JC watched Annie as she walked across from the pool house to the main house the next morning. She had that glow about her. That sickening, stupid, happy glow that people who’d just had sex had about them. There was even some sort of skip in her step as she made her way around the pool. He’d seen Doug leave fifteen minutes before and saw them share an intimate embrace before he walked through the back gate. Although JC had had a decent texting conversation with Lauren, he’d been frustrated the entire time and even getting off didn’t seem to do the trick.

“Good morning,” he greeted her when she came into the kitchen. “I made coffee and Emma-Claire made me wait for you until we made pancakes.”

“Thanks,” Annie replied, going over to the coffee pot. She wore jeans and a black and white striped sweater with a yellow scarf and JC suddenly felt a little embarrassed to still be in his pajama bottoms and t-shirt.

“How was your date?” he dared to ask, already knowing what had transpired. Even if Annie wanted to hide it, she still had that morning-after look about her.

“It was…okay,” she reached into the refrigerator to grab the milk.

“Just okay?”

“I mean, we had a great date,” Annie stirred the milk into her coffee with a spoon.

“Just a date?” JC couldn’t help but prod with a knowing grin.

Annie blushed. She wasn’t about to divulge anything else to her boss about what had transpired between her and Doug last night. The sex hadn’t been mind-blowing. It had been nice and Annie had enjoyed waking up next to someone. But it certainly hadn’t been anything to get excited over and certainly not in front of JC. He saw her blush and knew he’d probably crossed the line with her. It was becoming familiar territory for both of them to go too far and push that employer to employee line as much as they could.

“That’s none of your business,” Annie replied softly, looking away.

“Sorry. I shouldn’t have asked,” he changed the subject. “Well, anyway, what’s up for today? What are you gonna teach me?” he stood to his feet with his coffee mug in hand and called into the living room for Emma-Claire. The little girl came bounding into the kitchen and threw her arms around Annie.

“Seems like you know what you’re doing or it looked that way yesterday,” Annie told him, thankful that JC had moved on to another topic besides her sex life. “But I thought we could go to the park. You know. Like that dad in the article did with his daughter?” Annie was smirking and JC couldn’t help but shake his head and let out a small chuckle.

“You’re hilarious,” he mused sarcastically. “But I deserve it.”

“You’re right. You do,” Annie walked over to the breakfast nook with Emma-Claire. “So, pancakes, huh?” she looked down at her. “Blueberry or chocolate chip?”

“Both!” Emma-Claire replied ecstatically.

“Okay,” Annie shrugged. It was the weekend and she was pretty sure that JC had probably broken every single nutrition rule the night before that Karen had put into place before she’d left a few weeks ago. She looked at JC. “Do you know how to cook pancakes?”

JC snorted. “I can barely make toast.”

Annie rolled her eyes. “Perfect. Our first lesson is showing you the wonders of Bisquick.” She went to the pantry and began to get everything out for the pancakes. JC stood and went over to the island and hopped up on the side of it to watch her in action. Emma-Claire didn’t leave Annie’s side, asking to pour the blueberries and chocolate chips into each separate pancake mix.

“So it’s just a box recipe?” JC observed. “That’s it?”

“You can make them from scratch. You can make anything from scratch,” Annie said as she began to mix the batter together. “But today we’re doing a box recipe because that’ll be easier for you to learn first.”

“Have you made them from scratch before?” JC asked as though it was a foreign concept to him. Then again, before Emma-Claire, making homemade pizza had been a foreign concept to him.

“Sure,” Annie shrugged. “It’s not that hard.” She poured the batter onto the hot griddle and Emma-Claire gasped in awe at how fast it turned into an edible pancake.

“Will you teach me sometime?” JC hopped off the counter and walked over to where Annie and Emma-Claire were standing at the stove. He stood behind her and couldn’t help but inhale her scent. Flowery. Fresh. Clean. He stepped back somewhat so that there wouldn’t be a repeat of the other night when he’d nearly been close enough to kiss her. Looking back, he wished he would’ve done it, but it was too late now. Especially since she’d had sex last night. It was almost some sort of deal with women and he knew it. Not women like Lauren, of course, who had several men she saw on the side. But he knew women like Annie weren’t that easy and it was something he wished he’d taken into consideration a long time ago before he’d started to date the first woman who’d jump into bed with him.

“Of course,” Annie turned and smiled at him, then went back to the pancakes. “I mean, I’m not a chef or cook by any means. But my mother was raised on a farm in Ohio and she taught me and my sister to do a lot of stuff in the kitchen that didn’t involve a box recipe.” She put the first two pancakes on a plate and handed it to Emma-Claire. “Ok. One blueberry and one chocolate chip. Be careful taking it to the table, girl.”

