A Bundle of Mannies Page 2

  As I approached, mentally rehearsing my graceful exit, the doors swung open to reveal the owner of Manny’s Mannies. But to my shock, he was no stranger.

  “Hello, Zave.”

  Holy hell.

  “You’re Manny? But the name on the website isn’t the one I remember.” And, to my great embarrassment, I couldn’t even remember why I remembered him, exactly. It had been one of my office jobs...and he’d been… Why couldn’t I put it together exactly. This memory lapse only reiterated how many jobs I’d had. And I’d be damned if I’d tell him what I was trying to figure out. Even if he was in possession of a list of all those failures.

  He shrugged. “We all make changes.”

  I waited, but no more information was forthcoming. Instead, he waved me to a seat across his big, mahogany desk from him and asked me questions. Why had I given up teaching? Why had I made so many changes in such a short time? And even while I answered, I had the feeling he already knew what I’d say. And I kept trying to find a way to explain the situation, to tell him I was not really going to be a manny...

  But finally, he nodded, as if satisfied. “All right, then. I have the perfect position for you. A widower with two children, one of whom is recovering from a serious medical condition. This is a very special family.”

  I listened as he told me all about this father who had so tragically lost his alpha wife before their second child was born. My heart seized at the pain this man had suffered while trying to mourn his beloved wife while dealing with a seriously ill child. “He must be so brave,” I said. “That poor man.”

  Manny nodded. “ Can you start today?”

  I heard myself saying, “Sure.” Because how could I not?

  A half an hour later, I was headed out the door with a packet of papers in my hand and an address in my phone.

  Chapter Three

  Ronnie

  “I will be there as soon as I can,” I promised the head of HR for the fifth time. I had been scheduled to fill out some paperwork for returning to work on Monday, and, of course, Sally’s son decided to call with an emergency.

  As she drove to pick his sorry ass up so he could come mooch off of her for goodness knew how long, I was getting reamed out by HR, and they were not the department to tick off—ever.

  “Daddy, Mae is doing that thing with her lip.” Maggie tugged on my shirt.

  “They said someone is headed over,” I reiterated in the phone before saying good-bye.

  “Sorry, Daddy. I know you said not to disturb you when you are on the phone.” She looked up at me with her big brown eyes—her mother’s eyes.

  “There are some times when you do need to disturb me,” I corrected her gently. “And your sister needing to eat is one of them.”

  Mae had this adorable way of puckering her lips when she was ready to eat, and as long as we paid attention to it, we avoided the sad wails she gave when being ignored. She had us wrapped around her finger, and I’d have it no other way.

  “I’ve got you, sweet girl.” I picked her up and brought her to me. She latched on quickly.

  “Maggie, someone is coming over for just a little while to babysit you. Remember what I said?”

  She swished her mouth back and forth the way she did when she was thinking. “You said that even though you were the grown-up, my opinions mattered.”

  I sat on the couch, and she crawled in beside me.

  “That’s right, Mae. Your opinions matter.” It had been so much easier when it was Sally who was going to be watching her. Just the thought of leaving them, even for a few hours so I could get my paperwork in line, with a stranger hurt.

  The agency had an impeccable reputation, screened all of their people to an extreme, and had a five-star rating on every source I could find with over a thousand of reviews. It would be fine. It had to be.

  I had already promised myself if Maggie had any misgivings, I was going to say fuck it and tell the guy to get lost. My babies came first. Done.

  Worst case scenario, I would call the visiting nurse we had had when Mae first came home. It would cost a shit ton if she were even able to come, so, logically, I knew it wasn’t an option but I had exhausted all others. The few friends who’d weathered the storm that was the death of my Lauren all had full-time jobs.

  “Daddy, someone is in the driveway.” Maggie began to bounce on the couch, causing Mae to break her latch.

  Please don’t let the baby cry just as the manny gets here.

  “Best behavior,” I reminded Maggie as I stood up, settling Mae on the other side as soon as I righted myself. Better to have her fed and have an awkward moment at the door than to have her crying.

