Live-In Position

by V. S. Tice

  “Good night.”

  No more words were said. I fell asleep wondering what was going through his head.

  Chapter Twenty

  GETTING VICTORIA BACK into her school routine wasn’t nearly as complicated as I expected. The first week was pretty simple, and she was excited to see her friends. The second week was proving to be more difficult.

  “Come on, you are already running behind schedule.” I pulled the covers off her head.

  “I don’t wanna,” she groaned and pulled her pillow over her head.

  “Get up,” I laughed and smacked her butt lightly.

  “Hey!” She sat up quickly, her hair a wild nest of frizz.

  “Well, get up or I will do it again.” I raised my hand teasingly. She covered her butt and got out of bed.

  “I’m up, I’m up,” she grumbled on her way to the bathroom.

  What usually took us fifteen minutes was accomplished in seven minutes this morning. As we hurried into the kitchen, we ran into Connor.

  “In a hurry this morning?” he chuckled.

  “Just a little.” I grabbed the cereal, milk, and juice.

  Victoria hopped up to the breakfast bar. She rushed to eat her cereal, and we practically sprinted to the car. We made it just in time. The moment she stepped through St. John’s doors I slouched back against the car.

  “Rough morning?”

  My head snapped up to see Amber smiling at me.

  “Hey, you,” I wrapped my arms around her in a warm hug. We pulled apart. “How are you?”

  She shrugged. “Good, I guess.”

  “You guess?” I raised one eyebrow at her.

  She sighed heavily. “Well, it’s just…oh, it’s nothing. I’m sure you have things to get done today. Plus, I should get MJ home.”

  “No way.” I shook my head. “Meet me at the coffee shop around the corner.

  “Sophia—”

  “I won’t take no for an answer.” With a quick wink, I hopped into my car and drove to Cup of Joe. Amber pulled up behind me.

  “So what’s going on?” I asked after we had gotten our coffee and settled into a corner table with MJ.

  “It’s hard with William being so far away all the time. I miss him.”

  I furrowed my brow. “Gone? Gone where?”

  Amber’s eyes widened. “Oh shit!”

  “What?”

  She clapped herself on the forehead. “I wasn’t supposed to say anything,” she groaned.

  “Okay, I’m confused.” I shook my head lightly, taking a sip of my coffee.

  Amber leaned over the table a little bit and whispered. “Allison is staying with Juliet.”

  I almost sprayed Amber with coffee. “What?” I choked out and quickly wiped my mouth.

  “I know, right?” Her eyes grew large and she nodded. “So William and the boys are with her.”

  “Wait, wait, back the truck up. When did Allison move in with Juliet?” I had my hands up, palms facing Amber.

  “I guess she was staying with Mrs. Bishop, but something happened and she went to the vacation house.” Amber shrugged. “From there she ended up with Juliet. It’s weird, isn’t it?”

  I nodded, still in shock. “Crap, I’m sorry. So William has been gone for a while then?” I asked, quickly redirecting the conversation back to her.

  “Yeah,” she sighed out. “I just really miss him.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  Amber smiled at me. “How are things with that guy you were seeing?”

  I furrowed my brow in confusion. “What guy?”

  “You know the one from the beach. Didn’t you go out with him a couple of times?” She pulled her paper cup to her lips.

  Dominic.

  “Oh, yeah,” I shook my head. “That was better left as friends. I haven’t seen or talked to him for a while.”

  “Will he be at the wedding?” she smirked.

  I shook my head. “No. I’m guessing you got your invitation to the wedding?”

  She nodded.

  “Good, you’re coming right?”

  She nodded.

  We finished our coffee and talked about a couple more things before we went our separate ways. I had a few errands to run—picking up a few things from the grocery store, going to the bridal shop for a follow-up fitting, and then picking up a wedding shower gift for Miranda.

