Remember When ↠ l.p.

A chat in the park

So sorry, my internet was out yesterday but I did still write something, just wasn't able to publish it. So here are today's and yesterday's updates...combined (◉⌔◉) Also, dedicated to @niamgirl90 for voting on so many chapters, tysm hun! It made my day!

We're sitting on a picnic blanket that the Paynes brought eating lunch near the picnic tables at the park. For once, Tessie is the one talking the most as Cailyn is digging into her food happily.

“My friend Daddy is really good and hide and seek.” she tells us as we smile through our mouths full of food. She's wanting to play high and seek today, asking if the animals will play or if we can go into where the monkeys are and play with them in their “fun tree place” as she called it. Liam is currently buying us all some ice cream cones from one of the vendors inside the park. How he's planning to carry it all back I'm not sure, Harry always had the biggest hands...

"Maybe he'll play with you later at home," Sophia tells Tessie "you know we can't play here at the zoo Theresa. Somebody might get lost because they found a really, really good hiding spot." Tessie frowns slightly but nods along anyway.

I wrap up my trash and throw it into a nearby garbage can. As the day has gone on I've seen Sophia get more and more relaxed. She's laughed more and given the two girls more and more attention. It's made me... happier.

I always felt unsure about her. Which works out great when she becomes your employer and you're watching her daughter on a daily basis and talking to her husband. But now I feel, a sort of peace about her. She's a good mother and a good wife, she and Liam really do get along well. She listens to him and is just as ready snap at him as he will to her. I tend to run off with the girls, talking over an animal they're excited to see or something like that, and then I'll look back at them. Twice now I've caught her, resting her head on Liam's shoulder with her arms around his waist and he has cast his arm casually around her back. 

I must admit, they are cute and look amazing together. It's just the occasional word or tense voice I'll hear her use with him that makes me frown. I've tried not to notice it, but at the same time...isn't it almost necessary? If I'm Tessie's nanny I'm bound to find out some things they probably wouldn't want me to know. She's a child, she doesn't know what she shouldn't be saying. All the same, I won't mention things like this to my mother. She's afraid that I'll somehow ruin Cailyn's life (and my own) by being single. 

It wasn't as bad when I was younger, I had more fun back then too I suppose you could say. But she has always been pushy. Said she didn't want me to make the same mistakes that she did, being a single mother. In a way it does seem like I've followed in her footsteps. Maybe that's why, with each month that passes that Cailyn is still fatherless, she gets increasingly more nosy and critical of my every move. Is she so scared that Cailyn won't turn out alright? Mom did fine with me, although she did marry dad pretty soon after I was born. She must wish that I had done the same by now.

"What are you frowning about?" Sophia asks me, sliding over to be closer to me. "You're having fun right?" 

"I am," I try to fix a smile on my face "This is a wonderful park and Cailyn is loving it. Tessie seems to be enjoying it too."

"So what is bothering you then?" she folds her legs to the side and wraps an arm around me. "Because believe me, if Liam sees you looking sad he will consider this whole adventure a disaster."

I laugh and shake my head. "I hope not, everyone else seems to have had a marvelous time." I sigh. "I was just thinking about some things my mother has been scolding me about." I shrug slightly. "It's nothing to do with our excursion and certainly nothing for Liam to worry over." 

"Ahh, I know all about mothers crowding into your life and telling you how you should be doing things." we share a smile and then it's her turn to frown a little. "I know you may not consider him a friend but he's come to enjoy your company a lot. I know he stays over for Tessie's breakfast sometimes. It's good for him, he doesn't go out as often as he used to. Doesn't have as many friends here, since we've moved." she tilts her head, considering things. "We're both very glad that you two met by coincidence that day. We've come to trust you completely with Theresa." she squeezes me in a halfway hug.

"I didn't realize he thought or felt that way." I say slowly. I honestly never considered that he might think of me as a...as a friend. He still feels too far out of my league to really have any kind of relationship with. And of course a completely platonic, mates-all-the-way relationship. "But I am truly grateful for this job, I love it. Tessie is a joy to have around and I'm so glad Cailyn has a good friend now." I fiddle with the corner of the picnic blanket. "And as awkward as it is, I'm glad to have met you two as well. Not just in the 'you're famous, oh wow' way either, you're both incredibly nice people. I just hope I haven't come across as weird."

"Because you were a fan?" she asks with a smile "I don't think you did. Liam may have mentioned it a bit the first few times, but you've gotten comfortable with us, I think?"

I nod in agreement and we fall into a comfortable silence just as Liam returns holding several ice cream cones.