  Sure enough, there was an older blue sedan in the driveway. Not old enough to be vintage by any stretch, but old enough that I was impressed it was still running.

  The manny would not be driving my children in it. Yet another thing I hadn’t thought about.

  I opened the door just as the man got out of the car, his body angled away from me. He was wearing a sports coat, not the type of attire you expected to see when getting ready to take care of two small children. Great. He was probably selling vacuums or meat out of his trunk. I never could figure out who bought either of those.

  As he turned and faced me, I sucked in a breath. Zave. My Zave. What was he doing here?

  He froze briefly before slapping on a smile, the one I remembered all those years ago—the one he wore when he was on. It wasn’t his happy smile. What did that even mean? What did any of this mean?

  “Manny sent me.” Was all he said as he put his hands in his pockets, standing at the bottom of the step, his scent just as enticing as it had ever been, all basil and lemon.

  “Zave,” I all but whispered as Maggie came out from behind my leg.

  “You the babysitter?” she asked, tilting her head. “You look too fancy to do fun things.”

  “Ha, how right you are. Maggie, is it?” So, he was the manny.

  She nodded profusely.

  “I am wearing my fancy clothes because I had a meeting with Mr. Manny. I have clothes in the car that can get dirty if we decide to go to the park or make volcanoes.”

  Had it been anyone else, I’d have been freaking out that Manny sent someone over who had barely finished their interview. But this was Zave. My brain allowed for nothing other than that fact to wallow around. Zave. My Zave. Not my Zave. Fuck. This was a cluster.

  “Volcanoes?” She clapped and ran around me so fast I almost lost my footing, grabbing his hand. “Let’s go.” He had officially won her over with that one simple thing. My little science girl.

  “Maggie, I need to talk to Mr. Zave. Can you go to your little table and color?”

  She sighed, but obeyed.

  “Come on.” I followed right behind her, not sure what to say or do but wanting to get out of view of the entire neighborhood.

  I sat on the easy chair just as Mae finished eating, and I began to burp her, Zave just standing there, looking uncomfortable.

  “Sit.” Goddess, I sounded bossy.

  He remained standing. “So I didn’t know this...h-he said it was...the last name.” Damn he was cute when he stammered like this.

  “I have Lauren’s last name.” I answered his half-ass attempt at asking me about my new name. “It’s still me, though. I haven’t seen you since my senior year in college. How have you been?” He had graduated, and I’d still had another year, and we never stayed in touch. Not that he knew I wanted to. No. As far as he was concerned, I was just the weird nerdy kid who checked out his books at the library, not the guy who crushed on him so hard I took the crappy Friday night shifts, knowing that was when Zave always returned the books the professor he had work-study with checked out for the week.

  I had been pretty pathetically enamored back then. That had been before I met Lauren and fallen in love. That was how I marked time. Before and after Lauren. There was nothing healthy in that and I knew it.

  “Manny told me what happen
ed. I am so sorry.” His sincerity hit me hard. I had been used to people being sorry or giving condolences, but most of that was more what you say than the deep-felt emotions he was showing. Had he faced a loss like I had? Was that why he was here?

  “I heard your name and didn’t connect you,” I confessed.

  “I didn’t expect you to remember me.” Was there sadness in his voice? The day just kept getting weirder.

  “No, Of course—” Mae let out her burp. Perfect timing as always.

  “No, I meant because I assumed Manny would send me an omega is all. Kind of designation-ist of me.” No kind of about it. I got upset when people assumed I was going to mooch off the government to stay home with the kids because I was an omega, and there I was throwing that back at him.

  “You’re fine,” he reassured. “It wasn’t as if I expected to be a manny when I went to college.”

  “Why are you—a manny I mean?” Not that the reason mattered. I wanted him to stay. Which was all kinds of twisted and weird, but there it was.

