I could see the writing on the bathroom stall, as Lindsey would say.
Ally would rekindle the relationship Jack and her had shared back in high school. Jack cared so much about Ben that he’d probably do anything, including getting half-heartedly into a relationship if he thought it was best for his son.
And there I’d be. The nanny he’d put his dick in that one time. The reminder that for a moment, he’d thought of himself and not put Ben first. I’d be a guilty reminder he’d be eager to push from his view as soon as he could.
The sound of a vulgar swearing-spree made me jump from my thoughts. Jack had invited me to join him, the Rose brothers, and their wives for some kind of golf driving game. It was my first time coming to this sort of place, and as someone who had absolutely zero ability in hitting golf balls, it was surprisingly fun. If I could get out of my own head, that was.
Chris Rose had just hit a ball that ricocheted off the metallic ball feeder, then the ceiling, then his skull. He was hopping around and furiously rubbing at his scalp as Belle alternated between laughing and cooing in wifely sympathy.
Spending time around Chris and Jack was teaching me that professional athletes with superhuman coordination and reflexes were still apparently clumsy goofs when they weren’t in their element. I had to admit it was humanizing to watch Jack bang his head on the same doorway he’d crashed into fifty times.
I watched Belle laugh as she hugged Chris’ broad shoulders and felt a little pang of remorse.
Maybe there was a world where I’d be that woman for Jack someday. I’d get to laugh and soothe my clumsy boyfriend. My clumsy husband. I’d joke with my friends about how I was the only thing keeping him in one piece. Maybe my belly would be swollen to ridiculous proportions with his baby inside me, too.
I shook my head quickly, trying my best to escape that line of thought. It was dangerous, crazy, actually. It also wasn’t doing me any favors given my current predicament.
I watched Jack line up to his hit shot. He was wearing a polo that looked way too good to be fair on him. My eyes were drawn to the aggressive cuts of muscles on his arms and especially his forearms. As a girl who had always had a thing for forearms, I thought you couldn’t do much better than a professional pitcher.
Jack hit a hilariously bad shot that hooked so aggressively I thought it might boomerang back to us if the nets on either side of the range weren’t in the way.
Damon was sitting on the outdoor couch a couple seats away from me beside Chelsea. All the kids were with babysitters—or in Ben’s case, with his mom.
Damon was wearing a dress shirt and tie, because the man hardly ever looked less than professional. “How is the nanny job going?” he asked.
I shrugged. “Good?”
I’d tried my best to sound like I would if nothing at all was wrong, but apparently Damon was too good at reading people for my attempt to work. I could tell from the way he was scrutinizing me that he saw straight through the lie. I just wondered how clearly he was seeing the truth.
He returned his expression to neutral, taking a sip of his drink. “How is Jack handling things?”
“Haven’t you two talked about it?”
Damon shook his head. “Jack is tight-lipped, to say the least. It was a miracle Chris and I got him to agree to this whole nanny arrangement in the first place. I knew he’d keep me in the dark about how it was going.”
“There’s nothing to tell. I watch Ben, he pays me. End of story.”
Damon side-eyed me as he finished the last of his drink and then got up to take his shot. Ironically, Damon was by far the best golfer of the three men, even though he was the only one who wasn’t a professional athlete. Even more amusing, Belle was a better golfer than the three of them put together, even with her pregnant belly in the way.
“Sorry about him,” Chelsea said. “Damon is incredibly loyal to the people he cares about. At the expense of everything else,” she added with a little shrug. “I think right now, he sees you as the ‘everything else’ category.”
Why did it feel like everybody I’d met recently saw me as the thing they could afford to sacrifice to protect what really mattered? I smiled, though, nodding as if I wasn’t bothered. “He’s fine. Business is business. I get it.”
Jack sat down beside me. “You ladies are talking business?”
“Not really, no.”
“We’re talking about how Damon is a grouch,” Chelsea said, smirking.
“Yeah, no shit,” Jack grunted. He scooped up a nacho from the table and ate it.