Late Nights & Love Lines (Single Dad Hotline #2)

17. Don’t panic!

17

DON’T PANIC!

SEBASTIAN

T hane. What the hell kind of name is that anyway? When I pulled it up on Google, it said it means warrior, and I immediately shut that shit down.

Fucking warrior. Give me a break.

“Any reason you’re sitting here sulking like someone stole your girlfriend?”

The glare I shoot Alexei makes my eyes sting, but the prick sits next to me at the picnic table and follows my line of sight since I can’t tear my gaze away for longer than thirty seconds.

“Damn, man. Do you know who that is?”

I cut him a side-eye, but my ire is quickly masked when Miles looks up between us. We’re sitting here making a cat’s eye with sticks and yarn while nannies join us every thirty minutes.

Thirty freaking minutes is a long-ass time to hold a conversation with a stranger, especially when the one woman you want is flittering around the camp with Thane fucking Wilder.

Why isn’t he going through this shit? Clearly, he needs a nanny too. At least Kade keeps the current nanny sitting at our table occupied with his stream of never-ending questions about bugs.

Then Thane steps closer to Rowan, and jealousy so blinding I can’t see anything except Rowan clouds my vision. He better not be trying to move in on her. I don’t care who he is, I’ll ruin the bastard before I let him take her from me.

“Yes. I know who he is,” I grumble.

Anyone who uses technology knows who Thane is. He’s just always held himself apart from everyone in our social circle, until recently. And if I wasn’t being a jealous asshole, I’d cut him some slack, remembering how uncomfortably awkward he was at a fundraiser last year. The guy spoke the emotions he saw on everyone’s faces as though he were trying to understand them.

He might be a genius, but I’ve always wondered if he’s lonely. That doesn’t mean he can take my girl though.

“Thane’s working on some real cutting edge shi…”

I glare at Alexei and give an exaggerated nod toward the kids.

“Stuff. Whatever app he’s working on right now has the tech industry in a tizzy they haven’t seen since Steve Jobs and Apple.”

That information takes my sour mood and spoils it completely. I knew Rowan had a client named Thane, but I hadn’t cared enough to look into it more. Now that I see her client is freaking Thane Wilder, I want to rip his goddamn head off, and not because of his tech—I have no doubt whatever he’s working on will be revolutionary. My issue is that he’s monopolized her time all damn morning.

The bell chimes, indicating it’s time for the nannies to move to the next station. I nod politely at the third prospect of the day.

“Are you supposed to be interviewing them or something?” Alexei whispers.

I shake my head, but keep my gaze glued to Rowan. “Today’s a meet and greet—a time to see how they interact with our kids. From here we choose our top ten, and Lottie will arrange for us to spend time with each of them throughout the week.”

“How many have you seen today?” he asks.

“Three,” I groan.

“What’s the matter? No contenders?”

As if she senses my attention, Rowan scans the crowd until she finds me already staring at her. The smile she wears doesn’t falter because it’s not real.

At least that fucker isn’t getting the real her.

“One,” I grumble.

“Ugh.” Seren makes a gagging sound. “If you care about her, ask her out already, Dad. Geez. It’s kind of creepy how you stare at her.”

I spin toward her so fast I pinch a nerve in my neck. “What?” I bluster while Alexei hides a laugh behind his hands. Without so much as looking in his direction, I swat him across the back of the head.

“I’m not a baby, Dad. And I heard the merry effing meddlers talking at the sand dance.”

“Hey,” I warn.

She flashes her lashes with fake innocence. “I didn’t say it.” And there’s the eye roll of preteens everywhere. “We don’t mind if you like her,” she says contritely.

Miles tucks his head into my side. “Yeah,” he mumbles quietly, but his face is obscured by my chest.

“Hey, guys. That’s not…it’s not…” Fuck. “I don’t know how long Rowan will stay,” I finally admit.

It’s the ticking time bomb in my chest because while I got her to agree to give me her todays and tomorrows, there’s nothing actually keeping her tied to me.

Perhaps I should be taking these nanny meetings a tad more seriously.

“It wouldn’t be the first time someone left, Dad. We’ll be fine.” Seren stands abruptly. “Can I go back to the house? I want to get my stuff together for tomorrow afternoon, and they have crap scheduled for the rest of the day.”

