RomeoSaveMeღ

location: All around the house

mood: blah

music: Taylor Swift -The Fearless Album

I was sitting on the couch, staring at the framed picture on the mantelpiece.
My Mandy, she was truly beautiful, with her long, honey blonde wavy hair. I could still clearly recall the way it bounced around her shoulders, like cotton candy, as she walked. I still remembered her silly, crazily attractive laugh, the way she even grunted when she couldn’t stop, and how her deep brown eyes watered with laughter. Or the intense stares that she gave me, that sent shivers down my spine. The pout her perfectly rounded, soft lips, made when she was angry, exactly how they tasted, and the way they bared her perfect, white teeth when she smiled. The way she fiercely gestured when she was angry, and the way she could lazily lay in my arms when she was tired. The way I then stroked through her honey blonde locks, which she passed on to our daughter, just like her cute, little nose, and her perfect lips. It were her chin and her big, bright blue eyes, that Abigail had inherited from me. I wasn’t sure about her ears yet, but her tiny hands, her small fingers, were definitely something she got from her mom again.
My Mandy... I still remembered the day she spontaneously came running in my office, waving the positive pregnancy test in her hand. I still remembered how I’d jumped up from my chair, picked her up, and kissed face all over.
We’d been so happy, so excited.
And then, had come the one, fatal day. It had been the middle of the night, when suddenly I was jolted awake rudely. In my sleepy-daze, it had taken me a few minutes to realize what was going on.
Mandy had thought she’d had a contraction. Before I could ask more, another one had come. The labour had started!
I’d helped my wife on the backseat of our Audi, –which I’d never, ever get rid of again –thrown the packed suitcases in the large trunk, and driven off.
Once at the hospital, the labour had gone faster than either of us could have suspected.
We were happy, excited, relieved, enthusiastic. Mandy would be soon free of the torturing pain I could obviously see her going through, helplessly. And we’d get to meet our first child, the little wonder we’d been looking forward to ever since that particular day at my office.
If back then, I would’ve known what I knew now... Well, it was no use drudging over it. I didn’t know. No one knew. No one could. Two tiny hours later, after loud shrieking and shouting, hard pushing and crying from a brave Mandy, there’d been the most adorable, slimy wail. Our daughter. And I’ve never known if Mandy had ever seen her.
Suddenly, as I’d looked at her proudly, her eyes had turned away –the most terrifying sight I’d ever seen –and I’d never seen those intense brown eyes ever again. 
I was devastated, destroyed. I’d lost my wife that day. Suddenly I was on my own again, with a daughter I needed to look after. Of course I’d been a horrible Dad the first week or so, maybe even a few days longer.
All I could think about was my wife, my beautiful wife, she couldn’t be gone.
I lived in disbelief, denial. Luckily, I’d gotten a lot of support from my parents –I couldn’t count on Mandy’s, she had been an afterthought, her parents had been at a blessed age. Her mom had been in an old people’s home for quite a while, her dad had passed away the year before.
When eventually, I’d learned to face the truth, I’d toughened up, and gave up my job to raise my daughter. It wasn’t easy though. I missed my wife like crazy, I still did. No one could ever take her place. Mandy was still the love of my life, I hadn’t been with another woman since her.
Of course my friends and family had tried to set me up, but I never showed up on any of the dates they’d planned out.
I simply wasn’t ready yet. I wasn’t sure I’d ever be.

Suddenly the doorbell rang. The babysitter. My Mom had arranged everything. I’d tried, but I’d rejected every candidate. No one was ever good enough. I hadn’t met the babysitter yet, but Mom had reassured me she was a neat girl, with an appropriate resume and wonderful cooking skills. Not that she’d really left me a choice to reject her anyway. And time was running out so I tore my eyes away from the picture to look at my daughter, little Abigail, who was playing with a couple of singing cuddle bears on the carpet. I smiled weakly and ruffled through her curls as I got up and made my way towards the front door.
It was my one but last free day, so I could only hope this first encounter with the babysitter would go smooth, both for me as for Abigail.
The bell rang again and I sped up my pace, reluctantly opening the door as I got there.
I kept quiet for a second, taking in the girl’s surprisingly pleasant and sweet appearance. She was short, very short. I doubted she’d reach up to my shoulders, if she was standing next to me. She was curvy too, dressed in a grey dress and a light blue cardigan over it. She had shoulder length, shiny brown, straight hair, big brown eyes, her make-up was natural and the smile she gave me, genuine and sweet. I smiled back as she held out her hand. She gave a confident impression. I liked that.
“Hello, Mr. Efron. I’m Nikki Blonsky, your new babysitter.”
I nodded politely, shaking her little hand. “Hey Nikki. Please call me Zac.”

