Wyatt nodded. “Yes, Friday morning. So you know, if you do decide to do this, I'll also ask you to do the cooking and cleaning around the house. Like I said, you'll be taking on all of the roles that Mildred does. It shouldn't be too tough for you, though. Just a little bit of laundry and making meals. It might be kind of fun.”
“Yeah, definitely,” she said. “I actually don't mind cleaning. I'll do my best with cooking, but I'll warn you, I might not be the greatest. I'm used to eating quick, microwave meals.”
Wyatt laughed. “If it makes you feel any better, I'm not a great cook either. You should have seen the mess I made out of French toast this morning. It was just sad. I'm sure you'll do better than I do.”
Lily shrugged. “I'll definitely try. I'll look up some recipes when I get home. Also, maybe I can talk to Mildred at some point and have her show me the ropes, as far as cleaning and whatever other roles she takes on around the house.”
“Great idea,” he replied. “In fact, she'd mentioned that same thing. Why don't you plan on checking in with her before you leave today? She can show you everything. The biggest and most important part of the job, though, will be taking care of Maggie and I know you've got that handled quite well.”
He glanced toward his daughter, who was still smiling and giggling as she swung back and forth on the swing.
“It's nice to see her so happy,” he said, thoughtfully. Then he leaned in and spoke a little more quietly. “She's been different ever since Caroline passed. I can't put my finger on it, but it's like she's more introverted and shy. When you're around, though, she acts normal. She's the little girl I know and love when you're here. It's odd, because she's not like this around Mildred.”
Lily frowned. “That hurts my heart to hear that Maggie isn't happy all the time, but I'm glad that I'm able to make her smile when I'm here at least. We have to remember that it's only been a year since Caroline passed away. I'm confident that Maggie will come around soon. I'm sure the past twelve months have been hard on her, but I don't think you need to worry. She's a strong girl.”
Wyatt sighed. “Yeah, you're right. It's hard not to worry about her, though.”
The two stood silently for a bit, just watching Maggie. Then Wyatt cleared his throat. “Alright, well I'm going to get out of this suit and head upstairs. I might try to sneak in a nap before dinner. Ms. Maggie woke me up ridiculously early this morning and my lack of sleep from last night is starting to catch up with me.”
“Sounds good,” Lily said.
Wyatt turned to leave, then glanced over his shoulder. “So just to confirm, you're up for playing nanny for the next ten days, right?”
Lily nodded excitedly. “Yes, definitely. I couldn't be happier to do it. It's going to be a lot of fun.”
Wyatt smiled. “I believe it will. I'll see you on Friday then. Let me know how things go as far as getting your shifts covered at work and which of your coworkers I need to send checks to. Thanks again for doing this Lily. I really do appreciate it. Maggie and I both do.”
“It's no problem at all,” Lily said.
Wyatt began walking back toward the house. Even though Lily had consciously decided not to see him in a sexual way, she found her eyes dropping down quickly to check out his butt. As soon as she realized what she had done, she looked away.
Stop it, Lily, she told herself. Yes, he's hot. No, you can't think about him like that, though. Not any more. You already dream about him every now and again. You don't need to be staring at his ass in the middle of the day.
“Push me higher, Aunt Wiwee!” Maggie said, causing Lily to snap back to reality.
“Yeah, sorry, I'm pushing,” Lily said. “Hey, did you hear what your dad and I were talking about? I get to hang out with you this entire weekend and all next week while Mildred is out of town.”
“You do?” Maggie said.
“Yep,” Lily replied. “I get to be your nanny for ten whole days. We're going to have so much fun.”
“Yay!” Maggie shouted with excitement.
This might be the vacation I needed, she thought. I mean, I'll still technically be working, but hanging out with Maggie is twenty times more relaxing than the coffee shop. Plus, with the extra money that Wyatt is paying me, I'll be able to easily pay all my bills this month. That will be nice for a change. It's perfect, really.
As long as I can keep my eyes off Wyatt’s butt…
Chapter 4
Lily
In the backseat of Lily's car were two suitcases. One was packed with the essentials, like a toothbrush, makeup and perfume. It also had about ten days worth of clothes in it, which was really more like twenty days worth, since she had the tendency to over pack for everything.
In the second suitcase were some things for Maggie to play with. She had brought board games, kid's movies and had even stopped by the store to grab a few toys for her. Lily wanted this week to be extra special for Maggie and wasn't about to spare any expense to make that happen. In addition to a brand new Lego set, she'd also bought Maggie a stuffed dog and a cute little doll with blonde hair. The doll reminded Lily of Maggie and it even had red bows in the pigtails.
Okay, she thought, parking her car in her usual spot in front of Wyatt's garage. I'm here. I hope I don't screw this up somehow. I'm not at all worried about taking care of Maggie, but making dinner and keeping the house in order does make me a little bit nervous. I mean I'm used to living all by myself. Now I've got a man and a kid to take care of, too. I guess that kind of makes me the woman of the house, at least temporarily.
Lily kind of liked the thought of that, but shook it out of her mind quickly. She hopped out of the car, grabbed her suitcases and made her way to the front door. By the time she got there, Maggie was already opening it up for her.