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

a while about what she would say, and now her distraction this morning made a lot more sense.

“No, no, you should… You shouldn’t wait.” It was Emily’s future, her career, and it had been her dream longer than she had had this job, and even though it killed her, she couldn’t hold Emily back, as much as she wanted her to stay.

“But Jaime —”

“Jaime will be fine.” He wouldn’t like it, but he’d survive. “It might be best if it came from you, though.”

“Yeah, I know.” Emily looked at her hands, as if pondering what she would tell him.

“And you… You’re welcome to see him anytime you like. He’d love that.”

“Really?” Emily looked up at her, and Camila’s throat tightened.

“Of course.”

“I’d like that.” Emily looked like she wanted to cry, and Camila was fighting tears too—and if she thought too much about Emily leaving, she’d lose the battle.

“Can you finish out the next week? That should give me enough time to find someone else.”

“Okay.” Emily clenched her jaw. “I, uh, I should get going. It’s getting late.”

Camila nodded, but once she heard the front door close, she slumped in the chair, feeling like the floor had been ripped out from under her feet.

She had known, of course, that Emily wouldn’t be there forever, but the news was so sudden, so unexpected, and it would take some time—a lot of time—to get used to Emily’s absence. In just over a week, Emily would be gone.

She wouldn’t see her every morning, wouldn’t go to work thinking of her bright smile, wouldn’t come home to find her waiting.

She thought of what Emily had said—I don’t know how to be around you and not want you—and wondered if things would be different if London had never happened.

Camila had said that Jaime would be fine, but she didn’t know if she would, not really. She thought of Emily slipping out of her life and shivered, thought of never seeing her again, thought that Emily might be the one she never got over, even though they had never been together at all.

* * *

“Hey, Jaime. Come here a second. I need to talk to you.” Emily had been waiting all day for the right moment to tell him she was leaving, until she finally realized there wasn’t going to be one.

Jaime picked himself up off on the floor where he was playing with his action figures.

“What’s wrong?” Emily set him on her lap facing her.

“Okay. First of all, you know how much I love you, right?”

He nodded, frowning, and Emily took a deep breath, about to speak when Jaime said, “You’re leaving, aren’t you?” Jaime looked up at her. “It’s because of my mom, isn’t it? You had a fight, and when she gets mad at my nannies, they go away and I don’t see them again.”

“Well, you’re going to see me again because I’m going to visit you, all right?”

“You will?”

“Of course I will, buddy.”

“You won’t forget about me?” His bottom lip trembled, and she hugged him to her chest.

“Oh, sweetheart, I could never forget about you. And I’m not leaving because of your mom, so don’t be mad at her.”

“Then why do you have to go?”

“Because I’m going back to school.”

“That sounds boring.”

Emily chuckled, ruffling his hair. “It probably will be, compared to spending time with you every day, but someday I want to teach about space.”

“You’re a good teacher.”

“You think so?”

He nodded. His approval was all she needed.

“I get to spend a few more days with you, though, if that’s okay.”

“And you promise you’ll visit me?”

“I promise.” It would be an easy promise to keep, even though it meant Camila would still be part of her life, but she’d manage if it meant she could still see Jaime—she loved him like he was her own kid.

She was going to miss him, but she knew she had made the right decision. It was time for her to move on; she just wished that she didn’t have to leave so much behind.

* * *

“Jessica, could you put up an ad for a new nanny, please?” Camila tried to keep her voice neutral. No one needed to know about the heartbreak churning away inside her, how much it cut her up just to say those words.

“What?” Jessica nearly dropped Camila’s latte. “What happened to Emily?”

“She’s leaving.”

“Leaving?” Jessica followed Camila into her office. “She quit?”

“She got a better offer.” Camila sat at her desk and booted up her computer. Jessica looked stunned, maybe even unhappy, and Camila wondered how much she had picked up on while they were in London. “If you could put that ad up…?”

“Oh right, of course.” Jessica scurried back to her work station, and Camila let out the breath she didn’t know she’d been holding.

Here she was, back at the beginning, searching for yet another nanny, and she knew that, no matter who she hired, they wouldn’t hold a candle to Emily.

Her phone rang when she was poring over the latest ratings, and she frowned, debating whether to answer it.

“Hello?”

“Ms. Evans?” It was Eleanor, Jaime’s first nanny, the one who had lasted four years, and Camila thought this was either some weird coincidence or luck was on her side for once.

“Eleanor, how are you doing? I was sorry to hear about your mother.” She had left to care for her ailing mother who had passed away six months later.

“I’m doing okay, Ms. Evans, thank you. I moved back to the city a few weeks ago, been thinking about going back to work.”

“Did my assistant call you to tell you I’m looking for a nanny again?” She glanced out her office door to see if Jessica was listening to the conversation, but she was frowning at her computer screen. Camila thought she might give the girl a raise.

“She did,” Eleanor confirmed. “Is that…is that right? Are you looking for someone?”

“I am—are you interested?”

“Very, Ms. Evans. I miss Jaime a lot. He’s probably forgotten all about me by now.”

“I very much doubt that.” Eleanor had