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Chapter 2

2

As the month of December flew by, Tahlia learned a lot about the Nelson family.

Foremost, the twins couldn’t be more different. She was right: Kaiden was the shy one, needing quite a bit of time with a person before opening up. Maddy wasn’t less of an introvert, but more blunt. Definitely her father’s daughter.

They went to a fancy private school in the city, of course. Tahlia drove them and picked them up. She didn’t have to, as they apparently had a limousine specifically for that purpose but she liked to; it gave her extra time with them and it was during those drives she learned a little about their mother. A very little. There were no pictures of the woman anywhere in the house and the kids didn’t remember much their mother left when they were three. When Tahlia tried to learn from the other members of the household staff, they didn’t give. No one wanted to discuss it and she sure as hell wasn’t going to ask Nelson. As a result, she had to be content with the former Mrs. Nelson being a mystery.

When at home, the kids took piano. Maddy, another thing she apparently shared with her father and cello which Kaiden preferred lessons from private tutors. In their free time, if they weren’t up to some mischief together, Kaiden preferred to sit in a certain nook on the east end of the house which overlooked the woods nearby and read or do puzzles. Maddy, on the other hand, couldn’t sit still. She had to be doing something, either with her hands or a physical exercise of some kind. During a snack between their last music lessons before Christmas break, Tahlia gave her an old Rubik’s cube and the girl had it solved in a minute. Both children had an enquiring mind, curious about everything and unafraid to ask questions.

Tahlia very quickly fell in love with them, though she grew increasingly irritated by their father. The few interactions she had with him were weekly meetings during which she updated him on the kids and every time she had to bite her tongue to keep herself from asking why he didn’t just talk to them. Perhaps, she tried to reason, the holidays were a particularly busy time for him. He was the CEO of Roland Technologies and Tahlia supposed there could be some innovation meant to come out during the season that was taking up his time.

The excuses dried up when he didn’t show up for Thanksgiving and she had to introduce herself to his parents. Then she decided that he was an unregenerate asshole who was addicted to work and didn’t deserve to have kids. She was glad not to have much contact with him because if she did, she might speak her mind and probably end up fired.

Those were her thoughts about Matt Nelson those first couple of weeks. Until one night she saw something that kind of changed her mind.

That night Tahlia woke up with an urgent need for water, maybe three in the morning, she didn’t expect to see anyone up but, when she exited her room and walked past the kids’ rooms, she heard some movement in Kaiden’s.

Heart in her throat because she feared an intruder, she slowly stepped up to the door, which was cracked, and looked inside.

No intruder, but something…odd.

Matt Nelson, sitting in the armchair situated next to his sleeping son’s bed, very much asleep himself. His body was slumped in the chair, a cheek resting against his fist. Tahlia let out a quiet huff in both relief and surprise. She edged further into the room and noticed that Maddy had, at some point, crawled into her brother’s bed. It was a habit Tahlia suspected originated when their mother left.

The whole scene was so touching Tahlia couldn’t bear to disturb it and quietly departed. She got her water and returned to her room with a whole new, if confusing, perspective on Matt Nelson. Despite how late it was, she lay awake a long while as her brain tried to work out the cognitive dissonance of Matt Nelson’s behavior.

There was only one conclusion: maybe he wasn’t a total prick.

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