An hour later, and you've finally made it.
Tessa is running around wildly, tail wagging, her tongue flopping out of her mouth. Everyone but Ezra is carrying things from the car to the place you're setting up for the day. It's a little spot the Holland's have kept as a well-hidden secret, considering other, more popular, river spots and beaches tend to be over crowded. So just a little northwest of their home base is probably one of the prettiest natural rivers you've seen in the UK so far. It's nothing like the lake by your house back in the states, but gorgeous in its own way. The water is crystal clear and the soft sand patches where the water laps the land has clearly developed over hundreds of years. The stunning willow tree right by the river's edge gives your spot a perfect amount of shade against the summer sun.
"Come help with the blanket?" Dominic asks, and you nod, setting down the basket of toys and whatnot to help.
Grabbing two corners you both hike it up, letting the warn material balloon, before falling against the sand. You help set the cooler, a few chairs, and some other stuff around the blanket so if a breeze did come it wouldn't blow it away.
"Ez come here please," you say and sit in the sand, knowing there is no avoiding its mess, so you embrace it instead.
"Okay," Ezra calls from the water's edge, running over adorably, his curls bouncing.
Your heart clenches at the sight, and you can't help but pull him in close when he gets to you, peppering kisses all over his neck and face. Ezra giggles and squirms, his little hands gripping your tank top hard enough to wrinkle the material.
When you pull away from Ezra, you can't help but see some of the looks you're given. They're not hostile, or mad, or anything negative. It's like a bizarre mix of proud and confused with a dash of hopefulness that you're so not able to even begin to deal with.
Instead you grab the sunscreen and UV shirt out of your bag.
"Stand still for me okay?" You ask and pull of Ezra's t-shirt, leaving him in just his little swim trunks.
Ezra nods, "okay, like the soldiers!"
You chuckle, knowing he's referring to the Queen's Guard. With a loud popping sound, you put some sunscreen on your hands and begin slathering the boy in it. The freckling on his face extends down to his shoulders and fades until just a few show up on his hands. Long story short this poor boy is not a friend of the sun; therefore, he gets this treatment.
"It smells," Ezra says and pulls a face.
"You have to," Paddy says who is putting sunscreen on himself as well.
You nod, "listen to Uncle Paddy, besides it'll dry, and you won't smell it anymore."
Eventually you have the sunscreen rubbed in on every exposed part of his body and you attempt to put on his UV shirt on. Attempt being the key word.
"No, I don't want to," Ezra whines.
"Ez, listen to Y/N and put the shirt on please," Nicola says from the blanket, eyes torn from her book to look over at her grandson.
"I don't want to," Ezra repeats.
"You know Daddy picked this out for you, right?" You ask calmly.
This gets Ezra's attention.
"He saw this at the store and thought you would love to wear it. I can call Daddy for you and say you don't like it—"
"I wear it!" Ezra gasps, pulling at the shirt in your hands.
"Okay, thank you. I'll let him know you wore it then," you smile and help him get it on. It matches his bright red bottoms with white accents on it. Before you can do much else the boy is grabbing his bucket and sand toys before bolting to the water again.
Harry stands up and quickly follows throwing a, "I'll watch him" over his shoulder as he catches up with Ezra.
"Just like Tom when he was a little one," Nicola chuckles and returns to her book.
That has your mind racing, wondering what Tom was like at Ezra's age. According to his mother the same, just as rambunctious and energetic as Ezra is. Maybe not as shy, especially in new situations and around new people, but you can't help but picture a baby Tom and it's adorable.
A hand waves in front of your face, and you blink and look up to Sam who is smirking at you; the mischievous glint in his eyes aren't hidden by his tinted sunglasses at all.
"You comin' to the water or are you gonna stick to dreamland all day?" Sam asks.
"You're hilarious Sam," you huff and stand up with his help, shucking off your tank top and shorts quickly, leaving you in just your swimsuit. Walking along side Sam the two of you join the others who are already there.
Paddy and Harry are about waste deep in the water, swimming around; meanwhile Ezra is on the shore of the riverbank, using his plastic shovel to displace sand. You stick with him, helping him play with the sand and build a very wonky lopsided castle. It's not perfect by any means, but Ezra loves it and that is enough for you.
"More wet sand?" You ask, holding up the bucket.
"Yes, more," Ezra says and marches over to he wet sand, waving you over.