Nikki’s POV:
Wow. So this was my new boss? The twenty-eight year old widower with a little girl of two?
He was not at all what I had expected him to be, to say the least.
He seemed like the average young man, not a widower and definitely not a father. He was tall, muscled, and casually clothed, in a washed-off jeans and a green T-shirt. His hair was dirty blond, and the length every cool teenage guy would wear it nowadays. It was straight, and casually messy. His smile, and with that his clearly revealed pointy cheekbones, gave him something childish, but the few beard stubbles and slight moustache he’d grown, made him look mature again. And his eyes, so breathtaking. They were bluer than any ocean I had ever seen. Bright, and so fascinating. It made me feel a little intrigued as he rested them on me. “Nice to meet you, Zac. So, where’s Abigail?” I knew that was his daughter’s name from what his mom, Starla, had told me after I got hired. I also l knew that his wife’s name was Mandy, and that she had passed away during the delivery. Zac smiled and closed the door behind me quickly, then turned around. “In the living room, playing with Mr. and Mrs. Teddy, follow me.”
I chuckled. As I followed Zac, I could clearly see his grey Calvin Klein boxers peeking above his jeans. On top of that his remark made me laugh. He was nothing like the other dads I had babysat for.
Zac opened a door, and my jaw dropped, as I suddenly found myself in the living room, if that’s what you could call it. Everything was obviously in the sign of the one little girl living here. Next to the flat screen was a little pink TV with a built-in DVD-player and above it a wooden rack with Disney classics and about all SpongeBob episodes ever made.
Next to the door was a toy-kitchen that seemed better equipped than my own kitchen at home, on the floor was a large, pink princess-carpet, full of cuddly toys, and against the walls were boxes and boxes filled with more toys.
“Wow.” I breathed, stunned. It was like Abigail had her own, personal play garden.
Now it was Zac’s turn to chuckle, as he walked over to the little blonde, sitting in the centre of her carpet, playing with two teddy bears. “Abi,” he spoke in a sweet, patronizing voice, as he picked her up, “there’s someone daddy wants you to meet.”
As he turned around and I laid eyes on Abigail, I was astonished once again. She was gorgeous. With her honey blonde curls, her big, blue eyes, her adorable yellow dress. She seemed momentarily confused by the long sentence Zac had spoken, but seemed to get it, once she laid eyes on me.
She really was a pretty girl, with the traits she’d inherited from her handsome dad, but I also saw characteristics in there, that were different, but equally perfect. Her mom must’ve been a really beautiful woman too. 

Zac’s POV:
“Abigail, this is Nikki. She will look after you when daddy isn’t here. Nikki, this is my little girl, Abigail.” I smiled, proud of my daughter, but at the same time, guilty that I’d be leaving her from the day after tomorrow on.
Nikki smiled her sweet smile at Abigail, which made me feel a little more at ease about the entire thing.
“Hi there, Abigail, I love your dress.”
Abigail however, turned to me fast, her eyes sad. “Daddiey nwot hewre?” she repeated my words as a question, in a sad, alarmed voice. I sighed, feeling my heart break. This wasn’t going to be easy.
“Sweetie, daddy’s got to work. To make money.” I spoke slowly, trying to make her understand. “But I will be back every day. Promise.”
Abigail kept on looking at me sadly for a few more seconds, but then she eventually seemed to turn. “Daddiey stwill rwead two Abwi?”
I smiled again, and nodded, giving my daughter a big hug before I held her up so we were face to face. “Of course daddy’s still gonna read to you. Of course.”
Then Abigail’s smile returned, and I placed her back into my arms, stroking her hair.
Nikki apparently saw that as a signal to interact with Abigail again, because she lowered herself to my daughter’s height, smiling. “Can I play along with you? We can get to know each other.”
Abigail nodded, and started wriggling her way out of my arms. I smiled contently as I put her back down. Nikki seemed to already have won her trust, that was a good thing. It was really important to me that she and my daughter would get along.
My smile turned into a genuine grin when Abigail spontaneously handed Nikki one of the bears and started playing.