“I will,” Emma-Claire nodded and walked slowly back to the breakfast nook, with both of her hands clutching each side of the plate.

Annie glanced at JC. “Can you get the whipped cream out of the refrigerator?”

“On it,” JC went over to the refrigerator and took out the bottle of Mrs. Butterworth and the small plate of butter. He set them on the table and without being asked, began to spray a little whipped cream onto Emma-Claire’s pancakes. She thanked him and just to be funny, JC sprayed a tiny bit on the tip of his finger, then tapped Emma-Claire’s nose.

“Daddy!” Emma-Claire giggled and wiped her nose off with the back of her hand.

“What? My finger slipped,” he teased her and handed her a napkin.

Annie turned and smiled at the picture before her. If someone had asked her last week if JC was a good father, she would’ve told them ‘no’ without hesitation. But it looked like he was catching on and the nervous expression that had wrought his face in the weeks before was gone. She laid the rest of the pancakes on two large plates and walked over to the table, setting them down in the middle. The smell was a mixture of chocolate and blueberries and made the kitchen warm and cozy. Annie sat next to Emma-Claire who was jabbing a fork into a piece of her pancake and heartily digging in. JC smiled at Annie while he took a chocolate chip pancake and began to cover it in whipped cream.

 “Are you and Daddy taking me to the park today?” Emma-Claire inquired, with a mouthful of pancakes.

“Swallow your food and ask me again,” Annie replied, giving her a knowing look. Emma-Claire chewed the rest of her food then asked Annie the same question once more. “Yes, we are. Is that okay?” Annie cut into her pancakes and waited for Emma-Claire’s response. The child’s face was jubilant as though Annie had told her they were going to spend all day at Disneyland and not just the local community park.

“Yeah!” Emma-Claire nodded excitedly. She looked at JC. “Daddy, you’re really coming, too?”

JC knew she was asking him because he never went anywhere with Annie and Emma-Claire. And up until 24 hours ago, his role in his daughter’s life had been pretty much non-existent. “I really am,” he replied and winked at her, going back to his pancake.

“So, how did it go?” Megan asked Annie later that day. JC was pushing Emma-Claire on the swings and Annie had gone over to a nearby bench to take the call from her friend.

“With Doug? It went well,” Annie wasn’t going to divulge too much. If Megan wanted to know the juicy details of what had happened last night, she might share but she wasn’t speaking first.

“Well, he didn’t come back to my place last night so I’m assuming it went really well,” Megan cackled on the other end.

“Yeah, I guess you could say that.”

“Oh stop being vague!”

“You know I don’t kiss and tell.”

“More like fuck and tell.”

“Megan!” Annie couldn’t help but giggle. “It was nice. He’s coming back to see me next weekend.”

“Really?”

“Uh huh. So I guess I should be thanking you.”

“Yes, you can just put me as a bridesmaid in your wedding.”

“Well, let’s not rush that, please,” Annie looked over to see Emma-Claire waving to her from the swings. Annie grinned and waved back.

“So, what are you doing today? Busy with Emma-Claire?”

“Actually with her and JC. He’s coming around with us today to get a feel for how to interact with her.”

“Did you tell him it’s about time?” Megan scoffed.

“No, I think he gets that. He’s been like a different person since he got back from New York. It’s kind of strange,” Annie flicked off a bug that was crawling on her jeans. “But maybe he finally got around to realizing she’s not going anywhere and in order to not look like an ass he had to take initiative.”

“I hope so. God, I’m glad he’s not being such an ass though. I hope it’s not a phase.”

Annie looked up to see JC pulling Emma-Claire off of the swing and grabbing her in a tight hug, giving her waist a tickle. The little girl let out an exuberant laugh and threw her head back.

“I don’t think it is,” she assured her friend. “I don’t know, I think he’s going to be a great dad.”

JC looked up from his embrace with Emma-Claire and over at Annie who was on her phone and looking towards them. Her legs were crossed; her head tilted to the side, and a wide smile was spread across her face. The whole morning he’d stolen glances at her and wondered if she’d caught him. He couldn’t help it and he didn’t know why. She’d literally invaded his thoughts over the last three weeks and he wished he knew how to get her out of his head. He couldn’t date her. She was the nanny. It would only cause confusion for Emma-Claire, especially if they broke up and JC knew himself too well-he wasn’t one for long-term commitments and if it ended up going past four months, he would ultimately end it for fear that something would eventually go wrong.

“Annie’s pretty,” Emma-Claire interrupted his thoughts.

