Single Dad's Surprise (Wilder Brothers #1)

by Lisa Levine

  I didn’t know how to answer that without sounding like a bitch, so I quickly changed the subject. “What’s your favorite part about school, Poppy?” I asked as I smiled at her through the rearview mirror while I pulled the car out from the garage and set the GPS.

  “Not being here with you.”

  Okay, this was going well.

  I could even hear the sarcasm inside my own silent thoughts. I wanted to tell her that I wasn’t that bad and that I was certainly not trying to be her mom. I wanted to tell her that we could be friends and that we might even be able to have some fun together if she would just give me a chance. But I had a feeling that it was all just too much for her right now and that less was more until she came around to trusting me. When we got to her school, she popped open the door and jumped out as soon as the tires stopped spinning.

  “Bye, Poppy, have a nice—”

  She had slammed the door before I finished talking.

  Okay, well, at least I had a few hours to do what I wanted in peace now. Jake had added me to the school’s emergency contact and pick up list, and I knew exactly what time I was supposed to be there to get her at the end of the day. So, between now and three-thirty, I could drive around in this fancy car and spend the stipend Jake had given me—which was on top of my salary—and sit inside the coffee shop to plan my future trip to Europe that would help me decide my life’s path.

  My phone rang through the car’s speakers since it was plugged into the USB, and my dad’s voice boomed inside of the vehicle.

  “Annika, how are you, sweetie?” my dad said.

  I didn’t know why he always felt the need to shout on the phone as if I couldn’t hear him. I tried to search around for the car’s volume button to turn him down.

  “Fine, Dad,” I said, trying not to get into an accident with this borrowed car as I was still searching for the volume.

  “How’d it go with that nanny interview?”

  “Good, I got the job. In fact, I’m actually working right now, so I’ll have to call you back.”

  “But you didn’t—”

  Fortunately, I knew where the button was on my phone to hang up. I would call him back later and apologize for being abrupt. But today, I needed to stay focused on making sure the day went smoothly.

  Everything seemed to be going fine, at least for the first couple of hours. But then I looked in the back seat of the car and saw that Poppy had forgotten her lunchbox. I raced back to the school with it, hoping that she hadn’t already had her lunchtime. When I got into the office to drop it off and told the secretary that it was for Poppy Wilder, she immediately assumed I was her mother and rushed me over to the clinic where Poppy had supposedly fallen ill. I tried to explain to the school nurse that I wasn’t her mother, but between Poppy’s dramatic—and fake—attempts at heaving and the nurse’s obvious distraction by a boy who had cut his finger in science class and was now bleeding all over the floor, no one seemed to care who I was. They only cared that I took Poppy home before she threw up at school.

  I took Poppy and her lunchbox back to the car and began to ask her how she felt once we had gotten in.

  “Fine,” she said.

  I peeked through the rearview mirror at her. She didn’t look sick at all; she just looked pissed-off.

  “Were you pretending to be sick?” I asked her.

  “Yep,” she said.

  Good, at least we’re being honest with each other now. That’s a first step in the right direction.

  “Were you hoping that the school would call your dad and that he would come to pick you up?” I asked.

  “No,” Poppy answered. “My dad isn’t the first name on the emergency contact list.”

  I was going to ask her whose name was first, but as soon as I pulled into the driveway of the house, I was horrified to see who it was.

  “Mommy!” Poppy squealed as she jumped out of the car and ran toward Maleah Wilder, who was standing smack in the middle of the driveway next to her bright-yellow sports car. “Mommy, you came!”

  I got out of the car, leaving it parked right where it was in the driveway since I couldn’t get around Maleah’s car, and walked toward them both.

  “I had to come,” she said, annoyed. “You called me three times on my cell phone, and then your blasted school called twice. I was just about to leave on tour but happened to still be in town thanks to a faulty tour bus.”

  Maleah looked over at me with a penetrating glare.