  I finally finished all my errands, jammed everything into the car, and made it back to the house. I carried the grocery bags into the kitchen, quickly putting the items away. Another trip out to the car, and I returned with an arm full of garment bags that I laid over the banister of the staircase. Entering the house with my hands full of wedding gifts for Miranda, I kicked the door shut behind me.

  After putting everything away, I placed Miranda’s gifts in my room. I needed to do some laundry so I stripped my bedding, grabbed all of my dirty towels and clothes, and took them to the laundry room. I put the first load into the washer and ran back upstairs to sweep my room.

  I put my ear buds in and turned up the volume on one of my favorite playlists as I vacuumed the floor. I decided I would go over Victoria’s room quickly before putting the vacuum away. On my way out of her room, I ran into Mrs. Baker, who had an arm full of Victoria’s clothes. I pulled the ear buds from my ears with a tug of the wires.

  “Good afternoon,” I smiled.

  “Look at you, doing my job for me,” she winked.

  “I just figured I can clean up after myself and might as well go over her room too.”

  “Oh, I’m not complaining,” she chuckled and entered Victoria’s room.

  I returned the vacuum to the hall closet and went back to the laundry room. Putting my ear buds back in, I was happily met with the crooning of Frank Sinatra. There was no way to stop myself from bopping along to the song. I leaned into the washing machine and brought the wet clothing to the open dryer when I felt someone grab my hips.

  I screamed and jumped, my head hitting a solid mass. Spinning around and yanking the ear buds out of my ears, I discovered the solid mass was Dr. Bishop.

  “Are you okay?”

  Dr. Bishop held his chin, nodding.

  “Are you really or do I need to get ice or something?” I bit my lip nervously.

  He removed his hand. “I’m fine.”

  “Well then I should hit you…again…for scaring the crap out of me!” I narrowed my eyes.

  His laugh was deep but not playful. I watched his tongue roll along his bottom lip and fought the urge to attack him. He moved slowly but with determination toward my lips.

  The laundry room door swung open and I jumped again, this time bumping into the half-empty washing machine. Dr. Bishop quickly took a step back.

  “Oh, I didn’t realize that—” Mrs. Baker’s statement trailed off. She had no idea what to say. Heat rose into my face, flushing me bright red.

  “No, it’s fine. How are you this afternoon?” Dr. Bishop’s voice was smooth and cool.

  “I’m well, Collin. How are you?” Mrs. Baker responded pleasantly.

  I finished transferring my wet clothing to the dryer and started another load before quickly excusing myself from the room. When I got back to my room, I realized it was getting close to pick-up time for Victoria. I hurried to make my bed with clean sheets and blankets before grabbing my keys and bag. I was halfway down the stairs when I saw Dr. Bishop standing at the bottom, waiting for me.

  “You’re leaving?” He looked at his watch. “Victoria?” His eyes came back up to my face.

  I nodded.

  “Before you go,” he leaned forward and kissed me, “drive safely.” He smiled and went up the stairs. My eyes may have followed his backside as he ascended. Maybe.

  The entire drive to pick up Victoria, I thought about Dr. Bishop and me. If Grace found out about our relationship, she would definitely use it to her advantage. Then there was Victoria. I believed she would be happy about it, but what if, for some reason, she wasn’t? What if it didn’t work ou
t and then she would have to deal with our break up? Honestly, how did I think this was going to play out? I mean, what nanny has a wealthy doctor in her bed every night and ends up with him for good? I groaned and pulled into a parking space, waiting for the school to unleash the children to the world.

  Her bouncing red ponytail wasn’t hard to spot. A smile instantly spread on my face from her happy expression. I climbed out of the car and she ran up to me.

  “Oh my gosh, we did the coolest science experiment ever today!”

  She was full of excitement as she told me about her teacher making a test tube overflow with baking soda and vinegar.

