“Lucky Charms,” Emma-Claire pointed to the top of the shelf on the cereal aisle.

“I’m pretty sure your Mimi wouldn’t approve,” Annie shook her head and picked up a box of Kix instead. “How about this?”

“Are there marshmallows?” Emma-Claire looked at the box skeptically.

“No. But it tastes just as good,” Annie put the box of cereal in the shopping cart.

“But can’t I get one fun cereal? To eat on Saturdays?” Emma-Claire’s expression was pleading and her little hands clasped together under her chin. Annie couldn’t help but chuckle at her. How in the world JC couldn’t look at this kid and think she wasn’t absolutely adorable, Annie would never know. It had been a week now since Karen had left and Annie and Emma-Claire had fallen into a rhythm with each other. Annie would greet her in the morning, make either oatmeal or scrambled eggs, and on days when Emma-Claire didn’t have school, Annie had planned an outing for either before or after lunch. Today’s outing had included the grocery store after they visited the local park. Then, they’d go home, have lunch, Emma-Claire would nap for about an hour, and they’d spend the rest of the afternoon either outside playing hide and go seek or inside playing rounds and rounds of Candyland or Chutes ‘n’ Ladders. Dinner was at 6 and then Emma-Claire would get a bath, watch one television show on The Disney Channel, and go to bed.  JC had yet to make it home in time to tuck his daughter in at night and Annie knew she had to say something soon. She’d given it a week and every morning, if they were lucky to see him, he’d give some excuse as to why he hadn’t been able to join them.

“The girls had an appearance to make,” he’d said that morning. “We were caught in traffic.”

Annie had said nothing and Emma-Claire had just continued to eat her breakfast. The relationship between father and daughter was clearly strained. Emma-Claire barely even acknowledged him anymore and it broke Annie’s heart to see him doing this to her. Yes, she’d been a surprise. Yes, dropping her off like the agency in New York had done was not ideal. And yes, it was obvious JC wasn’t trying that hard to  learn how to balance his work and his family together. But enough was enough. If he went too long like this, it was going to start forming a habit and Emma-Claire would be nothing more than the little girl who took up space down the hall and Annie already felt like the hired help. Thankfully, they had each other.

“Fine, for Saturdays,” Annie relented and grabbed the box of Lucky Charms, thinking about how this past Saturday, JC had forgotten it was her day off and had gone ahead and scheduled something with a few of his friends. When she’d reminded him, he’d feigned innocence and said he’d change his plans and had his friends come over to the house. That had been disastrous because he’d left Emma-Claire to her own demise and when Annie had gone to leave to meet up with Megan, she saw Emma-Claire sitting alone in the kitchen. Going into the house she saw JC, Lance Bass, one of the actor’s from Glee, and a few other people she didn’t recognize sitting in the living room and blaring music so loudly that she had no idea how they could even hear each other talking. She’d called Megan and canceled, then brought Emma-Claire over to her apartment and watched a movie with her. It had been the last straw, but Annie had not found the opportune time to speak with JC about it because he was so in and out and when he was in, Emma-Claire was usually with Annie. She’d be damned if he did that to her again.

After Annie had picked up the last item on her list, she and Emma-Claire headed for the checkout line. She never really paid any attention to the magazines on sale by the cashier, but she looked over and saw the cover of Star and it made her do a double take. There was JC, plain as day, standing in front of his house on his cell phone. In a corner box, there was a picture of Emma-Claire sitting on the front steps, playing with one of her stuffed animals. It had to have been taken the week that Annie had started because there was also a picture in the background of Karen smiling down at Emma-Claire. The cover of the magazine read JC Chasez: My Secret Child…The former boybander is a father to a child he has been hiding for years. Inside Scoop: Baby Mama dead. ‘He’s on his own…’ exclusive details inside! Annie gasped and looked down at Emma-Claire who was busy hanging onto the side of the shopping cart. She knew the child couldn’t read yet and was hoping she didn’t look up to see her picture. Annie suddenly felt as though all eyes were on them and as fast as she could, she checked out and literally ran to the car with Emma-Claire dragging behind her. She had to call him and let him know. She made sure Emma-Claire was occupied in the backseat and had the radio on so that the songs would drown out the conversation.

He answered on the first ring. “Hey, Annie. Is everything okay?”

“Um, well, no, actually. I just wanted to let you know that you made the cover of Star magazine. You and Emma-Claire. The story is out,”

JC paused, then let out a breath. “Shit. Are you serious?”

“Yeah. I just saw it at the grocery store,”

“Awesome,” he groaned sarcastically. “That’s just awesome. All I need right now is negative publicity,”

“Sorry. I just wanted to let you know,” Annie said. “Also, whenever you get home tonight, I need to talk to you about something else.”

“Yeah, sure, fine,” he snapped. “Thanks for letting me know about the magazine.”

“No problem,” he’d hung up before Annie finished her goodbye.

