Chapter 4

Four

Finn

A s much as I wanted to schedule gigs on the weeks Paisley was with Naomi, that just wasn’t possible. Bar managers wanted to book me weekly, not every other week, and I couldn’t blame them. Their customers liked consistency. But it was also why I’d asked Aria to see if she could babysit for me. I needed someone who was reliable.

I’d like to think I chose her because she’d mentioned how often she’d babysat, and she was great with Paisley, but there was this bigger part of me that was drawn to her. I wanted to know more about her. I had this impression of her as being high maintenance, but the reality wasn’t matching up.

When she texted to say she could come over on Wednesday, I was nervous, and I couldn’t figure out why. It felt a little bigger than interviewing a potential sitter. I wanted to make her dinner, and I wanted to impress her. It made no sense because I’d never been nervous to see a woman before, and this one was interviewing to be my employee.

She loved weddings, which meant she was a romantic. She was the type of woman I avoided at all costs. Just because someone wanted to get married didn’t mean they’d stay married. It was harder than people thought, and I had a front-row seat to my parents’ dysfunction. The constant new people in and out of my life, the eventual marriages I knew wouldn’t last, the inevitable breakup. It was a cycle of ups and downs I could do without.

On Wednesday, Paisley came home from school, talking nonstop about what happened that day and asking when Aria would be here. Aria must have made an impression on her at the festival because Paisley couldn’t wait to see her again.

Paisley watched a few clips of her favorite movie, Ratatouille , before I asked her what we should cook. When she raised her brow, I finally relented. “Fine. We’ll make ratatouille, but we need to go to the store to get the ingredients.”

“Yay!” Paisley cheered as she hopped off the couch.

I paused her movie so she could watch it later, and we got into the car. I’d pulled up the recipe online and knew what we needed to get. “We need veggies and French bread if we can find it.”

“It’s going to be so good. Aria will love it.”

I should have asked Aria if she had any allergies, but I hadn’t. If so, she could probably still eat the veggies. At the store, I got a lot of looks when I was alone with Paisley. It was almost as if older women thought it was adorable that I was taking my child to the store. Something moms did every day was somehow exceptional when the dad did it.

The word “ratatouille” sounded a little fancier than it was. It was a mixture of roasted veggies poured over bread or rice. At the store, I grabbed a basket and filled it with eggplant, zucchini, and tomatoes. I grabbed a couple of different kinds of freshly baked bread and brown rice.

I’d never made it before, and I hoped it turned out okay.

“If I’m making this,” I said, setting the veggies on the counter, “you’re helping me.”

“Okay,” Paisley said, surprising me.

I got out a couple of cutting boards, the smaller knife for Aria and a larger one for me. I told her how to cut the tomatoes carefully and gave her a bowl to drop them in when she was done. Then I queued up her favorite playlist on my phone.

Occasionally, one of us would start singing and tease the other about our terrible voices. It was fun, and it reminded me how empty the house was during the weeks she was with Naomi. I hated not being with her when I needed to work, and I missed her when she was with her mom.

When the doorbell rang at six, we had the veggies cooking and were slicing the bread to serve with olive oil and rosemary while we waited.

“She’s here,” Paisley said, climbing off the high stool and racing toward the door.

“Look before you open the door,” I called after her, following her at a slower pace. I’d already checked the video feed on my phone and knew it was Aria.

She wore another one of her sundresses as she fiddled with the strap of her purse.

“It’s Aria,” Paisley called, right before she opened the door.

“Paisley, it’s so nice to see you again.”

Paisley squealed. She was so excited, rattling on about cutting tomatoes for the first time, and Aria’s eyes widened.

“I’m a good dad, I promise. It was a small, dull knife, and I supervised her the whole time.”

“I never doubted that,” Aria said with a smile.

I shut the door behind her and followed them into the kitchen.

“We cut up bread in case you’re hungry.” Paisley grabbed a plate and set a slice of bread on it.

“I wasn’t expecting dinner,” Aria said as she set her purse on the counter.

“I invited you over at dinnertime, and we need to eat. Would you like something to drink?” I asked her.

“I’d love some water. Thank you.” Aria sat on the stool Paisley had just vacated.

I filled a glass with ice and water from the fridge, content to watch Paisley interact with Aria.

“You dip the bread in the olive oil, and it is delicious.” Paisley dipped her bread and took a big bite.

“I bet it is. You enjoy cooking?” Aria asked her.

Her nose scrunched. “I’ve only cooked kid meals before. Mac and cheese and chicken nuggets.”

“That’s impressive. My sister and I learned to cook at a young age too.” Something flashed in Aria’s eyes, and I wondered if she’d regretted sharing that detail. If so, I wondered why.

“You have a sister?” Aria asked, awe filling her voice. A sibling was the one thing she wanted more than anything.

“Iris. She’s six years younger than me.”

“See, Dad? You can have another baby now. I’m six.”

Aria covered her smile with her hand.

“Yeah, that’s not how it works,” I said dryly as I opened the oven to check on the veggies.

“But if I had a brother or a sister, I’d have someone to play with.”

“And fight with. You forget I have a sister, and it isn’t all sunshine and rainbows.”

“I love my sister. Sure, we had disagreements, but we’re close.”

I turned in time to catch the sweet look on Aria’s face.

“Does your family live nearby?” I asked her, curious to know more about her.

“I grew up here, and they still live in the same home.”

