It shocked Keenan she didn’t seem to recognize him. Damn if that didn’t hurt his ego. Her calling him Mr. also didn’t help. Being a single dad for the past three years might have aged him, but he still had two years left in his twenties.
“Please, call me Keenan.”
She stared at him for a moment, and her cheeks turned crimson. “I’m supposed to meet Tommy today?” her full lips moved, but it took him a few extra seconds to process her words.
He took a step back and said, “I’m sorry I’m not dressed. I thought you’d come by this afternoon? But please, come in.”
She passed him in the doorway and seemed unsure for a moment before she righted her shoulders and said, “I’m sorry, but didn’t you ask me to come over in the morning?”
Had he said that? His mind had been all over the place during their phone call. She was probably right. “I’m sorry, my bad.”
A minty scent followed her inside his home. And a lingering smell of… cigarettes.
“You’re a smoker?” he said with a scrunched up nose.
She whirled around in the middle of his hallway and her lime green sundress swished. Ryleigh met his eyes. “Not anymore. I put out my last one,” she glanced at her watch, “Five minutes and forty-five seconds ago.”
Uh-huh. One brow rose to his inky, damp strands of hair.
She waved her hand in the air and said, “You don’t believe me. It’s written all over your face.”
“I just didn’t expect you to smoke, that’s all. But if you don’t smoke around my son, or in the house, I’ve got no problem with it.”
“I knew you didn’t believe that I’ve quit,” she said with a smile that lit up her face, like she prided herself in already reading him like an open book.
He closed the front door behind him and took a step in the kitchen's direction, where he heard Tommy mimicking racecar sounds. He tightened his already firm grip on the knot in his towel when he passed her on his way to his son.
“Come, let’s introduce you to Tommy so I can put some clothes on.”
Had he imagined that cute blush creeping up her cheeks following his words? Okay, opening the door half naked hadn’t been the most professional way to welcome his new nanny into his home.
If he’d known it was Ryleigh, he’d made sure to be dressed before answering the door. He took a deep breath through his nose and suddenly worried if it had been a great idea to offer Ryleigh this job. She would live full time with them. Will he be walking on eggshells from now on? Trying to go out of his way to ignore his attraction to her?
“Tommy, can you come out here, please? I want you to meet someone.”
His son shouted from the kitchen, “I don’t want to.”
Inwardly rolling his eyes, Keenan stomped over to the kitchen doorway. His laser eyes brooked no argument as he said, “Now.”
At moments like this, Keenan wondered if Tommy’s attitude got worse the longer his mother was out of the picture or if it simply was a normal five-year-old way of communicating. His family and friends all knew the score with Tommy. Although sometimes willful, he was a great kid with a big heart. A heart that’d been broken by the one person who was supposed to always be there for him. Guilt twisted Keenan’s insides. Maybe if he’d tried harder, watched the signs better… Evangeline wouldn’t have felt she needed to leave.
Keenan wasn’t sure how and if Tommy’s heart could ever fully mend again. Much like his own lump of cardiac muscle beating in his chest.
A whirlwind of golden hair ran past Keenan into the hallway where Ryleigh had waited on them. Tommy skidded to a complete standstill and stared at the woman.
“Hi, you’re Tommy, right?”
Ryleigh waved at his son, flashing her matching vivid green fingernails.
With Ryleigh’s attention on Tommy, Keenan took a moment to admire her animated chatter with his son. Her bright eyes transfixed on Tommy, whose posture relaxed the more the conversation went on. He really should put some clothes on, but the idea of leaving Tommy alone for a few minutes agitated him. Funny how the tables had turned. Tommy was usually the one who didn’t like Keenan going anywhere, terrified he’d leave just like his mom.
“Yuck, I hate green.”
Keenan opened his mouth to scold Tommy, but Ryleigh laughed and jumped in with a question, without looking at Keenan for guidance.
“Oh, and is green the only color you hate?” she said, smiling and not the least bothered by Tommy’s obvious dig at her green nails and dress.
“Orange.” Tommy scrunched up his nose.