  Chapter Four

  Zave

  Manny Guide page 1: Only the very best work for Manny’s Mannies

  And so, the humiliation was complete. I’d been right to begin with—I should have thanked Manny for the opportunity but declined. Even if it meant I ended up working for minimum wage somewhere to avoid living under a bridge. Because it was one thing to take a job that required none of the credentials I’d worked so hard to earn. I’d done that before. And even working as a manny for a while wouldn’t have been too bad. But for Ronnie? The omega I’d spent hours hanging out in the library just to ogle?

  And it didn’t make a lot of sense even back then. I wanted to ask him out. I asked other omegas out with no qualms, but every time I stood in front of his desk at the library, returning the professor’s books or checking out endless ones for myself just as an excuse for being there, my mouth went dry. And while we talked about all kinds of things, I never managed to say what I really wanted. How hard was it to ask, “Would you like to get a coffee sometime?”

  Impossible, apparently.

  And then I graduated and began my debacle of one job after another, and I put him out of my mind.

  Rather, I tried to do that.

  But right now, I stood in front of him, a man who’d succeeded in life, found an alpha female to make a life with and a job good enough to afford a nanny for his two adorable daughters. And I felt twice the failure I ever had before.

  “Zave?” His voice cut through my thoughts. “Would you please sit down? I’m getting a crook in my neck.”

  “Uh, yeah.” I perched on the edge of the dark-brown leather sofa. “So, I think this was a mistake.”

  He blinked. “What? You mean you can’t stay with the girls this afternoon? I have a really important meeting, and if you don’t, I’ll really be in deep trouble.”

  Well shit. “No, I can do that.” I’d love to do that, in fact, spend an afternoon with the chatty adorable Maggie who was singing a made-up song about unicorns and turtles from the next room. And the baby, Mae. “I can watch them for you today, but I just…I don’t think I can be your manny.”

  “Look, I had a lot of misgivings about bringing a stranger into our home to live. But when I saw you, well, I felt so much better.” He glanced at the sleek watch on his wrist and stood, cradling the drowsy baby in his arms. “I have to go, so let’s just call it babysitting for the afternoon, and when I get back, we can discuss whether a long-term arrangement works for us, okay?” He held out his daughter, and I took her, cuddling her against me. I might not have any children of my own, but I was the oldest of a rather large family. I’d taken care of a lot of babies. Just not lately.

  I inhaled her sweetness, baby shampoo and breast milk. Breast milk holding a trace of the omega’s own scent, one that permeated his home and took me back to those Friday nights. The other times I was in, the library was often busy, but every other student was out carousing on those nights, which was a big reason I chose them to return the professor’s books. Despite my inability to ask him out, we talked about politics, what we were studying, campus happenings, philosophy. Sometimes for hours, while I tried to find a reason to believe he’d welcome an invitation to go out somewhere.

  “All right,” I conceded. “I won’t call Manny and tell him to find someone else until we’ve had a chance to talk. I owe your daughter a volcano, anyway.”

  A clatter and she was right there with us. “I’m ready. I’ll show you where I do my ‘speriments.”

  Ronnie chuckled. “I was worried she wouldn’t like her new sitter, but I think that was a misplaced concern.” He dropped a kiss on Maggie’s forehead and, leaning in close, on the baby’s. It put his lips inches from mine. Damn, he was still fine. Even after giving birth so recently, the omega was a hottie. “I’ll be back as soon as I can. I have milk in the fridge, breast and cow’s, and Maggie can have two cookies, no more. If she is still hungry, apples are a good choice.”

  “Gotcha.” I shifted the baby to my shoulder and smiled down at Maggie. “We’ll be very busy doing science anyway. Barely be able to fit in a snack, right, Maggie?”

  She bounced. “Right! Let’s start now.”

  I grinned at her. If it weren’t for the awkwardness of the situation, I’d love to spend my days with these ladies. “First, I think we need to check your little sissie’s diaper and put her down for a nap. Can you show me around? Help me get her settled? I’ll bet you’re a good helper.”

  She nodded solemnly and held out her hand. “I show you. I’m Daddy’s big helper. I can help you, too.”

