“Thank you,” I said.
Chloe looked over her shoulder and then sat down on the chair next to us. “For my own curiosities, what are you two? Do you have a label for it yet?”
I shot a look at Gina, but she was too far away from us to hear.
“Mom,” Jess warned.
Chloe shrugged. “Your relationship has progressed in the short time you’ve been here. I want to know that when you leave, my daughter is properly cared for.”
“She—” I started, but Jess silenced me by saying, “Noah, don’t answer that. She’s got her nose where it doesn’t belong.”
Chloe scoffed. “Is it so wrong to have my daughter open up to me?”
“You could have asked me, Mom. Me. You’re making this awkward for everyone now.”
Jess stormed away from us and went to Gina. “Gina, how about a bath before supper?”
She helped Gina put all the shells away into her bucket and took my daughter’s hand, shuffling her inside. She didn’t glance our way, but her jaw was set.
When they disappeared inside, I turned to Chloe. I could have said something to her about her question, but it made me think too. I knew I wanted Jess in my life, but I hadn’t thought much of the logistics of our future together. I wanted us to be more than just nanny and employer, but I wasn’t sure how to make that leap.
Chloe didn’t push the issue, knowing that Jess apparently didn’t want to talk about it. But with our daughters out of earshot, discussing this wouldn’t help anything. Jess explicitly avoided the question, but why?
Chapter Twenty-Six
Jess
I couldn’t believe Mom said that in front of Noah! She was lucky Gina was around or else I would have screamed at her. What was she thinking? Whatever Noah and I were, it was none of her business. And what if Gina had heard? She knew we were keeping our relationship a secret from her for now. Everything was complicated when it came to his daughter. And Mom with her selfish ways almost ruined that for the three of us.
I knew Gina loved me as much as I loved her, but being a nanny was much different than being her mom.
I drew in deep breaths and let them slowly out while I took Gina into the bathroom for her nightly bath. She especially needed it today since she went to the beach. Sand clung to various parts of her body. I had her stand on a towel, and I scrubbed as much off as I could. As pissed as I was at Mom, I wasn’t going to clog her drains with sand. There was already a healthy amount in the pipes from living near the beach and bringing it into the house on a regular basis. Though it would have been an appropriate parting gift from me for almost ruining everything in front of Gina.
“All right,” I said after the tub filled. “Let’s get you cleaned up.”
Gina shivered a little since I’d taken her bathing suit off. But when she got into the tub, she let out a satisfied sigh.
“This is nice,” she said.
I smiled. She always had a way of breaking through any shitty mood I was in. I tried to shove away the picture of the embarrassed look on Noah’s face. It was enough Mom tried to weasel her way into my life, and now she was pushing herself on Noah. It made me sick. I wished there was something I could say to make her stop spewing out the first thing that came to her mind. But that was a lost cause on her. She’d find a way to make everyone around her feel embarrassed.
I cleaned Gina while my mind wandered. I hated how Mom did that to me. We were having a perfectly good day, and she had to ruin it. She was normal all day when we went into town. I could tell how proud she was to show me off to the people who lived nearby. Most of them I didn’t remember, but I didn’t have much of a social life when I lived there full time. I was too busy taking care of Mom and hiding her from everyone in town to have a chance to get to know anyone.
“Can you brush my hair tonight?” Gina asked.
“Sure,” I said.
“I like when you do it,” she said, standing up and allowing me to help her from the tub. “Daddy hurts my hair.”
“That’s probably because Daddy doesn’t have as much hair like you and me and he doesn’t have the practice I do.”
Gina giggled and covered her mouth. Her eyes sparkled as I rubbed the towel over her to dry off her little body. I wrapped it around her then pulled her against me in a tight hug. The very thought of losing Gina made me want to hold onto her longer. Maybe that was why Noah and I hadn’t discussed our future, because there was a chance that if we didn’t work out, my future wouldn’t include her, and I couldn’t bear the thought.
Noah and Mom were still outside after I changed Gina into her pajamas. I closed the door to the bedroom, not even wanting to hear the faint sound of Mom’s voice.
Gina and I sat on the guest room bed with her between my legs. I slowly pulled the comb through her hair, feeling the small pops as I moved through the tangles. She didn’t complain. I knew what she sounded like when Noah did it, and I tried to spare her that agony when I could.
“Did your mom do this when you were little?” she asked.