So I told her.
Her smile softened, and she leaned into my side as the movie played on, pressing her fluffy pink blanket to her nose.
And instead of doing any more work, I set my phone down on the coffee table and smoothed a hand over her hair, letting the moment settle.
The couch was warm. The room was quiet. And even though I knew this was just a temporary job, for the moment, I felt happier and more content than I’d been in a long time.
13
THEO
A soft knocklanded on my office door on Thursday morning, just as I was finishing a set of notes for an upcoming deposition.
“Come in,” I called, looking toward the glass door.
“Morning, Theo,” my secretary Linda said, stepping inside with a folder tucked against her chest. Her curly black hair was pulled into its usual half-up twist, and she wore the same no-nonsense expression she always had whenever she was about to remind me of something I’d inevitably forgotten.
“You got another application for the nanny position this morning. It looks promising, so I moved it to the top of the stack.”
“Right.” I blinked at her, my brain struggling to catch up. “The nanny position.” I’d somehow spaced the fact that I still needed to fill it.
This whole week had hit like a freight train—court hearings, client calls stacked on top of each other, early mornings prepping cases. I’d barely had time to eat lunch, much lessfigure out who was going to take care of my daughter next week.
And with Nora taking such effortless care of Charlotte, I’d all but forgotten it wasn’t her actual job.
Linda lowered herself into the chair across from me. “Since your current sitter is only scheduled through tomorrow, I wanted to check in. Do you want me to start arranging interviews?”
I blew out a breath, rubbing the tight spot between my brows. “Let me look through the applications over lunch. I’ll let you know.”
“Of course.” She nodded, brisk and efficient as she handed me the folder. “I put the strongest candidates at the top. Background checks are included.”
“Thank you.”
An hour later, I finally had time to look at the first application. It was from a woman in her fifties with good experience and strong references. The second was decent, too.
Then I got to the third application.
At first, I thought I’d imagined the name at the top.
Nora Miller.
A double take. A squint. A small, disbelieving laugh.
No way.
I scanned farther down the page and… yep. Not a coincidence. A photo of Nora appeared next to her résumé, bright smile, auburn curls, the whole thing. The same woman who’d been watching Charlotte all week.
Warmth spread through my chest before I could stop it.
Because if this was real and not a practical joke from Linda, Nora would actually be perfect.
I grabbed my phone and typed out a message before I could talk myself out of it.
Me: Hey, I was just looking through the applications for the nanny job and saw you applied. Are you actually interested? Because if so, I’d definitely love to talk about this tonight when I get home.
I stared at the screen, heart pounding as I waited.
A few minutes later, my phone buzzed.