  “But instead of finally heading out of town mere seconds after we had gotten the new bus loaded with all of our gear, I am interrupted by a hysterical call from my daughter.”

  “Mommy, I knew you would come!” Poppy said as she jumped up and wrapped her arms around her mother’s ribcage. “I knew you would come and save me from her.”

  Uh oh.

  Maleah yanked her daughter’s arms from around her, a bit too gruffly if you asked me, and stomped toward me in five-inch heels.

  “Who in the hell are you? And where is Jake?”

  Before I answered her, I sent a quick and panicked text to Jake, telling him that he needed to get home now. Having to call him just a few short hours after I’d officially started this job was humiliating and nerve-wracking. But having Maleah standing two inches from my face and screaming profanities at me in front of Poppy was worse. I didn’t even care about it for me, I was a grown-up, and if Maleah pushed it too far, I was pretty sure I could knock her right off her heels.

  But as her mother looked like a tyrant clad in sparkling faux leather, Poppy stood behind her with fading hope that her mother had come to rescue her, which was now being replaced by the realization that her mother came because she was pissed-off.

  “He’s at work,” I answered. “But I’ve just texted him to let him know that you are here, so I’m sure he’ll be here shortly.”

  “Well, I’ve already called him. And yes, he damn well better be here shortly. You must be the horrible nanny that my daughter was screaming about over the phone. When did you get here?”

  “Yesterday,” I answered.

  “Yesterday? And already, my daughter is calling me in hysterical fits because you can’t seem to do your job?”

  “Poppy felt sick at school today,” I said as calmly as I could. “I was just picking her up from the school when you—”

  “What? Showed up? Let’s get one thing straight,” Maleah spat at me. She eyed me from head to toe as if I were something too disgusting to even look at. “I can always show up. Poppy is my daughter, and Jake is my ex-husband, which makes the three of us family.”

  I could see Poppy’s eyes light up at that remark. Poor thing, she was only acting this way because of how desperately she wanted her family back, dysfunctional or not. Still, she was going to get me fired from this job that I really needed, so I wished that she would just stop trying to sabotage me at every chance that she got.

  “Well, Ms. Wilder,” I said, trying to sound as polite and professional as I could. “Poppy doesn’t seem to really be sick, so I think I should just take her inside now to do her homework that she is missing from school.”

  “You’re not moving from that spot until Jake gets here.”

  “Ms. Wilder, please, I’m just trying to do my job.”

  “It’s my job as Poppy’s mother to make sure that she is safe and not pawned off onto some horribly ineffective nanny who can’t even seem to keep her in school.”

  I wanted so badly to tell her that the reason Poppy kept acting up and getting sent home from school was her fault. That if only she weren’t such a poor excuse for a parent, then maybe Poppy wouldn’t be trying so hard to get her attention in any way that she could. But I knew that was the wrong thing to do because it wouldn’t benefit anyone and would only escalate the situation. Maleah would get even more furious, Poppy would see me as even bigger a villain, and Jake would probably fire me on the spot. So I kept my mouth shut and hoped to God that he got here quickly. I had never been happier to hear
my phone buzz. When I looked down at it, it was Jake.

  “On my way.”

  “Mommy, can you come in and play with me until Dad gets here?” Poppy asked.

  This was going to end in a train wreck. I saw it coming, and there wasn’t anything I could do to stop it.

  “Not right now, honey, maybe later. I have to fix this situation with your dad’s new girlfriend first.”

  “Annika isn’t his girlfriend,” Poppy said.

  Maleah laughed. “Sure, sweetie, I’m sure that’s what your dad has told you. Trust me; if he wanted a good nanny, he would have picked out an old, wrinkly one who spent more time at home baking cookies and less time galivanting around town.

  “I was taking Poppy her lunchbox; she left it in the car.”

  “Sure you were,” Maleah said spitefully.

  Poppy looked down at my hands and saw her bag in one hand and her lunchbox in the other. For a second, it seemed like she might have realized I was trying to help, but that moment faded almost instantly as she went back to siding with her mother.

