Алисон Робертс – Single Dad Needs Nanny: Sheriff Needs a Nanny (страница 7)

“He wants to be held,” Trace finished, and she met his gaze in a moment of shared understanding. “I know.”

“Let’s go to the toys. He needs to become engaged in activities that hold his attention. Russ brought over some of his niece’s blocks. He says Carmichael will play with them for an hour or more.”

“Huh?” Trace made a show of turning toward the toys. “Let’s get us some blocks.”

She laughed, and quickly caught up to him. “When are you going to pick up the rest of his stuff?”

He looked blank. “What do you mean?”

“His stuff. For his room. Toys, stuffed animals, wall hangings. Things with color and form to inspire his mind—that stuff.”

“Oh. There wasn’t any of that in what my father-in-law brought.”

“So M—Carmichael has no stuff? That’s kind of sad.” Shocked and saddened by the revelation, Nikki spoke without thinking, but regretted her lack of forethought when she saw the humor fade from his face. She tried to save the moment. “But, hey, that means you get to choose his stuff.”

“Me?” A shadow passed over his features. “I wouldn’t know where to start.”

“It’s easy,” she encouraged him. “What did you have in your room as a kid?”

“Here are the blocks.” Pushing into the toy aisle, he made a point of studying the displays. Finally he said, “My room looked pretty much like Carmichael’s, except with a bed instead of a crib.”

“Oh, Trace,” she whispered. “You’re breaking my heart.”

He glanced at her and his eyes softened. “No need,” he assured her. “You don’t miss what you never knew.”

Caught by his compelling jade gaze, she moved closer. “You have a chance to give him something you never had.”

He nodded, and then moved his gaze down to his side. “You’re touching me, Ms. Rhodes.”

So she was. Both arms were wrapped around his strong arm. Muscles flexed under her fingers as he carefully stepped away.

“Sorry,” she said.

“Yeah.” Reaching for a box of blocks, he changed the subject. Relieved, she followed his lead. For such a tough character he showed vulnerability at the oddest moments. It was clear to her that he needed Mickey as much as Mickey needed him.

She blinked away weak tears. She’d have to stay strong if she meant to help them find each other.

Back at the house, she checked on Mickey while Trace and Russ unloaded everything from the SUV. After Russ took off, she asked Trace, “How did the other nannies make do without this gear?”

He shrugged. “They weren’t around long.”

“It was the rules, right? You probably scared them away with all your rules,” she teased. But she was serious, too. “I prefer to work in an environment with open communication, more give and take.”

“Give and take?” He said the words as if he’d never put them together in the same sentence before.

“Yes. You’re the employer and I’m the employee, but we discuss things and come to a consensus of what’s best for the baby.”

“A consensus?” It wasn’t a question but a low voiced challenge.

“Right. You’ve made it clear you’d prefer to let the baby sleep in the morning while you escape to the sheriff’s station. That’s your side, and of course we could do that. But then there’s my side.”

“You have a side?”

“I do. I’m so glad you’re getting into the spirit of things,” she said through a smile, her tone carefully soft and easy; it was an attitude she maintained as she continued. “My side is I feel so strongly about your spending time with Carmichael that it’s a deal-breaker for me. Either keep to the schedule we agreed on and have breakfast with him in the mornings, or you can find yourself another nanny.”

The silence that followed screamed through the living room. Nikki dug her fingernails into the flesh of her palms to keep from squirming under his ferocious stare.

“I don’t react well to threats, Ms. Rhodes.”

“You know, I’m not really surprised to hear that.” No understatement there. She lifted her chin and informed him, “I feel the same way about being blown off.”

“Ms. Rhodes—” Ice encrusted her name.

“Mr. Oliver?” She gave chill as good as she got. He needed to know she was serious about this. “Think of it as the terms of my employment. And it’s non-negotiable.”

“It’s a bluff. You said yourself you care about Carmichael.”

“Which is why this is so important. I won’t stand by and watch him decline further for lack of a steady influence in his life.”

“You—”

“Stop.” She held up a hand, palm out. “We’ve already established I won’t be here for more than a few months. He needs the person who is going to be here that first day of school, when he learns to drive, and the day he turns eighteen. That, Mr. Oliver, is you.”

Unable to dispute the truth, he stood silently glowering.

“Morning sessions with your son are the perfect opportunity to get to know each other better. Show him some attention and he’ll love you unconditionally. It’s pretty hard to mess that up.”

“But what if I do? Mess it up?” he asked, with a concern that revealed a raw vulnerability his gruff attitude had concealed.

Her heart was wrung at the evidence of his fear of failing his son. She could think of no other reason why such a strong willed and private man would open himself to her. More than ever she renewed her vow to help father and son connect.

“I’ll help you.”

“The first thing you need to do is take off your shirt.” Nikki opened a jar of baby food, poured the peaches into a bowl and set it on the table next to where Mickey sat sleepyeyed in his highchair at the end of the table.

Out of near identical green eyes, Trace sent her a candid stare. “Must we go over the rules again, Ms. Rhodes?”

“Please. You have a one-track mind. I was thinking of your cleaning bill, not your manly form. You can take it off now or change it later. First lesson in feeding your child: babies are not neat.”

“Thanks for the warning.” Trace stripped off his khaki shirt and draped it over the back of the couch.

“Hey, I’m here to help.” Nikki admired the snug fit of pristine white cotton stretched over wide shoulders when he returned to the dining area. She shook her head silently mourning the T-shirt’s pending desecration. Oh, well, neat and tidy was an ongoing battle when you had kids.

“You take that side—” she waved Trace to a seat close to the highchair “—and I’ll sit over here.” They settled across from each other at the table on either side of Mickey.

“Okay, go ahead and give him a bite. Second lesson is never leave the baby unattended with the food, or you’ll be cleaning the whole kitchen.”

Trace took the bowl of puréed peaches, dipped the baby spoon in it and held it out to Mickey.

Mickey looked from the spoon to Trace, to her. He did not open his mouth.

“Move it closer,” she encouraged Trace. “That’s good,” she said, when the spoon reached within an inch of Mickey’s little mouth. “Sometimes you really have to shovel it in, but I’d rather he came to the food this first time between you.”

Instead of going for the bite of peaches, the boy pushed away, leaning his head on the back of the highchair.

Huh? Nikki glanced over at Trace, to find him watching her with a “what now?” expression.

“Maybe he doesn’t like peaches?” he offered.

“No. A lot of baby food is orange. Carrots, sweet potatoes, apricots—they make a whole guessing game of it at baby showers. I suppose if he didn’t like one of those your mother-in-law may have catered to him and not fed him any orange foods. Did they leave a list of his preferences?”

“No. She wasn’t in any shape to put anything like that together, and my father-in-law was too overwhelmed to think beyond dropping the baby off.”

“Of course. That’s understandable.”

“There was nothing but formula and cereal in his diaper bag. There may have been some food in the refrigerator at my in-laws I could have picked up when I got his stuff last weekend, but I didn’t think to look.”

“She was still feeding him formula?”

“Yeah.” He angled his head to the right. “There are several cans in the cupboard.”

“If she still had him on formula maybe she hadn’t even started him on baby food yet. Basic rule of thumb is formula for the first year, adding baby cereal at three or four months, and moving to baby food and other solids around seven to nine months.”

Trace’s jaw clenched and his eyebrows lowered in a grim scowl. Anger and shame flashed in his eyes, and she knew he blamed himself at this further evidence of his mother-in-law’s smothering influence.

“Listen, those are just parameters. Like my sister says, there are as many theories as there are doctors. Mickey isn’t suffering from malnutrition.”