I should demand she stay. Whatever nanny we end up with will need to get along with Seren too, but she’s so damn excited to go to Beck’s house tomorrow. More accurately, she’s excited that the friends she’s made are going to meet her at Beck’s and show her around Sailport Bay.

If Beck Hayes is wrong about these girls Seren’s hanging out with, I’ll string him up by his ears.

Seren stands expectantly, and when Alexei elbows me in the ribs, I realize I’ve been staring too long without giving an answer.

“Sure, Ser. I love you.”

She swallows while lowering her lashes. I get a flash of the little girl she’s trying so hard to outgrow. “I know,” she whispers, then hightails it out of the pavilion and toward the house.

She’s at the mouth of the trail when she’s intercepted by Rowan. The two exchange words, and it’s the first time I’ve witnessed Rowan use almost parental or authoritative body language with her. I’m rising from the bench because every dad instinct is telling me something’s up but freeze when Rowan holds out a hand and they perform an elaborate secret handshake, then hip check each other with matching bursts of giggles.

I think my heart just smiled.

I’d seen her execute a simpler version, minus the hip check, with Miles yesterday.

She may not believe she’s offering them much affection, but there’s no doubt in my mind that my children know she cares about them—even if she hasn’t gotten that memo herself yet.

Lottie announces lunchtime over the loudspeaker, thank God. These nannies are all fine, probably, but they’re not who I want.

Thane’s grin reminds me of the Cheshire cat, but instead of following Rowan in my direction, he stalks off toward the office.

“Everything okay?” I ask when Rowan sits opposite me. “With Seren I mean, not Thane.”

Okay, Alexei’s right. I am a petulant teenager.

Her brows shoot to her hairline as she fights off a smirk. “Is there a problem with Thane?” she asks.

“Lover boy over here is mad he’s taking up so much of your time,” Alexei deadpans.

A lovely flush creeps over Rowan’s cheeks. Is she wondering if I told him about the beach or our late-night hotline calls that are most definitely not child-related?

When her worried gaze cuts to mine, I shake my head, and her shoulders relax.

“Okay, kids. Have a good lunch. I’m heading over to Beck’s now to review some contracts,” Alexei says.

“Wait,” I say as he quickly attempts to make an escape, his long legs tangling in the child-sized picnic table. “Why did you come here this morning? I thought you were meeting with Elijah.”

For the first time in all our years of friendship, something flashes on his face that I never thought I’d see—unease. Alexei has been unflappable our entire lives—a rock, unmovable, so much so that I’ve teased him about being a robot. His gaze cuts to the stage of the pavilion. When he realizes what he’s done, he returns his focus, almost begrudgingly, back to me.

But the damage is done.

Alexei Stepanov is in deep for the camp director. And judging by the glare she shoots his way—he’s fucked up big-time.

“What did you do?” I ask warily. Rowan’s gaze is bouncing around the camp comically, trying to figure out what we’re talking about.

“I may have…” he squeezes the back of his neck. “I may have screwed up.”

Maria DeLuca walks by like a storm cloud, and he doesn’t hesitate to follow her.

“Ah, what was that about?” Rowan asks.

“Maybe I’m not the only one falling in love at kiddie camp.” As soon as I say it, I wish I could suck the words back into my mouth. Not because I don’t mean them, but because I know without a doubt that the panic running through her expressive eyes tells me she wasn’t ready to hear them.

Thank God, Miles and Kade are too busy playing tag on the other side of the table to hear what I said.

“Okay, well. Um, I’m going to make sure Seren isn’t setting traps for the nannies tomorrow.”

Nerves set off fireworks in my head. “Is she still planning that? I thought she was over it.”

Rowan shrugs. “I just have a hunch. Better I intercept them than have her run off all your prospects.” Her face falls. She shakes her head, and it turns into a shiver that has her shoulders shimmying before it’s replaced with practiced brightness.

“Today and tomorrow,” I say, almost absentmindedly. How long until my tomorrows run out?

She nods and forces a tight smile. Then gracefully unfolds herself from the ridiculously small table and nearly runs for the trail.

Alexei may also not be the only one screwing up at camp.

“You look like shit,” Beck comments when I join him at the conference table. I’m glad he’s the only one here so far this afternoon. I’m not ready to face the firing squad of merry meddlers. The last two days of nanny meet and greets have been brutal—and this morning’s session nearly made my head explode.

“It’s hard interviewing nannies when the only one you want is the one who may not stay.”