Before I could ask where home was, Paisley brought up that we were making ratatouille and that it was our favorite movie. Then she took Aria by the hand and pulled her to her room to show it to her.

I let them go because it was important for Paisley to get to know Aria and feel comfortable with her. But I wanted to figure out Aria. Why was she so optimistic about love and relationships? Were her parents one of the unicorn couples that stayed together and were more in love now than they were when they married?

I heard laughs and talking coming from Paisley’s room, but I resisted following them. I wanted them to have some time alone together to bond. Besides, I didn’t trust myself not to ask Aria a billion personal questions she wouldn’t appreciate.

I channeled my nervous energy and set the table while they talked and played. When dinner was ready, I called them to the table.

“This looks amazing,” Aria said when she sat across from Paisley.

I’d already dished the ratatouille over the brown rice in large soup bowls. “You can dip the bread in it. I thought this would be easier than spreading it over it.”

“It looks delicious. Thank you.” Aria spread the napkin over her lap.

“Paisley has been asking me to make ratatouille for a long time, and I resisted because it looked complicated. It wasn’t that hard. Just a lot of cutting up veggies.”

Aria lifted her spoon, her lips tipping up. “Well, I’m impressed.”

A flash of pride flowed through my chest. I shouldn’t care if Aria was impressed, but I was.

I took my first large bite, the flavors of the tomatoes and veggies bursting in my mouth. It was good, but next time, I needed to add something else, a protein. This wouldn’t fill me up. “If you’d like slices of chicken on the side, I have some leftovers.”

“This is fine. I ate a snack when I came home from work.”

“Me too,” Paisley said, clearly delighted with her as she ate her veggies with a spoon. “This is good.”

“Thank you,” I said, ruffling her hair. When I glanced over at Aria, she was watching us with interest. I wondered if she thought I was a good dad. She’d said as much at the festival, but she barely knew us.

Paisley talked about what was going on at school, her recent assembly that was a magic show, and the upcoming talent show.

“Are you performing?” Aria asked her politely.

Paisley shook her head. “I don’t have a talent.”

“I think you could do whatever you wanted, even a magic trick.”

Paisley’s eyes got wide. “Really?”

“Sure. It’s not just musical talent.” Then Aria gave me a questioning look.

“She doesn’t play an instrument yet. We’ve talked about the piano, but she wants me to teach her guitar. It’s hard at this age. You need to develop fine motor skills.”

Paisley sighed. “I want to learn.”

“Piano is your best place to start. It’s the basis for all instruments. Then I’ll teach you.” As a music major, I could play all instruments, but my specialty was guitar.

“Fine.”

“You’ll let me teach you piano?”

“Yes.”

“That’s so amazing, Paisley. I would have loved to learn an instrument when I was a child.”

“Why didn’t you?” I was a huge proponent of everyone learning to play. The studies were clear that it did amazing things for children’s brains.

Aria seemed to stumble over an answer. She finally settled on, “My parents didn’t think we had time for it.”

My brow furrowed because that didn’t make sense. Sure, some parents discouraged kids from playing or encouraged them to quit after they started, but I didn’t think she was being entirely truthful.

“I’ll work with you on a magic trick if you want.”

“Oh yes.” Paisley nodded with enthusiasm.

I’d tried to get Paisley to consider entering the talent show, but she was adamantly against performing. Aria had been here for one night and had gotten her to agree to something I hadn’t. It was impressive.

Paisley launched into all the magic tricks she knew, and as soon as she was finished eating, she ran to her room to drag out her magic set. Then she performed each one with Aria, who was patient and sweet with her.

There was no question I was hiring her. But I was a little skeptical about why she needed this job. “Paisley, can you get your pajamas ready while I finish talking to Aria?”

“Ugh. Fine.” Then she hugged Aria and raced upstairs.

“I’d love to hire you. I just want to make sure this is what you want. You already have a job at Happily Ever Afters.”

“I told you I was saving for a bigger apartment.”

I had no idea what Gia was paying her, but I thought it should be sufficient for that. Was there another reason she needed to supplement her income?

“I’d love to watch Paisley for you. She’s sweet and fun.”

“Then you’re hired. I need someone reliable and who’s not going to quit after a week or two.”

“I’m very reliable. I’ve never quit on any of my babysitting families.” Then she dug into her purse and pulled out a piece of paper. “These are my references if you’d like to check them.”

“I’ll do that,” I said as she stood and made her way to the door. I was curious about her past, so I would probably contact one or two.

“I’ll walk you out,” I said to her as I opened the door, and she slipped through.

“Are you sure you want to work two jobs?”

“I love keeping busy,” Aria said with a smile.

I had a feeling that it was more than that, but it wasn’t my place to ask. “I’ll call your references, but assuming everything checks out, can you start tomorrow?”

I had a good feeling about hiring her. We might not see things the same way, but she was great with Paisley.

“I can do that,” Aria said as we stood in front of her small car. It was used but in good condition. It didn’t give me any more information about who she was, though.

I closed the door after she climbed in on the driver’s side. She offered me a small smile, and I stepped back as she backed out of the driveway.

Aria was an eternal optimist who believed in happily ever afters. She shouldn’t have intrigued me so much. Instead, I should take what she was offering—babysitting services—and keep my distance.

Whatever caused my parents to divorce so many times was part of my DNA. I couldn’t escape the reality that I was their child. I’d be doomed to fail too.