Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 72702 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 364(@200wpm)___ 291(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72702 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 364(@200wpm)___ 291(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
Tiffany.
Skye’s mom.
The person he’d been looking for since he’d hired me.
Maddie sighed, raking her fingers through her long blonde hair. “Do you honestly think he’s going to welcome her into his home with open arms?”
Pain lashed through my chest. “I don’t know,” I admitted.
“Oh, come on,” she said. “That’s bullshit, and you know it.” I gaped at her, and she shrugged. “You know he’s not going to let her waltz back into his and Skye’s life. He loves Skye more than anything on the planet. Anyone can see that. He’s not going to let the woman who left her on his doorstep have anything to do with her.”
Anger sizzled in my stomach. “It’s complicated, Maddie,” I said, and she eyed me. “It is. Regardless of how we view her and what she did, she’s her biological mother. There are rights she has, and I have no idea what she wants.” I didn’t stick around long enough to find out. I’d hit my pain threshold about an hour before she showed up. “And I have no rights. Zero. I can’t stomp over there afer days gone and kick her out.” If she was still there. I mean, she had this amazing, gorgeous, healthy baby girl, and she had no idea who she was. She didn’t know what songs she liked or what her favorite onesie was or how she smiled when I did voices for her stories.
“Maybe she regrets what she did,” I said. “Maybe she wants to learn all the things about Skye she’s missed out on. Maybe she wants forgiveness or closure or a second chance. Whatever the reason, it’s none of my business.”
And that truth hurt like a bitch. A real cold bitch that stung my chest every time I breathed since I walked out.
Not only did I miss Skye, but I missed Brogan even though I was furious at him. Furious at him for making me fall for him, making me question my own boundaries when it came to commitment, only to end up tagging me as the convenient choice in the end.
“You’re her nanny, still, right?” Maddie asked. “You’ve just been on a break. That gives you some rights. At least enough to check on her and see what the situation is.”
I sighed, shaking my head. “I texted Evie before I left that night,” I said, swallowing hard. “She’s agreed to help with Skye while I....” Brogan didn’t even have the decency to fire me himself. Instead, he’d let me replace myself with Evie without a second thought. But I had thoughts. Lots of them. And more were questions than answers. Maybe Evie would be there just long enough to maneuver Tiffany back into the fold, or maybe it was until he’d hired a new nanny. Someone who would no doubt fall for him just as easily as I did.
Oh, hello, fucking bitter, how delightfully you go with coffee.
“I love you, Fiona,” Maddie said. “But you need to get your shit together.”
I scoffed at her, and she grinned at me. “I’m not saying you’re not allowed to wallow, because we’ve all been there. But you know you love this man,” she said, and I cringed. “I’ve never seen you with anyone like this. You’re not just happy, you’re passionate, excited. You practically glowed whenever you were around him.”
I mimed her digging a knife into my chest, and she rolled her eyes. “I support you no matter what. You want to rage at him? Want to think he said those words to hurt you? Fine. I’ll be ready to slash his tires after my shift today. Daisy will bring the knives.” I grinned just a little at that. “But, if you want to do some serious soul searching—not the wallowing you’ve been doing—and dig yourself out of all that commitment baggage and realize that you’ll never make the choices your mother has made? Then I’ll be right here with tissues and chocolate too.”
I loved her, but I hated her because she made all the right points. I shoved my cleaned plate out of the way and leaned my forehead against her table. “And if I don’t know what the hell to think or do?”
“Then you can stay here as long as you want,” she said. “I know you have your place still, but it’s okay to not want to be alone right now. This is deep stuff, and I’m here.” She pushed away from the table and hugged me before she headed toward the front door, dressed for her shift. “One piece of advice?” she called from where she hovered in the opened doorway.
I turned, looking at her with hope in my eyes. It would be so easy if my best friend could make all the hard decisions for me. “Yeah?”
“If you’re going to take some time to sort things out,” she said. “Maybe you should work on yourself too. Let yourself experience a job outside of Skye and Brogan. It might help you get perspective on whether you truly were just a job to him or not, and your own feelings too.”