JC threw the phone over on the couch at the studio, startling a few of the girls and even Jimmy. “Fucking Star magazine found out about my kid. Put it all over the front of their cover,”

“Ignore it. You know those things are 90 percent bullshit,” Jimmy reminded him.

“Yeah, but this one’s 90 percent truth,” JC leaned back in his chair and shook his head. “I guess I couldn’t keep her a secret forever.”

“You should call People. Give them the exclusive interview. Before anyone else gets a hold of it. And you know that OK! and InTouch will be next if you don’t,” Jimmy stood up and slapped his friend on the shoulder. “You knew it was coming. You can’t hide anything out here. I’m still wondering how Schwarzenegger got away with it all those years with that kid he had with his maid.”

JC pulled out his phone and Googled the latest issue of Star. He snorted when he saw the cover. “Hiding a kid for years? Baby Mama dead? Seriously?!” He was glad he’d learned to ignore most of the tabloids insidious articles. There hadn’t been one about him in years; most of the publicity was focused on Justin and he was fine with that. “Must be a dull week at Star if I’m their main focus.” His next order of business was calling his mother to let her know about the article and then calling People to get the truth out before anyone else put out something ridiculous.

For the first time in a week, JC returned home before seven. After he’d made the phone calls, he couldn’t concentrate on anything other than his privacy being compromised. He’d always enjoyed the fact that he could be that private person and unlike Lance or Justin, he didn’t thrive on having his name pop up in any major headline. He was fine with his life the way it was and the only name he wanted out there that had anything to do with him was Girl Radical. He was fine with slipping under the radar. And why anyone cared that he had a child that he hadn’t seen before two weeks ago, he’d never know. Walking into the living room, he saw Annie sitting on the floor with Emma-Claire playing Memory. Annie looked as though she were having the time of her life and Emma-Claire even more so. He wished he understood children better. A game of Memory sounded like hell to him.

“Hi,” he said to both of them, sitting down on the couch. “Memory, huh? I used to play that when I was little.” He was going to try and start conversing and be better at that with his daughter. Especially before People came to interview him, which was set to take place the following week.

“You’re home early,” Annie noted, not looking up from her turn. “Oh man, I knew that was the dog! I keep picking up the flower!”

Emma-Claire giggled and went to pick up a card. “I got the flower!” she rejoiced and took the card that Annie had just placed down again. “I got two matches, Annie!”

“Good job, girl,” Annie grinned at her, then finally looked up at JC and smiled at him.

“Rough day,” he returned her smile with a grimace and looked over at his daughter. “Hey, Emma-Claire.”

Emma-Claire barely looked up from her game, but said, “Hi, Daddy,”

JC sighed and caught Annie glancing at him. He shrugged his shoulders at her and stood. “I’m gonna go upstairs and take a nap,”

“Should we save you any dinner?” she asked him, as he made his way up the stairs.

“Uh, maybe. I don’t know if I’ll be awake,”

Must be some epic nap, Annie thought to herself, noting that it was barely 4:00. “Okay, Emma-Claire, one last round and then let’s go outside. It’s too pretty today to be cooped up in here,” she told her. Emma-Claire nodded and waited for her turn again.

JC didn’t come downstairs until Emma-Claire had already finished her spaghetti. Annie was clearing her plate and taking a popsicle out of the freezer. They both looked at JC and acknowledged him before continuing with their routine. JC looked at the pot of spaghetti on the stove and his mouth watered.

“Is there enough for me?” he ventured to ask, as Emma-Claire took the popsicle from Annie and began to lick it. She was humming to herself as she ate and JC had to admit she looked pretty cute sitting there, a popsicle in her mouth, and swinging her legs back and forth without a care in the world.

“Sure. Help yourself,” Annie told him, moving away from the stove and going over to Emma-Claire again. “How is it?” She’d bought the popsicles on a whim that day because even though she’d been instructed to make sure Emma-Claire ate healthy, she also knew dessert now and then wouldn’t be too harmful. That and the popsicles were shaped like Disney princesses and it was too late before the kid had spotted them in the freezer section.

“Yummy,” Emma-Claire licked it again and her tongue was now colored a bright red.

JC sat down with his plate of spaghetti and began to eat. Emma-Claire moved away from him, still afraid that she’d spill something and make him angry at her again.

“So, how was your day?” JC turned to look down at his daughter.

“Fun. I went to the park,” Emma-Claire still wouldn’t look at him, only down at her popsicle.

“I bet you went on the swings,” he offered, trying to remember past conversations with her.

“How did you know?” Emma-Claire suddenly looked up at him, surprised that he had remembered.

JC had to smile. “I know you like swings,”

Annie watched the conversation between them and started to feel somewhat of a relief inside of her. Finally, a small breakthrough.

“I do!” Emma-Claire smiled. “They are my favorite.”