  As Miss Maggie led me out of the room, chattering a mile a minute, I glanced over my shoulder to see Ronnie watching me, a bemused expression on his face. “All right,” he said after a moment. “I’m out of here. Maggie, best behavior for Mr. Zave.”

  She stopped. “Mr. Zave is my friend.”

  “Well, no he’s…” Ronnie shrugged. “Okay, I guess that’s respectful at least. Zave, thanks for coming. You saved me this afternoon. I hope we can work out something for longer.” And he was gone.

  Just then what he’d said hit me. “Maggie, did Daddy say he wanted me to live here?”

  “Yes.” She tugged on my hand. “You live here with us. Let’s go change Mae so we can do science.”

  I couldn’t breathe. It was one thing to babysit, even all day, while he was gone, but to live in Ronnie’s house? The guy I’d been carrying a torch for all these years?

  This could not end well.

  I would spend the afternoon with his precious girls, and enjoy them, maybe imagine what it could be like if we had gotten together in college. If they were mine, too.

  Then I’d go back out into the cold world and try again. I’m not crying. You’re crying.

  No, it was me. I blinked back the tears that threatened because I didn’t want to scare Maggie with a show of emotion she had no reason to have to deal with, and forced on a smile. “Lead on, Miss Maggie. We have science to do.”

  Chapter Five

  Ronnie

  I kept having to focus on not allowing my knee to bounce up and down as I watched the clock behind Stu’s desk in HR as he painfully typed in everything I had written on the thousands of papers he had given me. In this day and age, there was absolutely no reason to not have us type our responses into the computer directly—except for possibly solidifying his position in the company. And right then and there, his desire for job preservation had me a nervous wreck.

  I’d known leaving my kids would be hard. I’d had to leave Maggie before, and it was never easy. But Mae, that was an entirely new level of torture. I didn’t know Zave well at all.

  Our conversations back in the day were more me trying not to look like a loser than actually me processing his words, and they were always while I attempted to look as if I were earning a paycheck. I did, however, have half a recollection that he had a big family. That practically made him an expert, right?

  “It
says here that you started with the company in January, but my records said it was February.” Stu looked down his glasses at me.

  “It said my hire date was January of that year, which it was.” We had been over this five times already with some of the other documents. Which was another thing—why did they need the same information over and over again? I just wanted to get home and make sure everything was perfect with my babies.

  “Ahh, yeah. That’s right.” He went back to typing.

  The entire thing was a waste of time. I wasn’t a new employee. I had a doctor’s note saying I could return from my medical portion of the leave, and the other leave had an expiration date on it. This was ridiculous. Half of it had to do with me being gone over the change in the fiscal year, but come on.

  “I just need to print all of these out for you to sign them.” Stu clicked away, and I held in my frustration. I’d filled out and signed all of them, so having him type them in so he could print them out and I could sign them again was redundant at best.

  Another half hour later, I was on my way home. It was nearing dinnertime, and I had planned nothing. When I got home and fed Maggie, I was going to need to make some meal plans for the week and get some groceries. Maybe Zave could do that as part of his duties?

  No. That was asking too much. He was a manny. Except what did that even mean?

  I pulled into the driveway and walked around to the back door. If Mae was napping, I didn’t want to wake her. She was still very much like a newborn when it came to her naps. Which made sense given her adjusted age from coming early and from all her procedures.

  As I climbed up the steps, I peeped in the kitchen window. Maggie and Zave were both bent over the table, wearing sunglasses, with a bowl of something in front of them, smiles on their faces.

  “I’m home.” I spoke softly as I entered the kitchen.

  “Daddy, come see.” Maggie swished her hand at me, and I dropped my briefcase and breast pump kit and walked to the spot between she and Zave. In the bowl was the remains of her volcano still slightly foaming up a little. “That was where I poured the vinegar.” She pointed to the puddle. “And that was where I thought the lava would end up. I was wrong. It went everywhere.”