Brie looks up and smiles. “Hi, Daddy,” she waves at me, then to my surprise, goes back to her game.
I let out a stunned laugh, a tiny bit stung by the snub. “What, no hug?”
“Da-deee,” she complains, dragging out the second syllable in the way only a little girl can, “We’re playing!”
Ava looks up at me and flashes an apologetic smile. “Aww, it’s ok, we can pause for a second,” she tells Brie, “Go give your daddy a hug!”
Brie sighs, dramatically plunks down her doll, then marches over and throws her tiny arms around my legs. I reach down and scoop her up, pulling her into a real hug and laughing. “Does this mean you had a good day with Ava?” I ask her.
She nods, then leans in to whisper conspiratorially into my ear: “I like Ava better than Miss Nina.”
I chuckle. “That’s good, sweetheart.”
“Can I go play some more now?” she asks, eyeing the panda and fidgeting in my arms.
“I don’t know, baby, Ava might have to leave,” I glance at Ava.
I’d told her she’d be free to go at five, or whenever one of us (usually me) got home to take over, and I’m not sure what nights are her last ones at the restaurant.
“I can stay,” she says hastily, “I’m off tonight, and otherwise it’s just me heading home to my apartment.”
I can see something in her eyes that tells me the words are completely sincere, and I realize she’s a little lonely. I set Brie down, and she immediately goes back to playing with her little panda doll. “Living alone can be kinda tough, huh?”
Ava nods. “I actually haven’t been doing it for too long,” she admits, “Only about the last eight months.”
A flash of grief passes over her face, and I wonder what happened to change her living situation. And while my own wasn’t exactly the same, I can still sympathize. Going from having Sarah beside me to suddenly being the single father of a six-month-old had been a difficult adjustment.
She looks over at Brie, who has now taken over Ava’s raccoon character as well as her own panda. “Guess my position has been eliminated,” she says with a laugh.
“Only as playmate,” I assure her, “Wanna turn on the baby monitor and come join me while I make some dinner?”
She rises to her feet, but even at full height, she’s tiny. “Sure.”
I turn on the monitor and make sure the other end is looped into my belt, just in case. Since the house is all one floor and well babyproofed, I’m not too worried about leaving Brie in another room for a while, there’s nothing she can get into.
The two of us leave her to her game and I lead Ava into the kitchen, where I set to work on dinner. “What can I do to help?” she offers immediately.
“Nothing,” I tell her, shaking my head, “We hired you as a nanny, not a cook.”
“Doesn’t mean I can’t help,” she chuckles.
I wave her off. “I’ve got it. Did you want to stay and join us for dinner?”
“Thanks, but I don’t want to impose.”
“Well, offer’s open anytime,” I assure her, “Cooking for one can’t be much fun.”
She sighs. “No kidding. Although it wasn’tmucheasier when it was my mom and me.”
“Yeah, I get that, it was like that when it was just me and Brie.”
Ava looks surprised. “Oh, you and Rudy didn’t-” she cuts off suddenly and blushes.
“Didn’t what?”
“I’m sorry, I don’t want to sound rude, I just figured the two of you adopted her together or used a surrogate or something,” she explains.
I realize we’d kind of never given her any reason to think anything differently, so the assumptions make perfect sense. “No, actually, Rudy and I only got together about a year ago,” I explain, “We were friends for a long time before that. We actually met through my late wife, Sarah.”