Page 36 of The Surrogate Nanny

Anthony’s words were reassuring, but still...

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“It’s just Jonathan,” Anthony sighed as he watched me furiously sweep the living room.

“It doesn’t matter,” I chastised quietly. “Everything must be spic and span for guests. I don’t care how much of a train wreck his house is. No one will ever be able to part their lips and call our home a train wreck.”

“I’ll help you.”

“Will you?” I asked, brightening up at his gracious offer.

“No,” he answered with a bored look.

I rolled my eyes.

The man is useless and snarky—a real pain in my ass.

The doorbell rang, and I paused to check my watch.

Six o’clock on the dot.

“I’ll answer the door. You might want to tend to the grill. It smells like something’s burning,” I taunted. Anthony sniffed the air before limping towards the backyard.

He can be so gullible sometimes.

I answered the door and found Jonathan standing there with a case of beer in one hand and a bouquet of sunflowers in the other.

“Flowers?”

“It’s an apology for being an accessory to kidnapping.”

My eyebrows met in confusion. “Kidnapping?”

“You know...for my role in helping Anthony get Nori.”

“Oh, that. You were only doing your job,” I said, accepting the flowers.

“Wow. A few months ago, you would’ve told me to shove those flowers where the sun doesn’t shine.”

I giggled, knowing he was onto something.

“You’re right, but...things are different now, and I like to believe that everything happened for a reason.”

“That’s an optimistic way of viewing things,” he commented, rocking on his heels.

“Come in, Jon. I can call you Jon, right? Jonathan seems so formal. These are beautiful, by the way.”

“Jon is fine. Wow. Did Anthony hire a housekeeper? He’s usually not this tidy.”

I beamed a little with pride. I knew my hard work would pay off.

“No, I like to keep a clean house.”

“Is Anthony making you clean, too? That wasn’t in your contract. If he’s making you clean, then we should renegotiate your contract. He should be paying you more.”

“Thank you for the concern, but Anthony doesn’t force me to cook or clean. Honestly, I have a lot of free time on my hands, and I don’t mind staying busy.”

“Being Nori’s full-time nanny doesn’t keep you busy?” he questioned.