JC shook himself out of his gaze and looked down at Emma-Claire who was leading him towards the slide.

“Don’t you think she’s pretty, Daddy?” Emma-Claire continued. “I like her laugh.”

JC didn’t know how to answer. He wasn’t that dumb to think that Emma-Claire could blurt out later that Daddy thought Annie was pretty and then what would he say? His face would turn red and he’d clear his throat and it would be obvious that he was trying to cover up something.

“Yeah, her laugh is nice,” was all JC said. “So, how about you go down the slide and I’ll catch you on the other end.”

“No, come with me,” Emma-Claire tugged at him and JC looked at the yellow structure in front of him. It was a twisty-tube-type of a slide and although it was the perfect size for Emma-Claire, JC didn’t see how in the world he’d slide through it without getting stuck. But she was pleading with him with those beautiful blues and JC was a sucker for it, already letting her wrap herself around his finger.

“Sure. Okay,” he followed her up the small ladder and watched as she sat at the opening of the slide.

“Ok. I go first and I’ll wait for you down there, okay?” Emma-Claire said before letting herself off.

JC heard her laughing the whole way down and then it was his turn. He awkwardly put his feet through the opening already feeling extremely stupid looking on this little tube slide. He scooted towards it and pushed himself off, only he didn’t move very far. He lifted his feet up to see if he could gain momentum and that helped some, but it looked like he was going to have to scoot himself all the way down to the bottom.

Annie had finished her conversation with Megan and had joined Emma-Claire at the bottom of the slide. She heard scuffling of feet and had to suppress a laugh when she realized JC was stuck and was having to maneuver another way down other than freely sliding. At one point his shoe must have caught because the sound of rubber on rubber echoed throughout the structure and Annie had to turn her head so that Emma-Claire wouldn’t see her laughing.

“Daddy? Are you okay?” Emma-Claire put her body inside the bottom of the opening.

“Uh huh,” JC was out of breath but was almost there. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and saw sunlight peering in from below. “Here I come!” He gave one last push with his hand, lifted his feet up as far as he could, and was able to slide down the rest of the way. He lost his balance at the end and fell off, landing right on his bottom. Annie couldn’t help it and lost it right then and there.

“Thanks,” JC looked up at her, a smirk on his face. “I appreciate the support.”

“I’m really sorry,” Annie said through her laughter. “But that was the funniest thing I’ve seen in a while.”

“Are you okay, Daddy?” Emma-Claire bent down, her face right at his.

“Yep,” JC stood to his feet and brushed off the sand that had collected on his jeans. “Well that was a fun day at the park. What else do you two do while I’m at work?”

“Wow, you’re a baby when you get embarrassed, huh?” Annie couldn’t help but jab at him.

JC turned to face her, crossing his arms and playfully making a face. “Well, Annie the Nanny, let’s see you do it!”

“Annie the Nanny? Wow. Is that what you call me? That’s super creative, JC,” she looked down at Emma-Claire. “Your dad is making you millions with his songwriting skills. Especially if they rhyme.” Emma-Claire only giggled, not really understanding the joke, but enjoying the banter between her father and her nanny. “And you want me to go down the slide? No problem.” Annie went to climb the ladder around the other end of the structure and JC and Emma-Claire planted their feet by the bottom of the opening. In two seconds, Annie had slid down and was just standing to her feet when she lost her balance and fell backwards. JC reached behind her and caught her in one arm. She put her arms around his neck to balance herself but then JC was the one to lose his balance next and they both fell onto the ground, JC landing on top of her.

“Oh my god are you okay?” he immediately asked, looking right into her eyes.

Annie’s breath was taken away, not from the fall but from the man who’d tried to break it. His face was inches from hers and Annie gulped, quickly pushing him off and rolling to her side to stand up.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she smiled confidently and brushed the dirt from her jeans. “Are you okay?”

JC had wanted to hold her down a little longer if he’d been honest with himself. That was the only thing that wasn’t okay. Not to mention they were both embarrassed to have been caught in that position. “Yeah. Uh huh,” he nodded quickly, then turned to Emma-Claire who was staring at both of them with wide eyes.

 “I think we should go get lunch. And then maybe to a movie and before we head back, I need to stop by the studio just really quick to check on something,” JC began to walk to the car, with Emma-Claire running to catch up to him.

“You mean where you took me when I first got here?” Emma-Claire asked, following her father and holding onto his hand. Annie lagged behind, giving them some space and doing everything in her power to clear her fuzzy head. Her sister would die when she heard the story of JC falling on top of Annie. It was then that Annie understood why her sister used to think he was so attractive.