He tosses his pen onto the table and leans back in his chair, then releases a heavy sigh. “Listen, I spent most of my adult life closed off and never allowing anyone in because of the betrayals in my life. The fact that you’re even in the position to want someone to stay tells me you’re ahead of the game. I certainly wasn’t that intelligent. But it also means that I understand what it means to not fully be able to trust anyone in your life. If that’s how Rowan feels, then the only thing that will change her mind is time. Or…”

“Or what?”

“Or an igniting event,” he says, sitting up straighter and staring at the wall as though he’s masterminding world peace.

“I’m not going to trick her into staying.”

He shakes his head. “Then, it’s pretty simple. You either pick one of these nannies to take over in two weeks, or you let us help so you can figure out a way to keep her.”

My phone buzzes as Alexei enters the room, and I welcome the intrusion.

Rowan: Don’t panic.

I finally changed her number in my phone. I don’t care if it’s technically the hotline number or not. It’s my only direct connection to her.

Me: Rowan! Don’t panic is the very thing that makes people panic.

The three dots next to her name start and stop four times before a picture comes through.

“Oh, shit.”

“What’s up?” Alexei asks. Whatever I’m doing with my face has him frowning even harder than he was.

“Ah, I think I have to…”

Rowan: I said DON’T panic.

Rowan: It’ll wash out. For most people. But you may get a salon bill for the blond.

Alexei’s impatient ass hovers over my shoulder to stare at my phone.

“What the fuck?” he asks, taking the phone from me.

We grapple with it for a few seconds, but the asshole has the leverage of standing over me, and he zooms in on the photo.

Our squabble has Beck rising from his chair too. “What’s going on?”

Alexei tosses my phone to Beck, and he doesn’t even attempt to hide his grin.

“Who did this? And what did they do?” Beck asks.

I grab the phone out of his hands as another text comes through.

Rowan: Don’t take away her trip into town tonight with her friends.

Rowan: I mean, I can’t dictate how you punish her, but what I have in mind will be the punishment of all punishments without isolating her from her new friends.

Rowan: I’ve got this, just wanted to give you a heads-up because Lottie is pissed.

Rowan: Ah, and Leo isn’t thrilled about the state of the showers.

Rowan: And Maria might be looking for you.

Rowan: But I’ve got Seren handled.

Rowan: Bye.

“What is she, an Olympic texter?” Beck mutters. “How the hell did she get all those messages out before you typed a single one?”

Before I can type a reply, Leo walks in. His face is equal parts amused and pissed off.

“She’s creative, I’ll give her that,” Leo says, dropping into one of the conference room chairs.

“What the hell did she do?” I’m staring at the photo of three very pissed-off nannies. All three are dyed red—their hair and skin.

“The good news is it’s temporary dye. The bad news is my bathhouse now resembles a bloodbath.”

I stare at my phone in a state of shock.

“She unscrewed the shower heads and filled them with dye tablets so when the water turned on, it sprayed through the quick-dissolving casing to the dye tablet. They had been at the beach, so the nannies were in their bathhouse when it happened. She only targeted that one, thankfully.”

“Thankfully? My daughter dyed human beings, and you’re sitting here grinning as though there’s a bright side?”

He shrugs. “I figure you’ll get enough shit from Lottie because two of the nannies you chose for tomorrow have already bailed.” Leo’s gaze shifts from me to Alexei. “And for some reason, Maria had to shower there too instead of going back to her cabin on the other side of camp.”

Alexei mumbles a half-assed apology and storms out of the room. I’m also closing in on the door.

“Sure,” Beck calls after me. “It’s not as though we have a billion-dollar deal on the table or anything. Go do what you’ve gotta do, and then get your ass back here so we can finish this shit.”

I run into Beck’s wife Stella at the front door. “Don’t worry about him. He’s a big teddy bear who values family above all else, so take care of whatever you need to. We’ll see you tonight.” She pats my arm.

“Thanks, Stella. I think Seren’s trying to kill me.”

She laughs and despite myself, I chuckle too. Parenting is not for the faint of heart.

“Nah, she’s just a kid going through a tough time. Tough times still call for tough love sometimes though.” She leans in conspiratorially. “I heard about the dye. I don’t envy your walk into camp, but it’s kind of impressive.”

“That’s not the adjective I had in mind,” I say grumpily. “But yeah. We’ll be back later tonight.”