“Let’s hear it. Are you thinking about what happened at school?”
“Kind of. Do you think Dad was mad at me?”
It was a question that felt out of my depth to answer. I was still a new employee, after all, and I didn’t want to weigh in on family matters I didn’t know much about.
“Maybe. But I bet more than anything your dad wants to know what’s going on with you, so he knows you’re happy and doing well at school. What got you thinking about this?”
“Just what we’re talking about.” The two of us reached the stairs to the museum and started up toward the entrance. “I don’t like to fight with the other girls, but…sometimes I feel like I don’t fit in with them. And when I try to talk about this stuff with them, they always think it’s boring.”
I felt bad for the kid. She was so cute and sweet and bright, and hearing she was having a hard time fitting in was something I couldn’t help but identify with. Back in high school I’d never been super popular, always feeling like something of an outsider. And while I loved the city, at times being there made the situation seem even worse.
“That’s totally normal,” I said. “When you’re really special and unique like you are, it means you might have to work harder finding people who you really connect with. But they’re out there, and when you finally find them, you become best friends right away. So don’t worry about not getting along with everyone.”
She glanced up at me with those big blue eyes, the ones that made me think of Jason.
“Do you think you and me are like that? Do you think we’ll be friends?”
I smiled, reaching down and taking her hand. “I know we’ll be friends. The second I saw you for the first time I was like, I bet this is a girl I’m really going to get along with. And look, we’re already having fun.”
She beamed up at me. “Right!”
We entered the museum and got in line. Willa spent more time talking about the exhibits she wanted to see, eager to go on about her interests.
After buying our tickets, we started our day at the museum. Willa had no problem leading the way, showing me all her favorite exhibits and acting like something of a little tour guide. If there was any doubt she was sharp as a tack, our time through the museum answered that question. She was like my own walking, talking Wikipedia on the place.
“OK,” she said after we’d stopped in front of a woolly mammoth display. “Woolly mammoths are one of my favorites. I like how they look like elephants but are all fuzzy.”
“I know. They’re so cool.”
“But people liked to hunt them too much, so now they’re gone. It’s so sad.”
“Really sad.” I couldn’t help but smile as she talked.
Willa went on, and as she did, I felt a strange sensation on the back of my neck. It was a tingling, the kind you get when you can sense that someone’s watching you. I turned, and around a far corner I spotted a man in a suit, his body half-hidden behind the corner.
He was watching us.
For a moment I worried I was being paranoid, but the second I laid eyes on him he ducked behind the corner, vanishing from sight.
My heart began to thump in my chest. Had I really seen what I thought I had? Were we being followed?
“And their tusks are really cool, too,” said Willa, her attention still on the display. “But I guess a bunch of other people thought that, like cavemen.”
“Yeah, they’re cool.”
My attention was still on the man. He was long gone, but I couldn’t shake him from my mind. As much as I was trying to lose myself in the fun of hanging out with Willa, it was a stark reminder that this was no ordinary nanny job. Maybe the man had been sent by Anton to keep tabs on me. Or maybe he worked for Jason.
What if Jason was suspicious of me? After all, I was a new employee, and he was in a line of work where you couldn’t trust anyone. The idea of being caught doing what I was trying to do sent a twinge of cold fear through my body.
Was I in over my head?
We continued through the museum, Willa going on with her adorable tour guide routine. After a couple hours, I had a new idea.
“So, we planned on pizza, but I think I have a better idea. How do you feel about grabbing some ice cream?” I asked. “Go eat it in the park?”
Her eyes lit up. “Yeah!”
I took her hand, and together we left the museum. As we did, I looked around, trying to see if I could spot anyone who might’ve been watching us. But the man was nowhere to be found, and no one else struck me as odd.