Never Say Never by Rachael Sommers (books to get back into reading TXT) 📕

their caregivers. Jaime quickly claimed one of the swings, squealing as Emily pushed him higher and higher. Next, he raced over to the jungle gym, Emily watching lest he fall, knowing Camila wouldn’t forgive her if he hurt himself.

After that it was on to the slide. Jaime zipped down several times before bounding to her, almost colliding with her legs.

“Hey, little man, you had enough, or do you want to play awhile longer?”

“Li-bary!”

“All right, bud.” She led him out of the park. “Let’s go get you some books.”

“Back again?” The librarian greeted them as they stepped inside. Emily dropped Jaime’s finished books into the return slot. “You’ve been a busy boy! We have a couple of new books I think you’ll like—they’re on that shelf over there.” She waved to one side. Emily barely had time to say “thank you” before Jaime dragged her over to them.

Jaime found some books on space and dinosaurs, and one with a dragon on the front. Before they checked out, they curled up on cushions in the kids’ reading corner to read one together.

When they were done, they returned to the apartment to spend the time playing and watching cartoons. The afternoon soon fell away, and when her phone buzzed, Emily knew that it was a text from Camila and what it was going to say.

Won’t be home by seven. Kiss Jaime goodbye for me.

Emily made a quick decision. She found Chris’s phone number and typed it into her phone.

“Hello?”

“Hi, this is Emily Walker, Jaime’s nanny.”

“Oh right. Emily. Hi. Is everything all right?”

“Everything’s fine,” Emily assured him. “I was wondering if you’d mind picking Jaime up from Camila’s office instead of the apartment.”

“Oh. Uh, yeah, all right.”

“Thanks. See you later.” She hung up before he had a chance to say anything else. Then turning back to Jaime, said, “You wanna go visit your mom?”

“Okay!”

Emily threw a few more things into Jaime’s travel bag and double checked that his favorite teddy and blanket were in there.

She called Camila’s driver to pick them up to save time, and they were in the CEBC elevator before the clock hit six thirty.

“I hope your mom doesn’t hate this surprise,” Emily muttered as they stepped out of the elevator.

Jessica intercepted them, her creased forehead relaxing. “Oh, thank God you’re here,” she said, wrapping her hand around Emily’s arm She lowered her voice. “She’s been on the warpath all day, and when she found out she wouldn’t be home early, it was…not pretty.”

“Well, maybe we can fix that.” Emily glanced toward Camila’s office. She sat at her desk, frowning at her monitor, her glasses perched on her nose and fingers pressed to her temples. “Are we all right to go in?”

“Please.”

Emily tapped on the door before cracking it open.

“I thought I was clear that I didn’t want to be disturbed.” Camila’s voice crackled with fury, her eyes never leaving the monitor. In that moment she wasn’t the woman Emily had come to know. She wasn’t even Jaime’s mother. She was Camila freaking Evans, the woman Emily had met at her interview, and it stopped her in her tracks.

“Um…”

Camila’s head snapped up so fast, her glasses slipped off her nose and fell onto the desk. “Emily?” Camila blinked. “What on earth are you doing here?”

“I knew you’d wanna say goodbye to this little guy.” She let go of Jaime’s hand, and he trotted over to Camila, raising his arms to be picked up. “So I thought I’d bring him by. I called Chris to ask him to come here.”

“You…you did? I…I don’t know what to say. Thank you. And I’m sorry I snapped at you.”

“It’s all right.” Emily dropped Jaime’s bag beside the couch.

She slipped out onto the balcony so Jaime could tell his mom about his day. The lights of the city were impressive at night. When Camila’s phone rang a few minutes later, Jaime came out to join her, returning inside when they heard Camila complete the call.

Chris arrived right at seven. Camila stood up, waving him inside.

He greeted his ex-wife, nodded at Emily, then turned to Jaime, sitting next to Emily. “Hey, big guy. You ready to go?”

Jaime shook his head vigorously, and Emily wondered if there was a tantrum brewing.

“It’s all right, sweetheart.” Camila scooped Jaime into a hug. “You’re going to have a nice weekend with your daddy.”

“Want to stay with you.” He clung tightly to Camila, and Chris’s mouth twisted with displeasure.

“I’ll see you on Sunday.” Camila kissed the top of Jaime’s head. “It’ll be here before you know it.”

Jaime allowed Chris to take his hand.

“Everything he needs is in here.” Camila’s voice went ice-cold as she addressed her ex-husband. “You’ll call if you have any trouble?”

“I know how to look after my son, Camila.”

“That’s not what I—” Camila took a deep breath. “Just call if you do, will you?”

“All right. Shall we get going, Jaime?”

Jaime said nothing.

“Say goodbye to your mom.”

“Bye,” he mumbled, and Camila leaned down to give him one last kiss.

“Goodbye, sweetheart.”

Emily waved as Jaime disappeared from view, then turned to face Camila, whose shoulders had dropped in defeat. She walked over to the bar in the corner, poured herself two fingers of scotch, and threw it down like it was water.

“Drink?” she asked Emily, who shook her head. “I have water too.”

“I’m good.”

Camila set her glass down, her hand trembling.

“Are you all right?”

“I will be,” she said, and Emily wondered if that was a lie.

“How much longer do you have to stay here?” she asked as Camila returned to her desk. Emily hovered in front, fingers resting on its surface.

“Well, I have nothing to be home for now, so…” Camila trailed off, shrugging.

“But it’s Friday,” Emily protested. “You can’t stay here all night.”

“It’s not like I haven’t done it before,” Camila said.

“That doesn’t mean you should.”

Camila leveled a stare at her.

“Okay, well, if you insist on working late,” Emily said in her best disciplinarian voice, as if she were talking to Jaime, “you need to eat at some point, so come