You crawl four paces over and hold the bucket while the boy shovels in sand for you to pack down. The two of you work together until the pink bucket is full, and then you let him flip it and pat it when he's ready to add it to the five other castle towers you've created.
It's only a little while later you notice Nicola snickering into her phone after awkwardly angling it.
"Whatcha doing Nikki?" You ask.
The woman looks up, "just keeping Tom updated. Sending him some proof of life photos."
You arch an eyebrow at her, "hmmm, okay. I believe you."
Nicola laughs, and you return to focusing on Ezra.
By the time everyone sits together and eats you've been here a few hours. Fruit, sandwiches, chips—
"Y/N these are crisps," Paddy says cheekily.
"Don't blame her too hard, Americans don't understand proper English," Harry teases.
You roll your eyes, "you guys are the worst, now please pass the chips please."
"We only have crisps," Dominic chimes in.
"Oh my god," you groan into the palm of your hand.
—and a bunch of water is passed around. It's comfortable now, hanging out with the Hollands, and you find yourself slipping into their family unit easily. You can tell when the twins are lying because their lips quirk up just a little when they do, Paddy is a huge jokester once he's out of his shell, Dominic is probably the funniest man you've ever met, and it doesn't matter if you're thinking about how you missed an episode of your favorite show—if there is even the smallest thing wrong Nicola is there in an instant to comfort you and ease the pain.
You love it.
If you have the privilege to keep working as a Nanny, keep working for Tom and Ezra, you hope the day when he doesn't need you anymore you'll still be able to have these moments with them. Still kind of be part of the family.
"We swim now?" Ezra asks, cheeks smeared with food, pointing to the river.
"Lemme get you cleaned up first," you say and grab a wet wipe, cleaning off his cheeks and hands.
Once that's done you walk with him hand and hand to the water. The one thing everyone had forgotten was his little life jacket, so you calmly explain to Ezra that you'd have to keep holding on to him even in the water. When he agrees easily you let out a small breath before lifting him up until he's settled on your hip.
"Oooh it's a bit cold," you sing-song loudly, walking further in despite the initial chill.
Ezra squeaks when his feet first touch the water, but as you stand about hip deep in the water the two of you adjust. You spin around in some circles, throwing him up in the air only to let him splash down, and he even lets you at one point hold him from underneath as he tries to float on his back.
That doesn't work as soon as he gets water in his ears, freaks out, and wants up.
"I got you sweetheart," you smile at him, moving the wet curls away from his forehead where they dripped water into his eyes.
Ezra smiles and hugs you, his little arms wrapping around your neck. A little stunned by the sweet gesture you hesitate for just a second before squeezing him back, spinning around against just to hear his sweet laughter. You laugh too, and you don't know why, you just do, and it spurs Ezra into further giggles which in turn puts a too big smile on your face.
It's laughter from the shore that pulls your attention.
Your eyes flicker over to where Sam and Harry sit, a familiar looking phone in their hand.
It's your phone.
"What do you think you two are doing?" You call.
Nicola, Dominic, and Paddy who are now in the water as well look back to their boys with confused looks.
"Uh nothing—!" Harry calls back.
Sam laughs, shaking his head at something.
"You better not be spamming my phone with pictures! I don't have that much space left!" You warn.
"'S just lover boy!" Harry says.
You arch a brow and mutter, "lover boy?"
"Who?" Ezra asks.
Before you can answer Dominic is calling out a, "knock it off boys," and looking over to you with a, "I think they're talking to Tom."
Oh.
"Daddy?" Ezra asks.
You nod and begin walking out of the water, Ezra still on your hip even as you walk across the sand, "yes....and thank you for answering myphone boys."
Sam and Harry give you shrugs and total teen boy giggles of mischievousness that obviously runs in the family. Every Holland boy, including Ezra, has given you that troublemaker look. Grabbing the phone, you sit in a beach chair with the three-year-old on your lap, leaning back against you with a lazy smile on his face at the sight of his father.
"Hey guys," Tom smiles, but you see thoughts rolling around in his head, just by how distant his gaze is.
"Daddy!" Ezra beams, little hands grabbing at your phone.
"Haz too!" Harrison says and jumps into the frame with a wave.
"Oh hey!" You grin and wave back.
"Forget about me, that's fine," a new voice says.
"Have they met Jacob yet?" Harrison asks.
Tom shakes his head and moves around, his surroundings moving until he stops with a new guy in the frame. His smile is infectious, and you instantly enjoy his vibe, even if you're only meeting him via Facetime.