JC nodded and went back to his dinner, not before catching Annie gazing at both of them. He knew she was pleasantly surprised at his effort. A part of him felt selfish. He was doing this to get to know her, yes, but also so that the editors at People wouldn’t peg him as a jackass when they came to interview him and discovered he had no idea what he was doing with her in the first place.

“Annie, can I go watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse?” Emma-Claire asked, a red stain now present around her mouth.

“You need to finish your popsicle first,” Annie nodded at the melting ice in the little girl’s hand. “We DVR’d it this morning. It’s not going anywhere,” she assured her and Emma-Claire continued to eat her dessert.

JC looked at Annie questioningly. “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse? Is it like a new MMC?”

Annie chuckled at him and shook her head. “No. It’s a new kind of cartoon,”

JC nodded thoughtfully and went back to the stove for more pasta. He looked over again at Annie and Emma-Claire, who was now laughing at something Annie had said. He had to admit – he had the best nanny in the business. She seemed to be really understanding of his schedule. Either that or she just wasn’t saying anything, but JC liked to think that it was the first option. He sat down again just as Emma-Claire finished the last bite of her popsicle. Annie immediately had her go to the sink so she could wash off her face and hands.

“Ok. Go enjoy your show, girl,” Annie tousled her hair and went back to her seat as Emma-Claire ran into the living room. In a few seconds, the theme song for her show could be heard and Emma-Claire was singing right along with it.

“You’re really good with her,” JC noted, twirling his spaghetti on his fork.

“She’s easy,” Annie replied, pushing her plate away from her and leaning back into the booth. She wanted to say more. Like maybe if JC stuck around more often he’d see that for himself. Or maybe if he took the time to play with her he’d understand that Emma-Claire wasn’t as complicated as he’d made her out to be. But instead, she decided to bring up the one subject that had needed to be brought up since last Saturday. “Hey, can I talk to you for a minute?”

“I’m not going anywhere. By the way, this pasta sauce is really good,” he licked his fork. “Did you make it?”

Annie nearly laughed out loud but suppressed it. “No way. It’s straight from Emeril,”

JC chuckled. “Oh. Right. So, what’s up?”

Annie took a breath and hoped what she was about to say would come off the right way. “I need to talk to you about last Saturday,”

JC stopped chewing and looked at her. So much for her being understanding.

“Look, I know you are really busy, but Saturdays are your day with her. She needs that from you. I don’t want to say too much because I don’t know you that well and I also know that you could have forgotten, but I had to change my plans at the last minute so that Emma-Claire had someone looking after her,” Annie waited to see if he would respond. He just looked at her. “I need a day off, JC. I need to have my own community outside of Emma-Claire. And I just need you to start thinking of that or else I’m gonna burn my candle at both ends and it won’t be a good thing.”

JC was silent and put his fork down. “She was fine with me,” he said. “I was watching her.”

Annie rolled her eyes before she could stop it. “No, you weren’t. She was in the kitchen alone. She’s not dumb, but she’s four. She could have easily turned on one of the burners on the stove or something. She told me she was bored and that you wouldn’t play with her. That’s why I brought her back to my apartment because I didn’t want her to be by herself. She’s not complicated, JC. She’s just a kid who needs stability and needs to know that her father likes her,” she listened to herself and knew she was about to step over the line.

“I never said I didn’t like her!” JC snapped. “Fine, I made a mistake on Saturday. It won’t happen again.”

“You don’t have to get all defensive,” Annie was on a roll. “And you didn’t have to say anything. It’s kind of obvious.”

“You talk too much,” JC glowered at her. “Look, I’m trying okay? But I certainly don’t need you to tell me what I’m doing wrong with my kid.” He suddenly stood and grabbed his plate, dumping it in the sink. “You’ll have Saturday off, okay? Trust me, I won’t ever make plans again for that day.” He folded his arms across his chest and glared at her.

Annie looked away from him, feeling her skin turn prickly from embarrassment. She hadn’t meant to set him off like that. She knew she’d said too much but she couldn’t help it. Nobody else saw what she saw and nobody else would dare say anything to him about how he was acting. “I’m sorry, JC. I didn’t mean –“

“It’s fine. Whatever,” he stormed out of the kitchen and stopped when he saw Emma-Claire sitting on the couch and laughing at the television show. He looked back at the kitchen, feeling guilty for how he’d responded and knowing it was all out of defense. He didn’t want to be a father but he also didn’t want to be known as a jerk and there wasn’t anyway he wasn’t showing his ass by doing both. He took a few steps toward the couch and plopped down next to his daughter.

“Are you gonna watch this with me, Daddy?” Emma-Claire asked him and JC nodded, smiling at her .

“Yeah. And I’ll even tell you a story about how your dad was on a show once on the Disney channel,” his hand moved to smooth out her hair and JC was surprised at how naturally it came to him then. She looked up at him, wide-eyed and waited for him to continue his tale.

Annie watched from the kitchen and as angry as she was at how he’d responded, she couldn’t help but smile at the scene in front of her. Maybe he was coming around after all.