“About?”
“She wants us to go back to Australia because she thinks you’re ignoring her here.”
He rubbed at his brow and minutely shook his head. “This again? Jess, I don’t need someone to tell me how to raise my daughter. I’ve been working like this since she was born. I have to.”
“You don’t have to work this hard,” I said, then shook my head. I wasn’t going to push that issue again. “Or at the very least, respond to my texts during the day or call. That’s all she needs. Going from spending all day together to never seeing you, she’s confused and hurt.”
“I think you’re looking too much into this,” he said.
“I’m not. She bawled her eyes out today when we talked about this.”
“And I’m assuming you brought it up to her,” he said.
I scoffed. “I didn’t, she mentioned it.”
“I’m sure you fed into it.”
“Noah, what the hell is your problem?”
“I don’t have a problem,” he said, flashing his teeth. “I think this is the problem here.”
“This?”
“I don’t need to come home every night to someone who can’t handle Gina and her toddler moods.”
“I can handle her. I’ve been handling her,” I said.
“That’s obviously not true,” he said coolly.
“What are you saying?”
“I think our relationship with you is a little muddled. It would be best for everyone if you go and I found another nanny for Gina.”
Indecision raged through the center of my chest. He was being irrational to some degree and over nothing? He was scared. He had to be. Maybe I had finally overstepped my boundaries, but to have him react so harshly? It wasn’t right.
“You don’t mean that,” I said. Heat moved up my neck and burned my cheeks and ears.
“I really do,” he said and then turned away from me and left the room.
I stood there frozen to the spot. Did Noah just fire me? For telling him about how his daughter felt about him working so much? My entire body went numb, but when Noah didn’t return to say anything to me, I forced myself to grab my things and leave the house.
On the way home, my mind replayed the conversation with Noah over and over again. My initial instincts were right: I shouldn’t have said anything to Noah about Gina missing him. But on the other hand, he needed to know how much his working affected his own daughter. He was too worried about his job, and now I knew one of the main reasons why Noah couldn’t keep a nanny for very long. It was mostly because of him.
Heat licked behind my eyes as I thought of Gina. What was he going to do with her now? I hated that I wouldn’t see her tomorrow, but he fired me, so there was no reason to go back.
I felt like an ass for allowing the both of them to latch onto my heart. Now I was out of a job and heartbroken. What was I going to do now?
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Noah
The next morning, I woke up with the worst headache. I went to bed late last night, and the lack of sleep was starting to affect me.
I rolled over and checked the clock. I’d set my alarm for early, knowing that I’d have to take Gina to work again. I groaned. Why didn’t Jess do her job and mind her own business? I might have over reacted when I fired her, but the last thing I needed when I came home was to deal with another whiny employee.
Of course, Gina was upset that I wasn’t with her twenty-four hours a day like I was in Australia. I wasn’t working then. Why didn’t Jess explain that to her? She probably fed Gina’s need and wanted to make me feel bad when I got home from a shitty day at work.
Jess had no idea how much stress I worked with each day, and she wasn’t making it easier for me when I got home.