  “Dad can’t have a girlfriend because he has me.”

  “I’m not your dad’s girlfriend, Poppy. I promise.”

  “She doesn’t believe you,” Maleah interrupted. “How dare you think you can talk to her like that?”

  “Like what?” I said as I felt my voice start to rise. It was taking everything I had not to knock this woman down right where she stood.

  She wasn’t even making any sense. I was trying to help her daughter, not hurt her. I started to feel like even talking to her was a waste of breath because she obviously wasn’t going to listen to anything I had to say.

  Poppy went up to her mother and tried to pull on her hand, but Maleah didn’t pay her any attention. “Mommy,” Poppy insisted as she made another futile attempt to get her mother’s attention while she was standing right beside her. “Mommy!”

  “Jesus, can you not just acknowledge her?” I said, finally losing my cool.

  “Excuse me?” Maleah was about to fly into a raving fit.

  I was really wondering how far away Jake’s office was and how much longer it would take him to get here.

  “This is all your fault!” Poppy screamed at me. “You need to leave!”

  “Agreed,” Maleah said. “If you really are the nanny and this is your first day on the job, then I would say that you’ve managed to royally screw it up. I’m going to guess that Jake said he needed your help so that he wouldn’t be interrupted at work as much, am I right?”

  I didn’t answer her question.

  “Well, now not only have you interrupted him at work, but you’ve interrupted me as well. It doesn’t seem that you’re doing a great job of being his nanny or his girlfriend.”

  “Like I have already said, I am not Jake’s girlfriend.”

  “Really? Because I know lots of nannies, and most of them don’t call their bosses by their first name.”

  I couldn’t simply stand here in this driveway indefinitely, looking at Maleah and Poppy, who were both glaring at me as if they wanted me to drop dead on the spot. I couldn’t get back in the car and leave because the car wasn’t even mine. I couldn’t get past the two of them to go into the house to pack my things, but even if I could, I had nowhere to go now. If last night had been a disaster, then today was a catastrophe. I wasn’t sure it could get much worse than this.

  I was just about to give up and push my way inside so that I could lock myself in the bedroom until the whole thing blew over, or at least I could get my old apartment back and leave. But then I saw a black car speeding up the drive from the corner of my eye. The black beamer skidded to a halt right next to the silver car that I had parked, and Jake stepped out to walk toward us. Even with his sunglasses on, I could tell that his eyes were vehemently angry beneath them. His pace was steadily furious, and his posture looked as though he was ready to pull someone apart. I noticed that the closer he came to us, the more Maleah smirked, and the more conflicted Poppy looked.

  Chapter Six (Jake)

  Getting a 9-1-1 call from Annika on her very first day of being alone with Poppy was definitely not a great way to start. But I didn’t really make such a good impression last night, either, so I wasn’t about to jump to any hasty conclusions. Something had happened, and she hadn’t specified what it was, only that I needed to come home immediately. Of course, the first thought that came to my mind was that Poppy had been hurt or was somehow in grave danger. So I grabbed my keys off my desk and ran to my car without even telling anyone I was leaving. As soon as I pulled up at home, I was greeted by a completely chaotic situation. I got out of the car and walked toward them.

  Annika was standing in the driveway with Poppy’s school belongings in her hands, looking both mortified and embarrassed for having had to call me home on her very first day of the job. Maleah, who I thought had already left for her tour, was mad as hell about something and raving like a lunatic. And Poppy was starting to cry.

  I can’t do too many more days like this. I’m going to lose my mind.

  I walked up and stood beside Annika to face Maleah. I could see the nervous quickening of the rise and fall of Annika’s chest as she breathed. This poor girl was really getting a run for her money by working for me. The salary was big because the work was not easy.

  “Maleah, what are you doing here?” I asked her.

  “I’m here because I received a hysterical phone call from our daughter, begging me to come to rescue her from some horrible nanny you had decided to pawn her off on.”

