Page 31 of The Surrogate Nanny
“Anthony.”
“Simone.”
I nearly clammed up.
I hate how he says my name. It makes me...
“We’ll be walking a lot today. Please...don’t hesitate to tell me when you need a break. If we have to rest every ten minutes, then we will do that.”
“My leg is fine.”
My eyes ticked down to his hand, massaging his thigh. He snatched it away once he noticed my skeptically raised eyebrow.
“Uh-huh,” I replied, reaching for Nori.
I see I’ll be taking two children to the zoo today.
***
The zoo was exactly as I imagined: full of excitable children, flustered guardians, laughter, and the slight smell of food and animal feces. Nori cooed with excitement from the energy and squirmed to get out of the stroller.
“Maybe I should’ve rented it out,” Anthony mused with his large hand wrapped around the head of the cane, his steel eyes sweeping the crowd.
“Rent what out?”
“The zoo.”
“Don’t be a rich jerk. Half the fun is the atmosphere, especially for a kid.”
Anthony heaved a burgeoning sigh before shaking his head and smiling. He tapped the side of the stroller with his cane. “The things I do for you, kid,” he remarked with a grin. Nori smiled back at him but was quickly distracted by a lion prowling its enclosure. He tapped me, nodding to the sign.
Do not feed the animals!
“Do you think lions go for little sharks?” he mused.
“Not this one,” I said, grinning back. My eyes widened when I noticed a family leaving a nearby bench. “I think it’s time for a break.”
“I—”
“Your protests are futile, Anthony,” I said somewhat absently as the lion roared. My motherly instinct took over. Suddenly, the enclosure seemed flimsy. I backed us up a bit, taking Anthony by the sleeve. “Set a good example for Nori and be obedient.”
“I don’t have to listen to you.”
I crouched down in front of Nori.
“Nori, I think we should go see the mules next. What do you think?” Nori bounced up and down and clapped her hands. “Do you want to see a stubborn mule?” I turned the stroller around to face her father. “There you go, baby,” I cooed.
“That’s real mature, Simone,” Anthony drawled as he followed me to the bench.
I snickered and sanitized my hands before retrieving my giant salted pretzel from the stroller. I barely had a chance to chew before Nori yelled for my attention. “You’re not even hungry. You just want it because I have it,” I gently chastised as I broke small pieces of pretzel off for her.
“Can you blame her? It looks delicious. I should’ve gotten one.”
“Would you like to try it?”
“If you don’t mind.”
I offered my pretzel to Anthony and gasped in shock when he nearly devoured a quarter of my treat with one bite.