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Sharon huffs and settles into her chair. “I’m sorry. It’s been a-”
There’s a loud screech on the other side of the door, followed by Sharon’s assistant begging, a crash, and maniacal laughter. Outright maniacal laughter. The children have the day off from school, and she hopes to God the school will take them tomorrow. She hopes the teachers haven’t gone into hiding, like Sharon is thinking of doing.
“-week,” she finishes. She scrubs some more at the coffee stain on her shirt. She’s dressed well – a female Senator could hardly dress any other way – but her niece, Jules, had decided to add her own touch to Sharon’s outfit. In this case, Sharon’s own coffee and Jules’ hot chocolate.
“I hope you don’t mind my saying this, but I heard.” The man across from her had passed his background check and made it through the first hurdles her staff had set in place. He’s now one of three finalists, and he’s definitely the youngest and most attractive of the bunch. “I hope your family’s doing all right.”
“They’ll manage.” Or at least, they’d better. Sharon had never thought she’d be happy to be the black sheep of the family, the afterthought child that didn’t marry or have children of her own. But then her brother-in-law had cheated on her sister, and it turned out her sister and her mother had known and chosen not to reveal it for appearances’ sake, while making legally actionable threats to the other woman, and now his love children were in the news while his opponents weighed in on his family values platform. She would have thought that this would be the time to have children around – for appearances’ sake – but her sister had thought it best to send them away. Sharon half-suspects her family is going to bury her brother-in-law at one of their vacation properties, but that’s not any of her business. Right now, her focus is on taking care of her niece and nephew, Jules and Ricky, eight and five, hellion and hellion squared.
She looks pointedly at his file, even though she’d already skimmed it in the car that morning. “It says you were a commodities trader? Why would you stop?”
He accepts her changing the subject with grace. “The grind got to me,” he admits. “I wanted something slower. Ended up taking care of my neighbors’ kids for a while, and it went from there.”
There’s another crash outside, and Sharon sighs. “Excuse me.” She opens the door to her antechamber and takes in the chaos. The outgoing mail is strewn across the floor, and the filing shelf on Daisy’s desk lies in defeat beside the love seat.
Where two suddenly-adorable children are sitting in complete silence and watching her with wide eyes.
She points to the mess. “Help Daisy clean up. Do what she says. Or we aren’t stopping for any treats on the way home.”
Ricky hops up immediately, but Jules grabs his arm. “What’s the treat?”
Why, oh why, had her family raised their children in politics?
“Ice cream,” she says in exasperation.
“It’s too cold for ice cream.”
“Soup, then.”
Both children stare at her. After a moment, Ricky climbs back onto the couch before staring at her, waiting.
“I’ll take you to the aquarium this weekend,” she caves. “If you’re good.”
Ricky squirms in his seat, but it isn’t until Jules nods that he’s off like a shot, helping Daisy clean up the mail. Jules joins in more slowly, but her eyes are suspicious.
“If you’re lying, we don’t have to be good anymore,” she threatens.
“Deal,” Sharon says. She closes the door with a sigh and hopes she isn’t lying. She drops back into her seat and finds the possible manny smiling at her. “Sorry. It’s a lot. My sister- well.” They’d had a nanny. But given who had given birth to her brother-in-law’s affair children, they were unlikely to have another any time soon.
He shook his head. “Don’t worry. They seem like they just need some stability and to know people care about them.”
She looks at him wryly. “They teach that in manny class?”
He shrugs, not offended in the slightest. “Seems to me that’s what most children need.”
When she sees him off half an hour later, she finds the children have already frightened off the second prospect when Ricky prank-sneezed some of his latest science experiment on her skirt. The third is typical. Capable, but typical. And Sharon isn’t sure typical is going to be what Jules and Ricky need. She also has the manny’s words following her around the rest of the day. What most children need…
His name is Steve Rogers. She’s still getting ready when he arrives the next morning.
“Mm,” she greets him, a piece of toast in her mouth as she pours a cup of coffee. The children sit at the breakfast room table, watching him suspiciously. She forces herself to swallow the toast. “Steve. This is Jules and Ricky. I’m dropping them off at school on the way to work and thought you could join us.”
“Of course,” he says with an easy grin. He gives the kids a wave, and they look at each other in silent debate. Instead of being cowed, his grin only widens. “I didn’t know there was a preschool next to the Capitol.”
Jules lifts her nose in the air. “I am in third grade.”
“Oh,” Steve says, sounding unconvinced. “Sure, you are.”
“I am!”
“Uh-huh.”
The debate continues until they’re in the car, and if Jules notices that Steve helps her into her coat or hands Ricky his lunchbox, she doesn’t say anything.
When they pull up to the school, Steve holds up his hands in surrender. “I’ll give up. If you can tell me something no preschooler could know when I see you later.”
“Hmph.” Jules hops out of the car.
Ricky hangs back. “I was in preschool last year, but now I’m not.”
“You just tell me something you learned in class,” Steve offers. “We’ll take it from there.”
Ricky nods and rushes to join his sister.
Sharon watches them. It’s only when they’re in the gates with the teachers that the driver pulls away. “I can’t believe you just negged two children.”
“Don’t say it like that. It makes it sound bad.” He grins at her, and she rather wishes he wouldn’t. His grins are warm and draw her in. And she’s his boss now. And there’s no way he isn’t seeing someone. So. No, Sharon. No. “So what do you want me to do from here on out for the day?”