_ _

I entered my house satisfied. I had every right to be happy. My first day at work had gone great. Of course there had been memories. I’d gotten a new desk, chair, and the computer had been replaced by a white Apple notebook I was allowed to take home, but the office was still the same. Still the same as where I’d been shooting glimpses at the engagement ring I’d bought my Mandy, practising and changing my little proposal speech over and over again, still the same as where her picture had been standing, still the same as where she’d run in, waving the positive pregnancy test.
Luckily, meeting up with a lot of my old-colleagues had helped me taking my mind off her, and off Abigail too.
That’s why I was twice as happy now that I was home. I was getting to see my little girl again, finally!
Eight hours could be so long, time crawled.
To my surprise, it was quiet as I walked in the living room, no sign of my Abigail. I frowned and legged into the kitchen, where I found Nikki standing behind the cooker, with her back turned to me.
“Nikki, where’s Abigail?” I asked worriedly, stepping closer to her, scanning through my entire kitchen.
Nikki, obviously startled, turned around quickly, again with that sweet smile of hers. “Oh, hi sir.”
I smiled back a little, though still confused as there was no sign of my daughter in the kitchen either.
“Sorry, hi. And stop with the sir.” I chuckled now, even though I was serious. She’d done it too when she came to meet me and Abigail two days ago, and it made me feel uncomfortable. Sir or Mr. Efron was so stiff, boring, I liked people addressing me with my first name.
“Sorry,” Nikki apologized now, chuckling as well, “a habit. And Abigail’s taking a nap. She was tired. I couldn’t get her to sleep this noon, she kept on asking for you. You want me to get her?”
I swallowed, as guilt mastered me again. My daughter had skipped her afternoon nap because of me, because I’d left her behind. But on the other hand, I’d went out to make money, to give her the best life I possibly could. Did that make me a bad dad?
“No,” I shook my head, “it’s okay. Just let her sleep.” I smiled weakly again, as I got aware of a delicious scent filling the kitchen. I realized it came from whatever Nikki was cooking. “What are you making? It smells great.”

Nikki’s POV:
I smiled big at his compliment. “Thanks, I’m preparing my own spaghetti-recipe. You can re-heat it in the microwave when Abigail wakes up.”
I’d been to cooking school for years. My big dream had always been to own a restaurant, but that was a huge investment, and I didn’t have the money. So, to make a few bucks to pay my rent, I occasionally babysat for a few families, and that set the ball rolling. Babysitting was now my official job. “You want some?”
“Oh, if it’s not too much trouble, you know,” Zac started, smiling. I smiled back, at just the sight of his pointy cheekbones. They made him look cute.
“Otherwise I’ll just order some take-out.”
I chuckled. He indeed seemed like the typical take-out or shove-it-in-the-microwave kinda guy.
“No, not at all. Now that I’m busy anyway.”
Zac nodded, and opened the cupboard next to me, taking out a few plates, glasses, and cutlery. “We’ll eat in the living room.”
We? I looked him up and down surprised. In other families, I never really ate along. Usually I disappeared again when one of the parents came home. “Oh, I don’t know if I should...”
Zac shut the door of the cupboard again and looked up at me, smiling friendly.
“You’d do me a favour by having dinner with me. I haven’t really dined with a grown-up since...” there was a catch in his voice and he looked down, “well...”
“Okay, I’ll stay for dinner then,” I quickly broke the silence that followed his unfinished sentence. Even though it wasn’t necessarily my fault, I felt guilty bringing his past up.
Zac cleared his throat, and walked to the doorway. “I’ll be in the living room.”

