This transition to yet another nanny would suck, but I’d already emailed Allison last night to bring up the previous nanny applications for a second look. As much as I still wanted Jess to warm my bed, maybe things had gone too far between us. Jess distracted me, and it wasn’t in her job description to judge my life and how I chose to live it.
I took a shower and got ready for the day. Then I went into Gina’s room to wake her.
“Daddy?” she croaked and turned around. She held her arms out to me, and I wrapped her in a tight embrace.
“You’re coming to work with me today, honey.”
She rubbed her eyes and sat up. “Where is Jess?”
“She’s not watching you today,” I said. I didn’t have time to get into the details with Gina. I would later on once I finished work for the day.
“Why? We need to finish the quilt.”
I didn’t have time for this. “We’ll talk about it later, honey. Right now you need to get ready. We have to leave soon.”
Gina quirked her lips as if she somehow knew that Jess wasn’t coming back at all. But then she smiled so broadly that it made my heart ache. “I get to go to work with Daddy!”
While she dug through her dresser drawers, I made her bed. “I’m still catching up from last week. So, I need you to be on your best behavior today. I’m not going to be able to play with you that much okay?”
“Okay, Daddy.”
My phone chirped, and I checked my messages. I cursed under my breath. Allison had the flu and wasn’t coming in. Instead, she called the temp agency, and they were sending someone over.
That’s just what I needed today. I couldn’t trust a temp to help me watch my kid. And I would be pushed back a day for finding a new nanny. It wasn’t Allison’s fault, but it only added to another shitty day for me. And Gina wasn’t going to make this any easier.
“Hurry up, Gina,” I said, firmly. “We have to go. I don’t have time for you to go through all of your clothes.”
She whipped her head around and looked at me. Her lower lip trembled.
“I don’t want to be late,” I said in a softer tone. I had to get to the office and prep the temp with all the work for the day. This was already shaping up to be another stressful day. And with taking care of Gina on top of it, my mood wasn’t going to improve by standing there.
I managed to get Gina out of the house within ten minutes. We didn’t have time to gather toys for her, so the supplies I had at the office would suffice.
On the way to work, I picked up some donut holes for Gina and a large coffee for myself. I hoped the caffeine would help with my headache. The pressure on my temples was worse than earlier that morning.
The world weighed on my shoulders. I glanced at the rearview mirror and realized Gina was asleep again. I soaked in the silence for a little while until I got to work.
After Gina had finished her breakfast, she came over to me while I was on a call with a client. I put my finger to my lips to silence h
er before she started talking.
Instead of talking, she leaned over and pressed her powdered sugar fingers all over my leg. I rolled my chair back away from her.
“Go over there,” I muttered to her, then proceeded to attempt to rub off the white sugar from my black pants.
“I want to sit on your lap,” she said in a loud whisper.
“Not now,” I hissed.
She sighed and shuffled over to her table.
Throughout the whole conversation, I was distracted. I stumbled over the numbers for the client and had to ask him to repeat himself several times. By the time I hung up the phone, I was spent. And it was only eight-thirty.
Something crashed outside of my door, and both Gina and I looked up. The temp, a young girl in her early twenties, didn’t seem like the sharpest girl when I met her earlier. And I didn’t want to get involved with her destroying Allison’s desk, so I left her to clean up whatever she’d done.
I flipped through the stack of paperwork in my to-do file and started with the most pressing work first.
It was only five minutes before Gina was at my desk again.