I looked over her shoulder to my dad, who gave me a big smile. Guilt shuddered through me.

“Don’t tell Dad. It was just a short-term thing, and he’d just worry.”

She raised an eyebrow. “That’s not really how my marriage works. I kept a lot of secrets from your father when we first started out. It almost broke us.”

She was talking about her sketchy family’s history. Her con-artist parents had long retired from their schemes to Costa Rica. We rarely saw them, but I understood my mom’s concern. Secrets and lies tended to break the murky surface eventually.

“I don’t want you to lie, but if it’s not serious, how would it help?” I lowered my voice even further. “Dad would blow up with Lars. Their partnership on the team would be destroyed.”

It wouldn’t matter that I was crazy about Lars. My father would never forgive him, and a part of him would always blame me for coming between them. For destroying the team in this important year.

I couldn’t be responsible for that. Yet I couldn’t give Lars up, not yet. There had to be a way.

“Your father won’t be pleased, whichever route we take here. But …” She looked over at him, watching as he corralled his teammates into a huddle and led with the purpose he’d always shown. “Knowing you and Lars were … it wouldn’t go down well. If you two were committed, then it might be worth it. It would still be rough, but we’d get through it.”

We’d get through it.That was the problem: my relationship with Lars wasn’t just our business. It was everyone’s.

ChapterTwenty-Eight

Lars

I wokeup with a stiff neck and a heavy pit in my stomach. Straightening in the bedside chair, I checked in with Mabel. She was awake and looked so much better. Color, and not the fire-engine-red kind, bloomed on her cheeks. Her eyes sparkled with pleasure, and I could tell she was happy to see me.

I grasped her little finger. “You okay, Mabel?”

“Yabby!”

“Yeah, yabby to you, too. You gave me quite the scare, ya little monster.”

She chattered on with her usual baby talk and I listened, thanking my stars she was in a better mood. Last night when we were moved to a private room in Pediatrics, I sent Adeline home. There was no reason why both of us should get no sleep.

I regarded the empty chair on the other side of the room, wishing she was here, that I could have woken up to both my girls. When she left, she’d been in a subdued mood, which I put down to her worry about Mabel.

Numerous texts had come in overnight from the team and org staff, checking in on Mabel. Even one from MacFarlane, telling me she was in his thoughts, which meant pigs might actually have transcended the laws of physics after all.

The only person who mattered was Adeline. I needed to be up front with her about what I wanted. Not just a nanny for Mabel. Not just a village to raise my child.

I wanted this woman with every part of me.

The door opened, and I looked up expecting a nurse, or better yet the woman I loved. It was Elle, toting two cups of coffee.

“Hi,” she whispered. “How is she?”

“Good. She’s awake.” I stood, took the cup she offered, and kissed her cheek. “She’s been talking up a storm, which usually means she’s in a good mood.”

“Oh, thank God. I thought you could do with a break.”

I didn’t like the idea of leaving her, but Elle was as experienced as anyone. I trusted her, the heart and soul of this family who meant the world to me.

“I probably stink.”

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