Chapter Five- Offers and Offensive Behaviors

Virginia's POV 

The home office was a stark contrast to the rest of the icy condominium. It was warm with its mahogany walls and floor-to-ceiling bookshelves perfectly lined with law books and other intellectual literature. A single desk sat at the far wall with a leather chair behind it, a single picture left for decoration that I predicted held Landon's smiling face inside the sterling frame. A couch rested by the window set halfway throughout the room, almost incognito from the fallen curtains that hung behind the Chesterfield. It could be considered welcoming if not for the upset man standing at its center with clenched fists. 

“You'll stay here. The only thing expected of you is to protect and entertain Landon. You don't bring anybody else here and anything you need will be delivered to you when necessary.” His words were recognizable but not when spoken as if they were rules. As he looked at me in wait for a response I realized that's what they had been. 

“I'm sorry?”

“I've decided to hire you.” The way he puffed out his chest made me scoff quite audibly. Not only was I confused as he seemed indifferent if not frustrated at how I lingered throughout the night and now I was being considered to be in his employment?

“You've decided to hire me?”

“Yes.”

“Yes?” 

He narrowed his eyes. 

“Why are you repeating everything I say?” He asked with rhetorical reasoning as he began to list more details as I stood in continued awe. 

“We'll discuss a fair salary tomorrow after I've gotten a formal contract written out. But I’ll give you the guest room and-”

“I'll pass.” My words struck him like a bucket of cold water. 

“If you think I would choose to be here under your… dictatorship, you have another thing coming, Mister Callahan.” His jaw tensed to my words as something blazed through his eyes just long enough to distract me for him to speak. 

“You have nowhere else to go.” My body ignited with rage. He thought I was a bittersweet charity case he could use to fill an inconvenience. Not good enough to hire for my intellect but enough to fit the feminine role expected of me as a woman. 

I stood beneath him by the majority of a foot but my determination made me feel as if I stood against him nose-to-nose. Hazel eyes indecisive between being more green or blue widened to my opposition against him. Lips parted to speak only to close again, giving me the floor to lead the conversation, for lack of a better term. 

“I would rather go back to Indiana before ever working for someone so emotionally stunted that he couldn't see how desperate his son is for any human interaction that wasn't based solely on him! He is a bright kid that deserves friends and experiences but you're keeping him captive-”

“I'm keeping him safe!” He raged against me, somehow still calm and collected in a way that was unfair. 

“You're hurting him!”

“I must have had an aneurysm to think you'd ever be good for him. You're just like the rest of them, trying to change him!”

“I want him to be the best version of himself so he doesn't end up using his future son as an excuse to keep from being a decent human being because he was never taught how to love.”

“I love him.”

“And you're not enough.” 

“Dad?” Landon's feeble voice made us both turn. Tears brimmed in the eyes he inherited from his father. As Brooks went to console him as I stepped to give them the moment, Landon's small arms wrapped around my waist. 

I ignored the way Brooks glared into me, hating me for the fact his son preferred me in this instance. Instead, I embraced the desperation of his hug and moved to my knees to hold him properly. 

“If you were my nanny I promise I'd always do my homework without having to be asked. I'd even do chores and-” His reasons became a single breath of an anguished plea, uninterrupted by his determination to convince us both. 

“Landon…I'm sure your dad and I can figure it out so I can come play-”

He pushed past me and towards his dad. 

“Please dad, I won't ask for another Christmas gift or a game…I won't even bother you about a dog anymore! Just please don't make me have another nanny unless it's Virginia.” I'd never had anyone fight for me like this and it made tears form in my own eyes. 

“Why don't you try and go back to bed-”

“Dad, please!” 

“While Miss Valentine and I talk about it?”

“Really?” He sniffled. Brooks looked at me with a silent plea as I nodded. When looking in either of their pained eyes it was hard to do anything but want to mend them. Even if one set of those eyes belonged to Brooks. 

“He's never been like this about anyone…” His knuckles wrapped around the leather of his chair as he managed to step completely across the room in a quiet gait I didn't notice until he spoke. 

“What if we tried it temporarily? Until I could find another nanny that…worked out better? It will make him happy and keep you from being homeless.” My eyes turned to slits while looking at him. 

“How long is temporary?”

“Six months.” That was too many nights of having to hear Brooks come home with other women, if his reputation served him right. Not that it mattered personally, but it would be difficult to keep explaining away to Landon. 

“Three.”

“Okay. Three months.” He held out his hand. And for the first time he was extending a respectable olive branch. There wasn't one of us that had more to offer than the other. Right now we both needed each other. But the second that my hand slipped inside his to seal the verbal deal, I couldn't help but feel as if something else fell into place. 

Something that was going to make this anything but painless.