_ _

With a bowl full of hot pasta, a big spoon and a mat, I entered the living room, where I found the square, light-wooden table set for three, with two chairs and a high baby-chair, and Zac sitting on the white couch in front of the artificial fireplace, staring at a picture on the mantelpiece. As I approached I could see there was a young woman on it. A beautiful woman with long, honey blonde, wavy hair and chocolate brown eyes. Mandy? She must be.
Zac hadn’t heard me coming in and I wasn’t sure how to make him aware of my presence, so I quietly walked over to the table and put the mat on the centre of it. It was only as I put the bowl of pasta on top of it with a light thud, Zac startled and looked at me.
I looked back, my face expressionless, not saying a word.
“Um,” Zac started, looking from me back to the picture, “this is my wife, Mandy.”
I noticed he spoke about her in the present tense, and I should decided I should too. “She’s beautiful.”
Zac smiled lightly as he turned back to me. “She is...” it was then he seemed to realize his use of tenses, and he corrected himself, “was.”
I looked at him empathically and carefully sat down on the empty spot next to him, hoping he didn’t mind. “You must miss her...”
Zac sighed, a deep, sad sigh. “You have no idea...”
It was silent for about a minute, as I wrecked my mind about something to say, vainly. To my surprise, it was Zac who then broke the silence. “How old are you, Nikki?”
I looked up at him, not knowing how to interpret his question. Had I said something wrong? Did he think I was too young to babysit his daughter maybe? “Twenty-four, sir.”
I heard Zac taking a deep breath, thinking before he spoke again.
“The same age as I was when I got married to Mandy.”
I only nodded, I wasn’t sure what to say on that.
“And could you possibly stop calling me sir?” Zac was smiling weakly now, and I chuckled.
“I’m sorry, it won’t happen again... Zac.”
Zac smiled bigger at me, before he looked away again, and the atmosphere got back to serious. “So, Nikki, do you have a boyfriend?”
“No, I haven’t.” I could just stop myself from calling Zac sir again. He just seemed so serious in comparison to when I’d first met him.
“Well then, I’m not sure if I should suggest you to find one or not. I can guarantee you, being in love is the best feeling in the world, but when you lose the person you love, it’s...”
Once again he couldn’t finish his sentence, and without thinking I moved one of my hands to his back to rub it.
I felt so sorry for him.
Zac looked back up at me with a weak smile, but I could spot the moisture in his eyes. He must’ve gone through a hell.

Zac’s POV:
I could feel the tears stinging my eyes as my mind filled with memories of Mandy again.
Ugh, this happened every time I talked about her, which why I was usually closed off about it. There was another reason why I didn’t talk about her too much too, my little Abigail, I had to be strong for her.
“So, um... The pasta’s getting cold.” Nikki awkwardly changed the subject, and I was grateful for that.
I couldn’t handle more of the memories tonight, of how Mandy had whispered nicknames into my ear, of how I’d rubbed her pregnancy bump lovingly, ...
I didn’t want to be reminded of that now.
“Yea, let’s eat.” I spoke, after clearing my throat. I got up and so did Nikki, and we walked to the table.
Just seconds after we’d both sat down, a wail sounded from the baby alarm on the cupboard. Nikki hurriedly got up, but I signalled her to sit down and made my way to the staircase myself. “I’ll go.”
I hurried upstairs, excited to get to see my little girl again, who stopped her crying abruptly as I stormed in the room. A beatific smile took over her face as she saw me and she held her arms out, jumping up and down eagerly. “DADDIEY!”
A love struck grin took over my face as I rushed over to the baby bed and hoisted Abigail out of it. I hugged her tight, and she gave me a big, wet kiss on my cheek.
“Daddiey bwack!” I laughed and kissed her on her perfect little nose. “Of course daddy’s back, Abi. So did you have fun with Nikki today?”
She nodded, giving me another big hug, and I smiled contently. I didn’t have any complaints about Nikki either so far. Seemed like she’d be staying for another while.

_ _

“Guess who’s back?” I shouted through the hall, and immediately my daughter came storming in, arms wide-open again. “DADDIEY!”
I laughed and picked my little Abigail up, planting a kiss on top of her blonde curls happily, as I made my way further down the house.
In the kitchen, I found Nikki hurriedly stocking the dirty dishes in the dishwasher.
She looked up as I walked in though.
“Hi s... Zac.” She smiled apologetically as she was about to call me sir again, and I smiled amused.
“Hi Nikki,” I then greeted her, walking over whilst I put Abigail down, “I have a huge favour to ask you...”
Nikki eyed me curiously and I chuckled. “I want you to teach me how to cook.”
She raised an eyebrow playfully as she shut the dishwasher. “Cook?”
“Yea,” I assented, nodding hopefully, “just the simple things, you know. You’re not here on Sundays and I think my little Abigail deserves a proper meal.”
She laughed a short, loud, but contagious laugh, before she nodded. “Alright, I’ll try.”
“Thank you so much!” I grabbed both Nikki’s hands and squeezed them gratefully, smiling. 

Nikki’s POV:
I laughed. “You’re welcome.”
Of course I’d teach Zac how to cook. It meant spending more time with him and Abigail, and less on my own at home. I really liked these people, even though I’d only been working for them for about a week or two.

_ _