"Y/N. Ezra. This is my buddy Jacob, he's in the movie too," Tom says, "Ezra say hi?"
Ezra shrinks a bit but gives a small wave, "um, hi."
"Oh no he doesn't like me bro!" Jacob laughs, hiding half his face into the collar of his shirt.
"He's just shy, don't worry he'll warm up to you," you say quickly, "and it's nice to meet you Jacob."
"Hey, yeah you too. Tom won't shut up about you," Jacob says.
You feel your expression soften and Tom flushes, shaking his head as if to run that off as a joke as he walks away from Harrison and Jacob. The two guys in the background protest but Tom just tells them he wants some quality time with his son.
Suddenly Tom is outside a trailer, sitting on the steps, smiling into the camera.
"Sorry about them," he says, rubbing a hand down his face, "they're a bit riled up."
"It's okay," you reassure, shoving any intrusive thoughts out of your head for the moment.
"We swimming Daddy," Ezra interjects, clearly wanting attention from his father, "and build with sand."
"Did you and Y/N build a sand castle?" Tom asks, genuinely interested.
"Uh-huh, and Paddy helped me swim. Sandwiches too!" Ezra lists off.
"That sounds so cool bug."
"You come swim too?"
You feel your chest constrict at how sad Tom looks, "I have to stay here and be Spider-Man Ez. I promise when I come home we can swim, and play, and have so much fun."
Ezra inhales sharply and sighs, "okay Daddy."
"Don't be sad, you should have fun today!" Tom tries to counter.
"Is that a frown?" You ask, looking down at Ezra.
Ezra covers his mouth with his hands with a muffled "no".
"I think it is," you gasp, leaning in, "that's unacceptable!"
Ezra is already smiling and giggling as you tickle him, wiping the frown right off his face. The way he kicks his legs almost has you dropping your phone, but you hold on tight and stop tickling him. Ezra heaves in breaths with little mini-giggles still spilling out of his mouth.
"Why don't you go play with Nan and Gramp for a while? I need to talk to Y/N for a bit," Tom says.
"Okay. Love you Daddy," Ezra says, leaning forward until he kisses your phone screen with a loud smack.
Tom makes a small sound and melts at the gesture, "love you too bug. Be good."
With that Ezra wriggles off your lap and makes his way back to the rest of the family who is playing in the water. You wait until he safely makes it over before turning your attention back to Tom who is much more stoic and less animated then he was a moment ago.
"You okay?" You ask after a beat of silence.
"Huh? Wha—yeah, the twins were just being dickheads earlier," Tom mutters.
"Perhaps something to do with calling you 'lover boy'?" You ask, prodding a bit.
Tom shuts down a bit, and somewhere in the back of your head you hear Harrison grumbling a-fucking-Gemini. Seeing it's something you shouldn't mess with you clear your throat.
"Anyways you wanted to talk...about...?"
"I wanted to ask you about vacation days? I was wondering if you wanted to use some. My parents keep telling me how hard you've been working to keep up with Ezra, and if you wanted they could take him for a week so you can have some you time," Tom rambles.
Vacation days.
You find yourself laughing because you hadn't even thought of those since you were hired. Working for Tom and taking care of Ezra is a lot of work, but for the first time ever in your working career that taking a vacation hasn't really crossed your mind. You don't mind this; the caring and the looking over of Ezra. You enjoy it.
"You don't need to have an answer now," Tom says, "I just wanted to give that to you. I can't express how thankful I am that you're taking such good care of him."
"Tom," you smile softly, "it's alright. Eventually I'll take a few days off, but I enjoy looking after him. I absolutely adore him."
Tom's lips turn into a smirk, his eyes lighting up as well, "that's good to hear darling."
"Still trying to pass that off as a British version of bro, huh?" You tease.
Before either of you can continue there's, an unfamiliar voice talking to Tom, pulling his attention away for a bit. You may take a few long moments to enjoy a look at his sharp jawline as he looks up, but you'll never tell a soul.
Eventually, "I've got to go. I wish Sam and Harry would've given you the phone sooner."
"It's alright. I'm sure Ezra would love a goodnight call tonight?" You ask hopefully.
Tom nods and stands up, "I think I can make that happen."
"Good," you say and get up yourself, "I'll talk to you later."
With that you hang up, tossing your phone back onto blanket before running into the water, splashing everyone as you messily drive in.