"Daddy, Daddy!" I could hear the bounce in Chloe's voice. Oliver had arrived.

She had been bugging me every day for the last two weeks, "When is Oliver going to get here? Does he like to play puzzles? Will he have tea parties with me like Ms. Helen? Is Oliver coming today, Daddy?" It was a good sign that she should handle the change fairly well with as excited as she was, but the questions had become exhausting. This morning, I had finally been able to tell her, "Oliver will be here today."

Even now that the wait was over, I wasn't sure that had been the best idea. She had been bouncing off the walls as if I'd let her drink a whole gallon of Kool-Aid on her own. I felt a little guilty admitting it, but I almost wished I had asked Helen to watch her for part of the day, just so I could have a break. But she was finishing up the last chores and packing before she left in a week. She would have done it to help me, but I knew her time was limited, and she was busy. 

It was going to be nice having Oliver around. 

I wiped my hands on a towel. I was in the middle of cutting vegetables for dinner, but we weren't on any timetable to eat. I met them in the living room before Chloe dragged the poor man all the way into the kitchen. His scent reached me before I saw him. That wood cabin smell was building some serious fantasies of vacationing in the mountains sometime soon. "Welcome to our home, Oliver. Now, it's your home as well."

Chloe was clinging to Oliver's arm and she jumped up then lifted her feet as she fell, jerking his arm to the floor.

"Chloe! Be nice to Oliver." It was so strange smelling an omega in the house again. I had wondered if Oliver’s scent had simply been intensified by the smallness of the office I had interviewed him, but even here in my open, airy house, his scent was unmistakable.

"She's fine," Oliver laughed, swinging his arm, making Chloe squeal.

"Be careful," I warned. "She'll want you to do that your every waking moment."

"Oh, I'm well familiar with the focus of three-year-olds." Our eyes met with smiles of indulgence and understanding. I could see she was already wrapping him as firmly around her finger as she had me.

"Hey now, I hired you to be the tough one. Don't let the little tyrant realize she's at your beck and call," I teased him.

Oliver set Chloe on the floor softly and knelt to her eye level. "You're not going to boss me around, are you Chloe?"

She smiled bashfully and tilted her head.

"That's probably a yes, but I'm going to pretend it's a no." He stood to his feet and Chloe started tugging on his arm again. "Can I help with anything?"

"I'm actually just about to throw everything in a casserole dish and let it bake, so there isn't much left to do. Why don't you let Chloe give you the tour? I can help you unload your car after dinner."

"Did you hear that, Chloe? Your daddy wants you to show me the house. Can you do that?"

Chloe jumped again. "I wanna show you my room!"

"Let's go, then!" As Chloe dragged him toward the stairs, he turned back to Wyatt. "If we get lost in the vortex of little girl toys, will you call up when dinner is ready."

I waved him out. "Of course. Enjoy!"

It was quiet now that Chloe wasn't dogging my ever step with questions about Oliver, but I could hear the high babble of her constant ramble and the occasional rumble of Oliver's lower voice. I tossed everything in as quickly as I could, then snuck up to watch them through her open door. 

Oliver sat cross-legged, draped with something frilly and pink, holding a tiny teacup with his pinky finger held out while Chloe orchestrated the actions of their fellow tea party attendees, the chosen of her favorite stuffed animals. I couldn't have suppressed my smile if I wanted to. She was such a bright soul, like her mother. Neither of them ever met a stranger. I preferred the company of animals. And Chloe. Though so far, Oliver hadn’t hit any of my annoyance factors, so maybe he would join that short list.

I watched for several minutes unnoticed before I slipped away to set the table.

* * *

"Here, Chloe, don't just pick through for the chicken bits, you have to eat your vegetables." It was a constant fight getting anything green into my little girl.

She frowned at me and took another defiant bite of chicken. 

"Mmm," Oliver jumped in. "The vegetables are my favorite." He took a big spoonful of the vegetables and chewed it with gusto.

Chloe eyed him shrewdly. "Daddy, Oliver can have all my veg-tables."

Oliver almost spit out his mouthful and I burst into a gut-wrenching laugh.

"She got you there, Oliver."

He wiped his mouth. "I should have seen that coming. Even working with them every day, I forget how quick kids can be."

My laughter faded, though the ache of it lingered in my belly as I took a bite myself. How long had it been since I had laughed that hard? It had been so long ago I couldn't even remember. It looked like there were more benefits to hiring a nanny than I had originally thought.

"So what is the plan for tomorrow?" Oliver asked.

"Well, I have a few appointments at the clinic in the morning, and I would like to show you around over there, but other than that, the schedule is wide open."

"Oh, that reminds me. What do you want to do about taking Chloe in the car? Do you want me to use your car, or do you have a second car seat for my car?"

"You're absolutely welcome to take my car, but I do have a second car seat that's still in Helen's car. We can go over and get it from her tomorrow."

"So what is there for little misses to do in this town? Is there a park, or kids' days anywhere?"

I was embarrassed to draw a blank. All of my time with Chloe was here at home or at the clinic. If she went anywhere, it was with Helen. 

"Don't worry, I'll find something," Oliver assured me.

"We can ask Helen when we go over to get the car seat, though."

He smiled. "Thanks."

Oliver's question highlighted something I hadn't realized I was missing with Chloe. I didn't want to add too much change to her life, but I had to make hanging out with her outside of home and work a higher priority.