Page 24 of The Wedding Planner's Manny
To him, it probably would be.
This put me in a difficult place, because I sympathized. His dad had already threatened to take his newt and his salamander away, and there was no telling how he'd react to finding a strange dog in his house. When I was a kid, losing my pet would have ruined my life—and if I still had a pet today, I would probably not feel much different.
“I found him in the park,” Nathan explained when I remained silent. “He was hungry, so I gave him my sandwich and when I came back the next day, he was still there. No one uses this room anymore so I figured we had space.”
The puppy—I was thinking now that it was probably a black Labrador puppy—wagged his tail at me, as if wanting to corroborate Nathan's tale. Now that he wasn't fighting to stay out of the closet anymore, he watched me curiously with his big brown puppy eyes. I could definitely see how he'd stolen Nathan's heart. If I wasn't being paid to be the adult around here, I would have knelt down next to him and scratched him behind his ears.
“You can't just adopt a dog without talking to your dad first, Nathan,” I made myself say instead of petting the puppy.
“I would have! But then he said that about Leonardo and Donatello, and I figured I had no chance. But I couldn't just leave him, either, could I? He was expecting me to come feed him and I was grounded.”
Maybe you shouldn't have gotten yourself grounded.The words lay on the tip of my tongue but I swallowed them down. Berating him now wasn't going to solve the situation, not when I understood so well what was going on. Nathan saw himself as this puppy's caretaker. If he left him, he'd be committing the same crime his mother was guilty of.
“And because you were grounded, you saw no way to feed the dog other than bringing him here,” I concluded for him.
He nodded and hugged the puppy to himself, suddenly looking much younger than he was. “I didn't know what else to do.”
I ran a hand through my hair, looking at both him and the dog. Truth be told, I didn't really know what to do either.
“Just give me a little time,” Nathan pleaded. “Once I'm not grounded anymore, I'll take him outside again.”
“Will you really?” I had my doubts about that. I was usually awful at detecting other people’s lies, but I knew Nathan wouldn't be able to let go so easily, no matter what he said now. That puppy had already wormed his way into Nathan’s heart.
“Look, if you help me, I’ll help you!”
“Help me with what?”
“I can help you get with my dad! I know that you like him.”
“What?” My mouth fell open. Nathan must have been listening to my conversation with Nick. To my end of it, anyway.
“I think he needs someone. Why not you?”
I blinked. Nathan wanting me to 'get with' his dad was about the last thing I'd expected. He was one odd kid for sure. “I'm not going to date your dad, okay?”
“C’mon, I can help you,” Nathan insisted. “I know what he likes!”
“I really don’t need your help.” Considering the way I’d screwed up the day before, maybe I did need help if I didn’t want to get fired, but I certainly didn’t need it from Nathan. I only needed to remember what I’d been taught—all the advice Nick had given me over the years and even what I’d learned from my husband. Jeremiah had spent a lot of time explaining to me how an omega was to behave around alphas.
While my thoughts drifted, Nathan gathered the dog in his arms, stood, and approached me with the fur-bundle. Oh, he was a devious little thing, holding the puppy out to me. “Please, I only need a few days. How can you say no to this little guy?” he asked as the dog tried to reach my face and lick.
Oh, hell.
“You get until the end of the week and then the dog’s gone or you tell your dad about him.” And I was almost certain it was going to end up being the latter.
“Thank you!” Nathan grinned. “You really are all right, you know? I mean, compared to some of the other nannies we've had, at least. And if you stay, I get to keep my pets.” He tilted his head as if thinking about something very hard. “You know, maybe we can work together.”
Work together? “What are you talking about?” I glanced at the door behind me, wondering how much longer I could leave Caleb alone. Did he know about the dog? If he came upstairs to look for me, he soon would. And then Ethan would.
“Just hear me out.” Nathan set the puppy down on the floor from where it proceeded to stare lovingly up at him. Yeah, no way he was going to let the fur ball go again. “I’ll tell you what my dad likes and in exchange… there's... this boy I like. I don't really know how to talk to him. But he's an omega. Andyou'rean omega, right? So you can help me, right?”
Oh dear, did Nathan really want dating advice from me? “I don't know if I can help you with that. I'm pretty bad at it myself.”
“Well, I'm hopeless.” Nathan looked to his feet, the very image of hopelessness.
“Maybe I can help you out alittlebit,” I suggested. “But I still don’t need you to tell me about your dad.” I knew what alphas liked. Alphas liked submissive omegas.
“Whatever you say.” Nathan shrugged. I squinted at him. Somehow, I got the feeling he was plotting something even as he tried to appear as casual as possible. “But you'll help me with that omega?” he asked then, changing the topic on me so quickly I could hardly keep up.