  Victoria’s activities schedule was back in place. However, I did make some variations to her after school routine, taking her down to only three days with lessons. Monday was her piano lesson at home, Tuesday was dance class, and Wednesday was split between horseback riding and karate, depending on the season—horseback riding classes while the weather was warm and karate when the weather changed over to cooler.

  I went over what I wanted to say to Dr. Bishop about a thousand times. I didn’t want him to think I was trying to overstep my boundaries because of our relationship. I was lounging on my couch with my laptop reading over my completed book. I thought I was prepared to talk to him until he entered my room that night.

  “Good evening, Miss Ashwood.”

  I turned my head and peeked around the armrest of the couch. He entered my room in his pajamas.

  “Good evening.” I looked back to my laptop.

  He quickly sat down on the couch and lifted my feet to his lap.

  “What are you doing?”

  Before I could stop him, he reached over and took my laptop from me.

  “Stop,” I protested. He stilled. “It’s just, it’s not finished.”

  It was partially true. I mean the book was written, but I hadn’t done my read-through, and it hadn’t been edited yet.

  “Can I look?”

  He gave me the most wonderful smile, and I almost agreed. I shook my head and took my laptop back.

  “It’s not ready.”

  He frowned. “Why can’t I read it?”

  “I told you, it’s not done yet.” I shrugged.

  “Will you let me read it first?” His smile was back.

  I shrugged again.

  “Tell me what it’s about.” He settled back into the couch.

  “Um…well, it’s sort of a kid’s book.” I bit my lip.

  I kind of figured he would drop it, but I was wrong.

  “Really? Like a fairy tale?” His eyes, that could be ever so cold, were warm and curious.

  “It’s not done yet,” I said uncomfortably.

  He took my laptop and closed it before placing it on the coffee table.

  “Why won’t you talk to me?”

  “I am talking to you.”

  “Sophia, I want to know things about you, but you seem reluctant to talk to me about them.” He slid down next to me on the couch, his left arm over my thighs and his head in my lap.

  “What do you want to know?” I rolled my eyes.

  “Everything.” I could feel the smile on his face.

  “Well, there is something I wanted to talk to you about.”

  “Go on.”

  “Um, Victoria’s after school activities—” I paused.

  “What about them?” He didn’t move and his voice never changed.

  “Well, I wanted to, maybe, take her down to three days a week with after school things, and then give her, like, Thursday and Friday off.” He pushed up onto his right elbow so he could look at me. “If you think I’m overstepping, then you can just say so. I—” His left hand covered my suddenly fast talking mouth.

  “What do you plan for her to do?” He removed his hand.

  “Dance, piano, and horseback riding?” It definitely came out as a question. Unsure of whether he would permit my cutting away the language and karate lessons, as well as more leniencies with her non-school time.

  He settled back into my lap with a shrug.

  “Whatever you think is best.”

  I sat still for a few minutes.

  “Really?”

  “Really. I trust that you’ll do what’s best for her.”

  “You’re sure?” I asked, still in disbelief.

  He looked back up at my face again. “Sophia, do as you wish with her schedule. My only concern is that she’s happy.”

  I smiled down at him. Grabbing his face, I kissed his forehead.

  “Well, hell, you can make all the decisions around here if that’s how you respond.” He smiled and climbed up my body, pressing his lips to mine. We didn’t make it to the bed.

  “DO I HAVE to go to dance class tonight?” Victoria groaned.

  “Ah, come on, I got your schedule down to three days a week.” She rolled her eyes at me. “I thought you liked dance?”

  She sighed. “I do, but this year is tap. I want to do ballet again.”

  “Well, you will just have to be patient.” She rolled her eyes again.

  We stopped off at a deli and ate some sandwiches before I took her to her class. Instead of sitting in the waiting area, I hurried to a nearby bakery and bought a surprise for her. When her dance lesson was over, I held out a white box wrapped in plain white string.

  She smiled. “What’s this?”

  “Open it and find out.” I crouched down next to her as she sat on the floor.

  “These are my favorite!”