“Yeah. You remember that?” JC looked down at her and grinned as though it were a fond memory for her.

“Yeah. I was really bored,” Emma-Claire made a face. JC remembered that for the most part, Emma-Claire hadn’t spoken that day and had spent most of it curled up in a chair.

“You won’t be this time. I promise. And it will only be for a few minutes,” JC assured her, then turned back to Annie. “Are you okay with that?”

Annie chuckled, “What am I? Your nanny? I don’t care what you’ve got planned for us.”

“Well, it is your day to show me stuff and all that,” JC reminded her as they came to his car. He unlocked it and began to help Emma-Claire into her booster seat.

“Honestly,” she spoke and smiled at him, “you’re doing a great job. I kind of have half a mind to let you do it on your own today. In fact, before you got back from New York, that’s what I was planning on doing. But yesterday you took over in a good way and it showed me that I didn’t have to stick it to you.”

JC nodded taking in all of what she’d just said. “Wow. Thanks. I guess New York made me think about a lot of stuff.”

“Good,” Annie realized she and JC were sort of gazing at each other over the car and quickly shook herself out of it. “So, yeah, lunch. Emma-Claire, where should we go for lunch?”

Had she just been gaping at him? Was it his imagination? Or was he that worked up over her that he’d wanted it to be that way? She was now involved in a conversation with Emma-Claire about why they shouldn’t eat at McDonalds and go somewhere different and wasn’t really paying him any attention now, but for that split second she’d looked at him differently. Possibly. Maybe. He couldn’t think too long and hard about it because just the night before she’d shared her bed with another man who was more or less her steady boyfriend now and JC wasn’t going to touch that with a ten-foot pole. He would resign himself to be her boss and that was all. Which is why he felt slightly creepy about occasionally glancing over at her breasts or resting his eyes on her legs when she would cross them next to him in the passenger seat. He could stare, he just wouldn’t touch and he’d have to be okay with that.

The rest of the afternoon was spent getting lunch at a pizza place JC claimed was the best in West Hollywood, then a movie, and dinner at a Mexican restaurant. Afterwards, they drove on the other side of town to the studio. It was small and cramped inside and Annie wondered how JC ever managed to fit eleven girls in it along with himself and his friend Jimmy. Jimmy was an older man and was married with kids. He wasn’t as talkative with Annie or Emma-Claire, only interested in telling JC about their latest project, the eleven girl group they were producing. Annie settled herself on a couch with Emma-Claire in her lap. She pulled out her iPad and let Emma-Claire play games on it while they waited. She watched JC as he talked enthusiastically with Jimmy and a few times they looked over in her direction. Annie figured they were talking about Emma-Claire and looked down at the little girl nestled comfortably in her lap. It was almost eight and she knew soon enough that the child would be getting sleepy. She hoped JC wouldn’t be too long.

“She’s cute,” Jimmy gestured towards Annie.

JC, assuming Jimmy meant Emma-Claire, responded with, “Thanks.”

Jimmy looked at him as if he were crazy. “I meant your nanny.”

“Oh,” JC rubbed the back of his neck with his hand and looked over at Annie and Emma-Claire. “Yeah. I guess.”

“Wow, you’re full of it,” Jimmy shook his head at JC. “You can’t tell me you haven’t thought she was pretty.”

JC shrugged. He didn’t want to give anything away, so he tried changing the subject. “Yeah, anyway, so we have the girls on Lance’s show and then –“

“You’re blushing,” Jimmy pointed and slapped JC’s shoulder. “Wow, you have thought about her in another way, haven’t you?”

JC shook Jimmy’s hand off of his shoulder. “Anyway, did you get the gig at the Galleria?”

“So, you’re not going to talk about it are you?” Jimmy sat down across from him and swiveled back and forth in the chair. “Since when have you been Mr. Private in front of me?”

“Since now,” JC walked over to where the girls’ schedule was and began to thumb through it.

“What’s the big deal? She’s cute. You’re single and we all know how much happier you are when you’re getting sex,” Jimmy was relentless. For being older than JC, he more or less acted like he was still a teenager.

“The big deal is that she’s my daughter’s nanny. How unprofessional is that?” JC pulled out his phone and checked the schedule with his calendar to make sure he had all the date’s right. “And I’m not getting involved in that.”

“Are you kidding me? Unprofessional? This is L.A. That’s how the best love stories start. Hooking up with the hired help,” Jimmy looked through the window again. Annie was reading something to Emma-Claire from her iPad. “She’s got a nice motherly touch, too.”

