I shook my head, “No, she’s gone to visit my aunt for the week.”
“So, we’ll be alone.”
“With the kids,” I reminded her.
She nodded, “Sure, with the children.”
I knew with that statement as we walked to the car, that she had the same thing on her mind. Besides, I had a live-in nanny, and she could keep an eye on the kids for an hour or two. While I played with Nia and it wouldn’t be with dolls, it would be skin-to-skin, not like back in the hall.
Chapter Eight
Nia
As soon as we entered the house, Gia grabbed Alex’s hand and took him to her playroom. Our one-bedroom apartment that accommodates all of us, felt like a drop in the ocean compared to his house.
“How come your mom’s here? What about her place?”
“Oh, she sold it. You know, when dad died there were too many memories. Besides she’s been helping me with Gia, and she spends more time traveling now that she’s older rather than being here.”
“Makes sense.”
“I don’t mind.”
I laughed, “Living with your mom?”
He took my hand and said, “Yes, why not? I don’t mind female company once in a while.”
I took my hand back shyly, “You were never in short supply of that.” He shook his head, and the mood changed as he started to walk around the room. I could tell that he had something on his mind and I wondered if it was the kids or what I had said about his fan base back in high school? I followed him around the house, but he was going in the opposite direction that the kids went a few seconds ago.
“What about the kids?”
“Olivia’s here, she’ll see to them.”
Then out of nowhere, this young girl popped up.
“Hi, I’m Olivia. Gia’s nanny. Hey, Hunter.”
He smiled at her and then I introduced myself.
“I’m Nia. Pleased to meet you.”
She nodded and then directed to Hunter, “I’ll stay with the kids. Are they in Gia's playroom?”
“I think that's where she was heading. Thanks.”
Once I saw the dark-haired girl that must have been a few years younger than him leave the hallway, I was tempted to ask why he just happened to pop to my house on a Saturday afternoon without an invitation. Even worse, how the hell did he knew whe
re I lived?
“You heard from the girls since yesterday?”
I shook my head and as we moved from the white hallway, where he dropped his phone on the center table and then into the living room. It had a piano in the corner, and then memories of Hunter playing and even saying that he would consider playing professionally entered my mind. It seemed to draw me to it like a magnet as I thought about the times I would come to his house and hear him play. Letting every piece of frustration out on the piano. He could put every part of himself into a piece. Then again, there wasn’t anything that this man wasn’t talented in, especially the way that he used to make me feel in and out of the bedroom.
“No,” I whispered as I thought about what happened yesterday. I didn’t realize that he was now standing behind me.
“Do you want me to play you something?”
Then he sat down and smiled like he used to do before. The smile that used to make me forget about my home life. I had a mom who didn’t even know which one of her past boyfriends could be my dad. A mom that spent her time being social, rather than being a mother. Maybe that’s why she took care of Alex. Part of her felt guilty about my childhood. It was a conversation that I wanted to have with her, but I just never found the right moment.