She stared at her mom. “We are talking.”
“Why have you turned this into an either-or situation?”
“What do you mean?”
“You know exactly what I’m saying. I know your love for Jeremy goes beyond what most nannies feel for their charges. When you’ve brought him over here other times, it’s been clear that he adores you. His father knows that. That’s why he’s offered you more money so you’ll stay.”
“He hasn’t been himself since the kidnapping, Mom.”
“Naturally. His son loves you. It’s obvious he doesn’t want you to leave and is probably hoping you’ll consider staying on longer than you’d originally planned. Would that be so terrible? I have the feeling you don’t want to leave either, even if you’ve been offered a good position with that lab. Other offers will come along later. Tell me what’s at the bottom of this.”
Claire stopped pacing. “I have to leave.”
“Because?” she prompted.
“Because I’ve fallen in love with Vic.”
She smiled. “He’s so attractive and remarkable, what woman wouldn’t?”
“But it wasn’t supposed to happen. I was hired to take care of his son.”
“Which you’ve done so admirably, he’s willing to pay a great deal of money to keep you on for another year.”
Claire shook her head. “I couldn’t. He’s not in love with me, Mom.”
“How do you know that?”
“What more proof do I need? You don’t offer the woman you love $70,000 to stay, and I wouldn’t take it.” It hurt. It hurt so badly she couldn’t stand it.
“He recognizes your worth, honey. I think the offer is quite revealing.”
“No, Mom. He’s so desperate to keep his son happy, he’s willing to throw money at me, but I can’t live this way any longer. We’ve been living in the same house for over nine months and he’s never given me any indication that he has romantic feelings for me.”
“Not ever?”
“While we were looking for Jeremy we had a few moments where we tried to comfort each other, but that ended the moment we found him. He’s already made plans for us to interview some new nanny applicants on Monday and Tuesday of next week.”
“But that was after you turned down his offer. With you leaving, he has to find someone to take care of Jeremy.”
“If he has feelings for me, then I don’t understand why he’s never acted on them.”
“Maybe he’s been afraid of scaring you off in case you didn’t feel the same way about him. Because you’re a lovely young woman living in his household, he’s been forced to draw a line to keep things professional. But you’ve taken such wonderful care of Jeremy, he realizes he doesn’t want to lose you. Has he been seeing other women?”
“No, at least not that I can tell. Whenever he has any free time, he spends it with Jeremy.”
“And you,” her mother added. “It appears he’d rather be home with you and Jeremy than out with another woman. The man could be with any woman he wanted. Doesn’t that tell you something?”
“No. Jeremy is his whole life! I was hired because he knew I’d be there for his son no matter what because I’d broken up with Bryce and wasn’t in a relationship.”
“You haven’t dated at all since then.”
“I wanted to honor my commitment to him.”
“You did it so well, he wants you to stay.”
Claire had grown restless. “But not as his wife!”
“You don’t know what’s on his mind, honey.”