Laura Anno Nolan

The interview was going perfectly until the door opened. "Your employer will see you now." I smoothed my skirt and walked into the penthouse living room. A little girl sat on a massive white sofa, her legs dangling. She had big brown eyes and a chocolate stain on her chin. Cute. Then I looked up at the man standing behind her. My heart stopped. Ethan Cole. Six-foot-two. Sharp jaw. Cold gray eyes that I had once memorized in the dark. My ex-husband. The man who married me in a courthouse on a Tuesday and served me divorce papers on a Thursday — three years ago. He looked at me like I was a stranger. No. He looked at me like I was furniture. His gaze swept over me once, then returned to the tablet in his hand. "You're the candidate from the agency?" His voice was flat. Professional. Zero recognition. My blood ran cold. He didn't remember me. We were married for eleven months. I changed his bandages after his car accident. I sat in the hospital for six days straight. I signed the divorce papers while still wearing my wedding ring. And he didn't remember me. "Yes," I said. My voice didn't shake. I wouldn't let it. "I'm Lily Morgan. I'm here for the live-in nanny position." The little girl tugged his sleeve. "Daddy, she's pretty. I want her." Ethan didn't react. He swiped through his tablet. "It says here you have a degree in early childhood education. Why are you applying for a nanny job?" Because I'm broke. Because my mother's medical bills ate through everything. Because three years after our divorce, I'm sleeping on my best friend's couch and pretending I'm fine. "I prefer hands-on work with children," I said. He finally looked at me. Really looked. His eyes narrowed for half a second. My pulse spiked. Did he recognize me? Did something click? "Fine," he said. "One-month trial. Ruby is five. She doesn't sleep well. She bites when she's angry. She's fired four nannies in three months." Ruby grinned at me with all her baby teeth. "I bite hard." "I've dealt with worse," I said, holding Ethan's gaze. He stared back. Something flickered in those gray eyes, but it vanished before I could name it. "Mrs. Park will show you to your room. You start tonight." He left without another word. His footsteps echoed down the marble hallway. I exhaled so hard my ribs hurt. Three years. I had spent three years erasing Ethan Cole from my life. New city. New name — I went back to my maiden name. New everything. And now I was living in his house. Raising his daughter. A daughter I knew nothing about. We were married for eleven months. He never mentioned a child. Ruby was five, which meant she was born... I did the math twice. She was born while we were still married. The room tilted. I grabbed the back of the sofa. Ruby looked up at me. "Are you okay, Miss Lily?" No, I was not okay. Because either Ethan Cole had a child he hid from me during our entire marriage — or Ruby's mother was someone he was with while he was sleeping next to me. Mrs. Park appeared at the door. "This way, Ms. Morgan." I picked up my suitcase. My hands were steady. My heart was not. As I followed Mrs. Park down the hall, I passed a row of framed photos. Ethan in a suit. Ethan at a charity gala. Ethan holding baby Ruby in a hospital room. I stopped at the last one. In the photo, Ruby was a newborn. Ethan was holding her, and there was a woman's hand resting on his arm. The photo was cropped. You couldn't see her face. But I recognized the bracelet on her wrist. It was mine. That was my hand. ================================