Page 9 of The Wedding Planner's Manny
I knew I was lucky.
“Of course I'm here for you,” Nick said, simply. “I'm just glad you decided to leave that place in the end. Everything's going to be better from here on out, okay? Being pregnant isn't going to change that.”
“Okay.”
For a minute or two, we sat in silence, both of us contemplating the road ahead. Eventually, Nick spoke up again. “Are you going to tell him?” he asked, his voice soft, as if afraid of my response.
I shook my head. “I can't.” I wasn't sure if that was the right thing to do, I only knew that I had to protect my baby.
Nick exhaled audibly. Looked like he was on board with my decision. “I'm so glad we can agree on this one thing.”
“We agree on more than one thing.”
“We do?”
“We agree that anchovies are evil,” I reminded him. “And that penguins are ridiculously cute.”
“I do have a soft spot for penguins. And I believe that ruining a perfectly good pizza with anchovies should be punishable by law.”
I laughed. My brother had always had strong feelings about pizza. And anchovies. And so many other things. But I liked that about him. He wasn't easily shaken, and he would help me get through this. I still had to start standing on my own feet, though. “I guess I need to get a job. I can't mooch off Dean forever, especially not when I have a child to raise.” I suppressed a sigh. Earning money was going to be even harder after the baby was born. I had a college degree in journalism, but since I'd married right after graduating, I had no actual experience working in the field.AndI was a pregnant omega.
Trying to get hired anywhere was going to be a nightmare.
Judging by the look on my brother's face, he knew what was going through my head. It wasn't too long ago that he'd been faced with a similar problem. “I'm sure we can find something for you to do,” he said anyway. “Start small, work our way up.” His eyes searched me as if wondering what talents I might be hiding, but then, suddenly, his face lit up.
“Oh, no. I know that look. You just had a terrible idea.” I wasn't the greatest at reading people, but I knew my twin.
“I had an idea, but it's not a terrible idea. It's agreatidea.”
I studied my brother with the most doubtful expression I could muster. “You mean like that time you pretended to have a husband?”
He shrugged. “That worked out well for me in the end, didn't it?”
Touché. I had to give him that. But even when his plans worked out in his favor, they didn't usually work out the way he'dintendedthem. Still, he was my brother and I had to hear him out, at least.
“Okay, what's your idea?”
Nick grinned as if Christmas had come early. “My wedding planner needs a new nanny. Or, manny, I guess. You'd be perfect for the job! And when your kid is born, you could just take them along!”
I had to admit that didn’t sound like atotallydumb idea.
I really had no clue what I was getting myself into by taking my brother up on his suggestion.
Or who I would meet.
4
R H Y S
Nick made an appointment with his wedding planner for me before he ever told me who his wedding planner was. If I'd heard the name beforehand, honestly? I might have called the whole thing off.
Nick's wedding planner was Ethan Probst.
That was a name I hadn't heard in a long time, but definitely one I'd never forgotten.
Ethan was a few years older than me and my brother so Nick had probably never interacted with him when we were children, but I'd met him when our parents had sent me to summer camp. I needed to get out more and make friends, they'd said. Personally, I never wanted to go.Especiallynot without my brother, but I hadn't been given a choice. At ten years old, I'd had to do what my parents thought was best for me.
And I'd hated every minute of it. The group activities, the forced and fake camaraderie, the strictly enforced time for lights-out when I still wanted to read...
