Park Avenue Player(12)

“I’m not,” Hollis grumbled before turning around and walking back to the kitchen. He opened the refrigerator and called to me, “Can I get you something to drink?”

Hmm. His manners were a hell of a lot nicer at home. “No. I’m good. Thank you.” I walked back to the kitchen to join him.

He took a water bottle from the fridge, unscrewed the cap, and leaned against the kitchen counter. Tilting it in my direction before he brought it to his lips, he said, “The accident wasn’t all your fault.”

“What do you mean?”

Hollis drank from his water bottle, watching me over it. “The office building has a ton of cameras inside and out. This morning I went down to security and asked them to replay the footage from the time of our accident. You did what you said. You waited a minute and then honked your horn to see if I had been waiting to take the spot.”

“I told you that.”

“Yes, but I didn’t believe you. I was on the phone and didn’t hear you.”

My eyes widened. “So you were on the phone and not paying attention, yet you made me feel like it was my fault. I knew it!”

He squinted. “Why did you come here today saying it was your fault, if you knew it wasn’t?”

“Truth?”

“No, lie to me.”

I rolled my eyes. “Because I want the job.”

“Why?”

“Because I like to eat.”

“You aren’t going hungry. You have a job. If I remember correctly, one where you do a lot of this and that.”

I sighed. Hollis wasn’t an idiot. He’d known something was fishy during the interview. I made a spur-of-the-moment decision to come clean. I had nothing to lose at this point.

“I don’t do much admin work at my current job. I use my looks to assist the private investigators in surveillance.”

“Go on.” He folded his arms across his chest. “I can’t wait to hear this.”

“Well, the firm I work for provides assistance in divorce cases—tailing spouses and taking photos of incriminating situations, usually evidence of them cheating. Sometimes it’s difficult to get the evidence, because once the divorce starts, the soon-to-be alimony-paying cheater becomes more discreet.”

“Okay…”

“One of my jobs is to bait the cheaters. Show up in a bar, flirt a little…then once they take the bait, our photographer snaps a few photos, and I pretend I need to go to the ladies’ room. Then I slip out the back door.”

Hollis’s eyes roamed my face. “Do they always take the bait?”

“Are you doubting my capabilities?”

His lip twitched. “How exactly does one get into such a profession?”

I sighed. “Soren, the guy that owns the agency, was in the military with my brother.”

Hollis scratched his chin. Today he had a five o’clock shadow, and the look really worked for him. “Do you enjoy doing this job?”

The right answer should probably have been no—let him think I did it for a paycheck. But I’d already aired half my dirty laundry; I might as well throw it all out there.

“I did at the beginning. I took the job right after my own divorce. I was married for nine months to a professor I met in college. Long story short, I walked in on him with a student. It doesn’t take a psychologist to figure out what made me enjoy the job at the beginning.”

“What about now? You said you enjoyed it at the beginning. Does that mean you don’t anymore?”

I shook my head. “I want to move on. It’s difficult to do that when you’re reminded every day of all the reasons you aren’t happy to begin with.”

Hollis stared at me for a long time. “Thank you for being honest with me.” He set his water bottle down on the kitchen counter and put his hands on his hips. “So that’s why you’re here, then? A last-ditch effort to convince me to hire you for the job? Not an overwhelming need to apologize for the accident being your fault?”

“The truth?”

“Let’s keep giving that a shot, yes.”

“I still didn’t think the accident was my fault when I decided to come today. I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for the job.”

Hollis’s lip twitched again. “Previous occupation aside, Addison told me she’d asked you about your driving history. Ours wasn’t your first fender bender. I’m sure you can imagine why I’d have concerns about you taking care of Hailey. At times, you might need to drive her places.”

My shoulders slumped. He was right. I couldn’t even park in front of his building. Why would he trust me to take care of his niece? And he didn’t know about all my other accidents. Yet I wasn’t ready to give up. Working as a nanny might not seem like a life-changing event to most people, but it was what I needed. My life needed to start going in the right direction. I wanted to start my life again. It had been a long time since I’d wanted something for myself that wasn’t destructive. And I really felt like maybe I’d connected with Hailey.

“I’ll work for two weeks for free. If you don’t feel like I’m competent, or if I have another fender bender, then don’t hire me after the two weeks are over.”

Hollis did that staring-at-me thing again. He seemed lost in thought. I assumed he was tossing around my offer, debating whether I was worth the hassle, but apparently his mind was somewhere else.