  Her arms wrapped tightly around my neck, and we ended up falling over onto the floor. I laughed and sat us back up.

  “I know they are.”

  “Thank you!” Victoria quickly pulled out the chocolate cupcake with peanut butter icing and chocolate chips. She tried to stuff the whole thing in her mouth.

  “You may want to take smaller bites.” I giggled.

  She smiled at me with a large peanut butter icing mustache over her lip. I shook my head.

  After the cupcake, she was in a better mood. She didn’t argue when I told her to get out of her junior bridesmaid dress and into the shower early. She looked at me funny for a moment, until I told her to hurry because I had another surprise for her.

  I was in my room with my laptop when she burst through the door.

  “Okay, I’m done!” She was almost out of breath.

  “Wow, that was quick. Are you sure you washed all over?” I teased her.

  She lifted her arm toward me.

  “You can smell if you want,” she teased back.

  “Ew, no way!” I pushed her arm down and laughed.

  “Okay, so what’s the surprise?” She jumped up and down.

  I stood up and pulled a DVD from the top of the television.

  “This.” I held it out to her.

  “You got the movie,” she screeched.

  “I rented the movie,” I clarified.

  “Let’s watch it now!” She ran over and jumped onto the couch.

  “We need popcorn first.” I winked at her.

  “Yes, and lemonade, too.” Victoria popped up from the couch and hurried out the door.

  “Wait for me!” I followed her down the steps.

  On our way back up the stairs, we ran into Collin.

  “What’s going on here?” He looked at the popcorn and cups of lemonade, then at the both of us.

  “Sophia got me the movie I’ve wanted to see!” she exclaimed. “We are going to go watch it.”

  “It’s a school night.” He raised a brow at her.

  “It will be over in time,” I assured him.

  His eyes met mine and stayed there for a moment, lingering, before he spoke.

  “You know, my television is larger. We should watch it in there.”

  “Really?” Victoria’s eyes almost bugged out of her head.

  He looked down at her. “Hand me those drinks and go get the movie.”

  She quickly handed over the drinks. He motioned for me to follow him. In his room, I wal
ked over to the small loveseat and a coffee table.

  “What are you doing?” He looked at me curiously.

  “I figured we were sitting here.” I stopped as I was about to sit down.

  “We can use the bed.” Dr. Bishop set the drinks on the side table.

  “Oh,” I paused. “Um, I don’t think you want popcorn in your bed.”

  He turned around, but before he could speak, Victoria burst into the room and hopped onto his bed.

  “This is going to be the best movie night ever!”

  Dr. Bishop’s lips broke into a large smile as he stared at his daughter. He looked back to me.

  “Everyone on the bed.”

  I shrugged and brought the large bowl over to the bed. Victoria sat Indian style in between Dr. Bishop and me.

  Midway through the movie, I said one of the characters was a geek and Victoria threw popcorn at me. I tossed a piece back at her, but she moved and it hit Dr. Bishop on the side of his face. We both became statues.

  “That’s it.” His tone was stern, but the small smile at the corner of his mouth gave him away too soon. He reached into the bowl and tossed large handfuls of popcorn at both of us.

  “It’s war!” Victoria screamed and started throwing it back at him.

  I laughed and grabbed the entire bowl, dumping it over Dr. Bishop’s head. His eyes shot to me and narrowed. I tried to jump off the bed, but he caught me around my waist and yanked me down onto the bed.

  “What shall we do to her?” He looked over at Victoria who was giggling furiously.

  “Let her go!” I offered.

  “Nice try, Miss Ashwood.” He smirked at me. “Well?” He turned his attention toward Victoria as he held me down on the bed.

  “Tickle torture!” Victoria’s hands came down to my sides and started digging in.

  “Oh god, stop! Victoria, quit!” I screamed.

  “No way.”

  “Ahhh, stop it, you two!” Now Dr. Bishop’s fingers were in my sides as well. “I surrender!”