  I knew Maleah, and I knew where this argument was heading. This was not the kind of scene that I wanted either Poppy or Annika to have to take part in.

  “Poppy go inside the house and upstairs to your room with Annika,” I said.

  “No! I’m staying here with you and Mom. I’m not going anywhere with her,” she said as she pointed a crooked, little finger at Annika. “I hate her.”

  “See?” Maleah said with dramatic intonation.

  “Poppy,” I growled at her in my sternest voice and with my unhappiest face. “Go upstairs now. “

  It wasn’t often that I used that tone with Poppy, but when I did, she listened. Even if her mother was here.

  A disgruntled and protesting Poppy turned to walk back toward the house, and I glanced toward Annika to follow her. After the two of them had left, it was time to talk Maleah down off a ledge, again.

  “Poppy called you because she wants your attention, not because she has an awful nanny. Honestly, Maleah, we’ve talked about this ad nauseam before. You know why Poppy is acting this way; you just don’t seem to care. I’m actually surprised you’re here right now.”

  “Well, I wouldn’t be if my tour bus hadn’t broken down and kept me here a few extra days. Fortunately for Poppy, I was here and could come when I did.”

  “I’m surprised you came at all. But all of that aside, you have no say in whether or not I get a nanny, not unless you’re willing to start taking your half of the parenting.”

  “You know I can’t do that, Jake, don’t be ridiculous. My schedule is much too crammed to have a child on the road with me.”

  “Okay then, and my schedule is much too busy to be a full-time single parent and run my company. So unless you would like to take your daughter on tour with you, you need to stop and understand that I need the help of a nanny, and so does Poppy.”

  “Well, she sure doesn’t seem to like your nanny,” Maleah chided.

  “That’s because she’s not you. Poppy doesn’t want anyone besides you, Maleah. I keep thinking that one day that’s going to mean something to do, but it never seems to.”

  “Oh please, don’t try to guilt me. It is imperative for my career that I go on these tours.”

  “And it is imperative for my career that I keep a nanny for Poppy.” I didn’t get into all of the reasons that I felt it was imperative for Poppy, too, because I knew she didn’t really care.

  “Fine,” Maleah finally
conceded. “But if you’re going to have a hired nanny, the least she can do is keep Poppy from interrupting me on important business.”

  There was no important business; there was only Maleah leaving again in order to chase after some elusive dream of happiness that she was buying with her fame and success at the cost of her child.

  “At least go in and say goodbye to Poppy,” I said.

  “I’m already late,” Maleah said as she started to get into her car. “Move all your vehicles so I can get out.”

  I shook my head in a state of continual and endless disappointment, then I moved both of the cars for Maleah to get out and then pulled them both up into the garage. When I got back into the house, I walked immediately up to Poppy’s room. I saw Annika sitting outside of her door.

  “She didn’t want me to come in,” Annika said. “But I didn’t want to leave her all alone, either, so I just decided to sit out here by the door in case she needed me. But I’m not the one she really needs.”

  “Thank you,” I said to Annika as I put a hand on her shoulder before opening Poppy’s door.

  Annika stood up and stood by the door as I went inside.

  “Hi, baby,” as I sat down on the bed next to Poppy.

  “She’s gone, isn’t she?” Poppy asked as she tried not to keep choking on her tears.

  “For now, but she’ll be back.”

  “She didn’t even say goodbye.”

  “I know, sweetheart, and I’m sorry.”

  Poppy raised her face up off of her tearstained pillow and then crawled up into my lap again.

  “Why doesn’t she ever say goodbye, Dad?”

  I sat quietly and thought about how I should answer that question. It wasn’t an easy one to answer. The truth would do more damage than a lie this time; that much I did know for sure.

  “Mommies and children don’t need to always say goodbye because their hearts do it for them.”

  “What do you mean?” she asked.

  “You know how sometimes when we’re playing a game of charades and it’s almost like you can read my mind?”