“Maybe this isn’t such a good idea,” April said, clinging to my hand after I hugged and kissed Olivia goodbye.
“Come see me before you leave,” Olivia prodded me.
“I’m not supposed to bother you in class,” I told her.
Her smile was blinding. “You won’t bother me.”
“Of course it won’t bother you, dork, but it’ll bother your teacher.”
She made a face, and I made one back and then promised I’d stop in before I left.
At the library, Mrs. Dabney came to the counter when she was told by the assistant librarian that I was there to talk to her.
“Why did you bring her flowers?” April grumbled beside me.
“Because I’m gonna try talkin’ to her man-to-man before I do anything else.”
“Man-to-man?” she said like I was nuts.
“Shuddup.”
She giggled but got serious once the older woman stepped up to the counter.
I passed her the roses and lilies before she could say a word. She was surprised the flowers were for her, as evidenced by her mouth falling open and her wide eyes.
“I’m sorry about Saturday,” I rushed out, meeting her gaze. “I get loud when I’m surprised, and if you were shooting at me, I could handle that, but this whole regular one-on-one human interaction is not my strong suit.”
“Oh,” she said, huffing out a breath, her hands moving to the sides of the large vase. “Yes, well—I, too, wasn’t at my best.”
I nodded. “Here’s the thing,” I said, putting my hand on April’s shoulder, “she’s been drawing stuff in her book because she’s had a lot of questions about how her mother died and nobody had been answering them. But instead of bottling that all up, she’s been getting that out creatively so she doesn’t explode.”
Quick glance at April before her attention returned to me.
“But this past weekend, she talked to a doctor and got a lot of her questions answered, so I suspect that the art inside the book will change somewhat. Now, she’s not all fixed-up and she’s still sad, and she’s still gonna have good days and bad days, so you still might notice a picture you don’t love now and again, but that’s okay, isn’t it?”
“It is,” she agreed, taking a breath, smiling now.
“So since you’re a librarian and you’re all about books, and since April loves to read and she’s all about the books as well… do you think we can fix this thing?”
“Yes, I do,” she informed me, her eyes never leaving my face.
“Then would it be all right if April comes back to the library and checks out books?”
“Yes,” she said softly, her eyes back on April. “I’m sorry I kept you from reading, young lady, and I’m very sorry about your mother, as you know. She was a lovely person who we all adored. I miss her too.”
April nodded, tears welling up in her eyes.
Mrs. Dabney followed suit.
I had to sit them both down at a table and go on the hunt for Kleenex, which thankfully, the assistant librarian had in her desk.
“I don’t have the whole nanny thing wired yet,” I confessed to Mrs. Dabney, “but I’m working on it.”
She took my hand in hers. “You’re doing better than you think, Mr. Calder.”
I told her to call me Brann. It was a hell of a morning.
On the way out, I poked my head into Olivia’s room to say goodbye, and she came tearing over to me, hurling herself into my arms.
“What’s wrong, Livi?”
“We can’t go on our hike ’cause Mr. Daniels can’t come.”
I glanced up as Olivia’s very pregnant teacher, Mrs. Nakama, walked over to join us. I of course had been regaled with stories about the epicness of Mrs. Nakama on the ride to school, so I knew all about her. “And who is this, Olivia?”
“This is my nanny, Brann.”
“This is your nanny?” Mrs. Nakama said, the surprise clear in her voice.
“Yeah, I’m the nanny,” I advised her as I stood up from my crouch.
She looked me up and down.
“Can we still go if Brann comes with us?”
“Oh, honey, he’s not even allowed to be––”
“I got a pass,” I told her, flashing the sticker that was on my hoodie underneath the open flap of my jacket. “I’m legal.”
“See,” Olivia said, jumping on the bandwagon, “he’s legal.”
Mrs. Nakama gave her an indulgent smile. “Yes dear, I see he does, but he would have to have a background check and—”
“The sheriff will vouch for me,” I told her. “Will that work?”
“Well, yes, I think that, uhm—yes probably, but we were having a forest ranger come with the kids today, Mr.… uhm…”
“You can call me Brann.”
She coughed as her cheeks turned pink. “Oh, yes, Brann. That’s nice. But, uhm, we were having a forest ranger come to go with the… the—”
“Kids?”
“Yes. The kids. We were having a ranger come and—do you have any survival skills, Mr.—I mean—Brann?”