Page 10 of The Wedding Planner's Manny
Keeping mostly to myself, I made about as many friends there as I did back at school. The whole thing was a waste of time and energy, really, so I decided to make my own fun one day. I didn't like the concept of summer camp, but I did like being out in the woods. There were a lot of interesting plants and bugs to study all around me, after all.
Chasing after a particularly pretty butterfly—a bright yellow one—I found myself stumbling down a hill and scraping my knees.
And that's how I first met Ethan.
I'dseenhim before of course. He was one of the junior counselors at our camp, and he was also one of the most popular kids back in Oceanport.
Of course he was.
He was an alpha and he had that perfect blond hair and body and he was athletic too, captain of the football team. He had more friends than he could probably keep count of.
In short, he was everything I was never going to be.
But he saw me fall, and he was kind enough to run after me to see if I was okay.
To be honest, I was so stunned that I wasn't completely invisible to him that I didn't manage to open my mouth for a full minute while he looked at my knees. I didn't even hear what he was saying, although I saw his mouth opening and closing.
The first words to get through to me were, “You're Rhys, right?”
I never thought he knew my name, and yet, somehow he did. “Uh... yes, that's... I'm Rhys.”
“C'mon, we should get that cleaned up,” he said, helping me to my feet. Clumsily, I got up and followed him, still a little off kilter from my fall—and from the fact that I was suddenly expected to interact with one of the coolest kids around.
Ethan led me to a water fountain and cleaned up my scrapes, all while I stared at him silently. At this point, he must have thought I was a little dumb, but he still treated me with nothing but kindness. And then he put a Band-Aid on my knee.
A Band-Aid with butterflies on it.
I still hated summer camp, but I didn't hate it quite as much anymore after that. In fact, I signed up voluntarily the next two years.
All thanks to a silly little crush on a boy who waswayout of my league—but who never stopped being nice to me, even when everyone else sneered at the nerdy omega without social skills.
And now, more than a decade later, I was standing in front of the door to his house to apply for a job as his manny. My hand hovered in mid-air, because I couldn't quite get myself to knock. I'd spent my whole way here wondering what Ethan might look like today, as a single dad. I'd changed; he must have too.
There was no reason this had to be awkward, though. When I was being honest, I couldn't even really expect him to recognize or remember me. My childhood crush had been very much one-sided. Even as a kid, I'd had no illusions about that. He might have noticed me staring at him when he walked by, but the way he looked, he must have had a lot of boys and girls staring after him.
Get over yourself, Rhys. You're here for a job so you can support your unborn child. That mattersmore than a little embarrassment.
And being late wouldn't make a good first impression, so I finally made myself knock.
Taking a deep breath, I listened for footsteps approaching from the other side of the door. When it opened, I came face to face with a child who looked an awful lot like Ethan when he was younger.
This must be his son. One of his sons. I'd heard he had two. This was the older one then.
“You here for the interview?” he asked, blue eyes slightly narrowed.
“Yes, I am. I'm Rhys, nice to meet you.” I offered the boy my hand, but he didn't take it. Instead he just turned and called back into the house.
“Dad! That guy you were waiting for is here!”
“Come into the kitchen!” an adult voice called back. Definitely an alpha's voice. Must be Ethan.
The boy looked at me and nodded in the direction the voice had come from. “You heard him.” With that he slunk back inside the house and up the stairs. He obviously had no interest in leading me to the kitchen.
Delightful.
Soldiering on, I found the way to the kitchen by myself. The door stood open and I spotted Ethan at the kitchen island, preparing coffee. “Hello,” I spoke up. “You must be Mr. Probst? I'm here to apply for the position of your manny.”
Ethan looked up. His blue eyes studied me with interest, but I couldn't tell if he remembered me as the boy who had a crush on him or not. “I'm so glad you could come,” he said told me with an easy smile.
