Page 6 of Nanny For My Daddy's Best Friend

“Newport. It’s in Oregon, about an hour away from Portland. I know it would be a change for you and your son. A big change,” he started, but I cut him off before he could get much further.

“I’ll take it. I’ll have to drive up, so it’ll take me four or five days to get there.”

Despite how terrible this was going to be, it was also perfect. He lived on the other side of the country. I had never been to Oregon, so I had no idea what Newport was like. Nor had I ever heard of it. But it wasn’t in Miami. There was no threat of having to run into Adam or my parents. It was a chance for a fresh start. Even if it was for eight months, it would still give me time to figure out what I wanted to do with my life.

The biggest concern was obviously Liam discovering the truth about Jeremy, but I could avoid that hopefully easily enough. He didn’t look like Liam, and as long as there were no similarities between Jeremy and his half-brother, then Liam would have no reason to suspect anything.

“Take all the time you need. I’ll text you my address, and you can let me know when you are close. Is this your car?” he asked with a nod in its direction.

“No, it was a rental one that Adam wanted to use. He wanted all of the wedding party’s cars to look the same.”

It was stupid and to me seemed like a waste of money, but whatever.

“I can give you a ride back to your home if you’d like,” he offered, and I could tell he was just as uncomfortable with that idea as I was, but really, what other choice did I have?

“I would appreciate that. Thanks.”

Oh, this was a terrible idea, but I wasn’t going to be stuck on the side of the road. I had no cell signal back here. Thankfully, I was smart enough to leave my purse in the car when I had arrived at the church to get dressed. Maybe subconsciously I had been planning on running this whole time. Who knows? What I needed to focus on was getting through this car ride, and hopefully I would be able to get on the road for Newport without Adam getting to the house first.

Liam

Yup,thiswasnothow I was expecting for my day to go. Go to a wedding, have a few drinks, eat some food, have some cake, simple right? Nope. Instead, I am taking the runaway bride to her home before she would pack up and drive to Oregon to be my nanny. I was aiding and abetting a fugitive. Francis was going to lose his shit when he discovered what I was doing. Fuck, I didn’t even want to think about how that conversation was going to go. Or yelling match would be more like it.

“You said your son’s name was Christian?” she asked, breaking the tense silence between us.

“It is. He’s three. He was born May nineteenth. And your son’s name?”

“Jeremy. He was born August twenty-eighth.”

Shit they were close. Three months roughly apart. Hopefully, they would get along. It would be good for Christian to have someone to play with during the day. He got to go to a park, but it wasn’t the same thing. He didn’t have a set friend. I was hoping come school time he would be able to make friends and we could have some playdates set up.

“Does he have a set routine?”

That was something I was very strict on. I wanted Christian to be on a routine, so he was getting proper sleep, food, and play time. It was vital to our family dynamic, and it was something that Jasmine was going to have to adapt to. Hopefully, her son’s routine would work with Christian’s and it would be a smooth transition for them.

“Not really,” she simply said, and I was shocked..

How could she not have a routine for her three-year-old son? Does she just let him do whatever he wanted? Surely, there was a routine.

“You don’t have a set schedule that you do for him?”

“What, like when he eats or goes to bed?” she asked, slightly confused, and it concerned me that she needed clarification on this.

“Exactly.”

“Not really. If he’s hungry, then I feed him something. He normally goes to bed around eight or nine, somewhere around there. It just depends on how long he napped or if he didn't nap. And sometimes we are watching a movie or out playing. He always brushes his teeth, and I try to get him in the bath every couple of days, but sometimes we forget and do it the next day.”

Holy shit. I was really regretting this. I figured she would have had some form of a routine for Jeremy. Wasn’t that standard for every parent, especially a first-time parent? I knew she had a more free-spirited personality, but I would have thought that tightened up once she gave birth. Apparently, not.

“Christian is on a tight schedule. I’ll make sure to write it down for you to follow.”

After that, I wasn’t so sure how well these next eight months would go over. She might also not last. I didn’t know what types of jobs she’s had in the past four years, but she bounced around a great deal when I met her. Given her nature, she might not be able to stay too long in one job. I would need to keep an eye out for a replacement so I would be ready for when she up and left.

“I will make sure he sticks with it,” she gave me a tight smile, and I could tell she wanted to say something, but she was biting her lip.

It didn’t matter what she had to say. I wasn’t about to change who I was. I wasn’t about to change how I parented. There was going to be a learning curve on her part, and I was going to have to find some patience when dealing with her until she got used to the routine.

“Have you been to Oregon?” Fuck, conversation has to get easier right?

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