She looks weary and even at this late hour, without so much as a stitch of makeup, there’s no one more beautiful in the world.
My eyes stay on her a little too long for her comfort, her leg shaking in response. Am I really scaring her? It’s not necessarily a bad thing.
"Nothing that's going to concern you and especially not your safety," I add, trying to calm her down, putting a stop to whatever crazy ideas about me and my work her mind might be extrapolating right now.
She smiles in the direction of Luca who's supposed to be in bed. "This must be Luca. My dad told me his name."
Cassandra kneels down and slowly moves toward my boy. She actually waddles like a duck, even quacking a bit, but it does something to Luca that no one has ever done on the first time he meets them. He smiles.
I knew she was the one for my boy…and not just my son. Me.
The two of them quickly get acquainted and I'm surprised to see how good she is with children considering she’s never had any herself. Not yet at least, but I’m going to do whatever I need to to make that change.
She’s able to persuade Luca to run up to his room and tells him that she'll meet him up there.
"I saw his room as I was going to your office for the interview. Is there anything else I should know while watching him? I know how to take care of a two-year-old but, you never know when it comes to allergies or whatever else."
"Nothing you need to know. He's a straightforward kid. You're good with him."
She laughs. "I've only had one interaction with him."
"I can tell. It's not hard to tell when someone's bad with kids or if they're good with kids. It comes off right away."
"What were you going to say before, you know, the bum comment in regards to my clothes."
"I was going to tell you you like nice…pretty. Maybe even beautiful. Why do you ask?"
I doubt she's expecting the forwardness. Perhaps she's trying to catch me off guard or something. That's a game that she's not going to want to play with me, because I'm never filtered. What you see is what you get.
"I was just curious."
"What because I was looking at you in your bra and panties before? Maybe I shouldn’t have been looking, but you were already eighteen then, an adult. I see a woman that is strikingly beautiful standing before me in a bra and panties I'm going to look. It's not like I touched you or anything." I leave out the part that she’s not ‘a woman that is strikingly beautiful’…she’s theonlyone that could freeze me in my tracks like that.
As we're talking, I hear a thumping sound moving down the stairs. The thumping continues. My brain may be slow from years of drinking, but I don’t need to see the thumping to know what it is.
We both stare in the direction of the staircase. And then the cries began. Luca has fallen down the stairs.
Cassandra rushes over to him and out of a protective paternal instinct I snap, reacting abrasively with a, "Get the hell away from him." I can feel the blood vessels in my eyes about to burst as I watch Luca cry, his face is a mask of pain but I don't see anything twisted or broken on his body. He might have just taken a tumble but still, I'm cradling him like he's a newborn all over again.
"I need you to leave."
"What about your emergency? Should we take him to the hospital?"
I look at her and our eyes connect. Her lips must be so soft, her touch so sensitive and gentle.
Luca continues to cry.
"I think we should take him to the hospital,” she says. There's not an ounce of fear in her after the gruff way I addressed her. Instead, all she cares about is my son. Admiring her grit, that immediately settles it. We'll go to the hospital together.
I just hope that Luca is okay.
3
Cassandra
I’ve been thinking about my scary mafia boss friend ever since he swung by my birthday party. Now here I am in the backseat of his Maserati on a moment’s notice, cradling a weary Luca. It's got to be the weirdest form of manifestation to ever occur.
Ever since that interview, I wanted nothing to do with Tony. But despite what I try to tell myself, my actions speak for themselves, telling the truth about what I really desire…which is why I’m here now, taking care of his son and agreeing to be his nanny.