Page 13 of The Nanny and the Hothead
Mommy?
What grown man calls his mommommy?
She’d have to tell the girls.
But before she could feel too high and mighty, a depressing realization hit. She worked for a grown-ass man who called his mother mommy.
“Oh my God!” she uttered under her breath.
“Charlotte?” he chided as a muscle ticked in his orangey-red jaw. “This event was booked as a mermaid birthday party. There has to be a mermaid.”
She needed to make one more attempt to change the man’s mind. It most likely would fall on his deaf bullfrog ears, but something inside of her needed to try. If Professor Tran wanted her to go back to the beginning, she had to start acting like an actual photographer—not a hooker mermaid!
“How about this? I was thinking…” she began.
“I don’t pay you to think,” he barked, cutting her off. “I pay you to wear the damned costume and smile.”
That’s all she was—a convenient redhead who fit into his mommy-made costume.
Her lips parted, but nothing came out.
Sutton Bryan pasted on a syrupy smile. “And what about the kids, Charlotte? Do you want me to tell them that there’s no mermaid? Imagine how disappointed they’ll be—all because of you.”
Dammit! The kids!
Her shoulders slumped a fraction, and she caught a glimpse of herself in the car window’s reflection. “Okay, fine, I’ll do it. But I need to cut out a little early. I have a…prior commitment,” she added.
She wasn’t about to tell him it was to attend a speed dating night at a bar.
“Shirt,” the man growled, holding out his hand. Did he even hear that she couldn’t work the entire event?
She handed it over, and the guy set off at a breakneck pace. She could barely move her legs three inches, thanks to the rubbery, formfitting hell that was the mermaid tail. Crossing her arms to keep her shell-clad boobs from popping out, she tittered behind the asshat photographer. On the bright side, at least she could go barefoot.
Wait…she was barefoot, chasing after her creep of a boss through a parking lot toward an event where she would get no practice honing her photography skills while wearing a slutty mermaid costume.
This must be rock-bottom.
Even so, her situation would improve. There was no way to sink any lower.
Reframe! Reframe! Reframe!
The universe might have broken her heel and tried to mow her down with a Mercedes. But she had gotten to talk to Professor Tran. She just had to figure out what kind of photograph would be good enough to impress the Royal College of Art.
What did they want?
Whatever it was, she could do it.
She’dbewhat they wanted.
And she had speed dating! Meeting Larissa and Royce couldn’t have been a fluke. She had to make it through the next hour.
Goodbye, rock-bottom! Hello, life filled with love!
Toddling along like a five-foot-six penguin, Sutton Bryan ushered her through a side gate—not into the shiny clubhouse.
“It’s an outdoor party?” she asked as a large pool came into view. It was late spring. Most outdoor recreation spots didn’t open until after school was out at the end of May—a little more than two months away.
“No, it’s the backdrop for the mermaid photos. The party is inside.”