“I’m quite aware of that. And as for hooking up with the hired help, I would never do that. And Annie’s not just hired help. She’s…she’s..” What was she? She was the nanny, but the way they’d acted towards each other at the park felt more like they were friends than anything else. “She’s a friend. Or she’s becoming a friend. And you know my dating record. I get bored too easily and I wouldn’t want to dump her and then it be weird for Emma. I can’t put my kid through something else. Besides, her new boyfriend slept over last night. I’m pretty sure she’s not interested.”

Jimmy shook his head. “I see no ring, C.”

JC ignored him. “I need to get them home. I just came by to see what all was coming up for the girls so I could let Annie know some of the weekend dates when I might need her.”

Jimmy followed him out of the recording area and back into the lobby where Emma-Claire had nearly fallen asleep on Annie’s lap. She was leaning against Annie and her eyes fluttered open when she heard JC approaching.

“Can we go home now, Daddy?” she asked groggily. Annie smiled at Jimmy and then looked at JC, hoping he was finished.

“Yep. I’m all done,” he reached down to pick her up and Emma-Claire wrapped her arms around his neck and immediately fell asleep on his shoulder.

“Nice to meet you,” Jimmy shook Annie’s hand before they left. “Make sure he’s not working you too hard.”

Annie smiled at Jimmy. “Nice to meet you, too.” She stood to her feet and followed JC out of the building.

“Hey, C, remember what we talked about!” Jimmy called after him and JC waved him off as he unlocked the car.

The drive back to the house was quiet. Annie occasionally checked her phone to see if Doug had texted her about arriving back in Dallas but there was nothing yet. JC turned on the radio and sang along softly with the music. Annie rested her head against the passenger seat and closed her eyes as he drove along the freeway. It had been a long day but Annie had enjoyed every minute of it. She thought of their dinner at the Mexican restaurant where JC had talked the waiter into letting them all wear sombreros even though it wasn’t anyone’s birthday. Emma-Claire had loved that and Annie snapped several pictures of her posing in the hat with her dad. Everything from the park to the movie to both meals had run smoothly and Annie had almost forgotten that it was supposed to have been for JC to learn what to do with Emma-Claire when she wasn’t around. As far as she was concerned, he had it covered.

“I can tuck her in,” JC whispered, after he’d pulled the car into the garage. “You can go on back to the pool house if you want.”

Annie looked back at Emma-Claire. Her little head was turned to the side and she was out for the night for sure. “Okay,” she turned and smiled at JC before getting out of the car and shutting the door as quietly as she could. JC came around to the other side where she was standing and Annie helped him lift Emma-Claire out of the booster seat. Emma-Claire opened her eyes and yawned, then, confused as to where she was, began to whimper.

“Shh, it’s okay,” JC kissed her cheek. “We’re gonna go inside and go to bed now.”

Annie smiled at that and felt her heart jump somewhat. She watched JC turn and shut the door, then look at her. “See you tomorrow. I don’t have to be in until eleven so you can sleep in.”

Annie just nodded. “Sure. Sounds good,” she followed him into the house and walked through the kitchen to the sliding glass doors. “Hey, by the way, JC?”

JC turned and was about to walk into the living room to head upstairs. “Yeah?”

“You did awesome today. I think you’re better at parenting than you think you are.”

“I couldn’t have done it without you,” he replied. “Really, Annie, you’re so good with her.”

“You’re good with her too, JC,” Annie smiled. “I’m not just saying that either.”

JC wanted to walk over and hug her or kiss her goodnight, but he maintained his position a few feet away from her. The moonlight reflecting through the glass doors showed off her silhouette perfectly and JC had to turn around so as not to gawk at her.

“See you tomorrow,” he spoke before leaving the kitchen with Emma-Claire still in his arms.

Annie watched him disappear and then walked outside. It was chilly and she was looking forward to changing into her pajamas, perhaps having a glass of wine, and watching television before she fell asleep. She did her best to keep up with a rerun of The Office but her thoughts were jumbled with the events of the day. Falling on the ground with JC, especially. He’d been so close and his eyes were looking so intensely into hers that she almost closed her eyes and….and she was practically with Doug now and didn’t need to think about that anymore. That brought her back to attention and she rolled her eyes at herself for nearly forgetting that nearly 24 hours ago she’d been having sex with Doug. That fall today had just been a fluke, clumsy thing and JC was cute, she’d give him that. And when a strong, cute, older man looked at her with those beautiful, sharp eyes, what else was she supposed to do? Ignore that? She’d be blind to have ignored that. No. It was a fluke. It was done. And in less than a week, Doug would be back in her bed again.