She sighs and rubs her temples. “Phil will take you back to the house. I know it isn’t ideal to spend so much time alone.” He shakes his head and motions for her to continue. “Their rooms are a bit of a mess. We haven’t gone shopping for more clothes, so that needs to be washed. I don’t know. You have more experience with this than I do.”
“What time do they get out of school?”
“Ricky at noon, Jules at two. They like doing things. Parks, science museums, anything that keeps their hands busy. If you try to make them watch a movie, they’ll know you’re weak.”
He nods along, but she can feel the quiet judgment.
“I know,” she says at last. “If I weren’t trying to do the best I can, I wouldn’t have hired you.” She smiles, and he responds in kind. “And it goes without saying – but I’ll say it anyway – if anything happens to either of those kids, let alone both, I’ll slice you open, load you with salt in case you’re still alive to suffer, stuff in some bricks, and toss you in the Potomac. And I don’t care who you quote me to on that.”
His smile widens.
The next several weeks are almost a breeze. Yes, Jules still wants to come to work with her, and she allows it on weekends. And yes, Ricky’s taken up drums and Sharon mourns her hearing. And yes, Jules has taken to singing Taylor Swift songs very, very loudly even though Jules doesn’t know half the words or the tune. And yes, she still feels like she’s in over her head.
But they’ve got new clothes. They’re doing their homework every night – it helps that she works on her own while she sits with them so they can see that she, too, has homework that she has to do. They’re decorating their rooms. They have dinner together every night so long as Sharon doesn’t have any meetings. She takes them on outings when she can. Asks them about their day. They ask if the Secret Service has to help the President with his boogers.
They seem happier. They don’t break things as often – at least not on purpose.
They adore Steve. Her staff adores Steve. And she’s being very, very careful to not adore Steve. It isn’t easy. There’s something inherently sexy about a man folding clean laundry and doing it right the first time around. There’s something inherently sexy about a man who makes coffee in the morning and teaches the kids to make chocolate-chip pancakes. There’s something inherently sexy about a man who genuinely asks about her day and looks after the children she’s increasingly coming to see as her own and treats them like all-stars for every small accomplishment they have.
She tells herself it doesn’t mean anything when she has to dress for functions and it seems like Steve’s eyes linger on her. He’s just as polite as usual, after all. He’s just as considerate as ever. It doesn’t mean anything.
She’s had the kids for eight months when her sister embarks on a “journey of self-discovery.” Officially, it’s a tour around the world to talk to global leaders. But those meetings aren’t a common occurrence, and Sharon hears through her staff that her sister is indulging in spa treatments in luxury hotels. Her parents ask her help in covering up her brother-in-law’s latest affair, and she tries not to laugh. She’s been in a meeting with child mental health advocates for half the morning. Still, things go easier if she promises to do her best, so that’s what she does. Her parents are satisfied and hang up.
In the past eight months, she’s had to fumble her way into being a parent. She doesn’t think of herself as a mom, can’t wrap her head around it. But she attends school events, sports games, music recitals, and she takes them out to the zoo and for ice cream and to the movies. She knows that a lot of it is down to Steve, but the children are doing better, and she feels like she’s doing better, too.
And when she hangs up the phone, she suddenly sees her future. An empty house, her niece and nephew who-knew-where with parents who argued any time they were together... When Sharon let the kids go, all of them would be miserable. And she thinks she knows a way to save some of them...
That evening, she sits with the children at dinner. She’s already warned Steve of what might happen – he’s moved in downstairs so he doesn’t have to pay ridiculous rent or get held up by traffic – but it’s time to tell the children.
Not that it’s as easy as it sounds.
She takes a breath. “Serious conversation?”
Instantly, their eyes are trained on her.
“What if I filed to adopt you?”
Ricky looks at his sister. “Mommy doesn’t want us anymore?”
“It’s not that,” Sharon says quickly. “I just don’t know when she’ll be back. And your daddy’s very busy, too.”
Jules shoves her mashed potatoes around on the plate. “Mommy doesn’t want us,” she says slowly. She seems almost as if she’ll say more, but she changes her mind and instead says, “Why would you want us?”
Sharon stares at them. They’re not angry, they’re not sad. They’re too hurt for that. Instead, they watch her as if wanting to see or hear something that they themselves can’t identify. “Because I love you,” she says quietly. “Because I can’t imagine not wanting you. I thought about what it would be like if you weren’t here, and it made me sad.”
It takes a moment for the words to sink in, and then they brighten, with Ricky outright smiling.
“Why now?” Jules asks.
Sharon takes another breath. “I know. I would have liked to grow into it a little more, too. But something’s happened, and I think your parents are going to be upset, and I want to make sure you two are safe.”
They look at each other.
“Not that your in danger,” Sharon says quickly. “But I worry you won’t be so happy if you have to go back home.”
Ricky flails onto the table, narrowly avoiding hitting his cup with his spoon. “Did Daddy cheat again?”
Sharon blinks at him. Ricky is too young to know about things like that. “He did something that’s- yes,” she admits grudgingly. “Yes, he did.”
Ricky groans.
Jules growls at her mac and cheese and takes another bite. “Why won’t they just break up?” she demands. “That’s what everybody else’s parents do. Then Daddy can do what he wants and Mommy can have a lot of money. And then she can go on vacations all the time.”
Sharon waits for Jules to add that they can go on the vacations, too, but it doesn’t come.
“I think I can arrange for you to stay here,” she says after a moment. “If you want.”
They look to each other, look at her, look toward Steve’s room, at each other again, around the room, and at each other again.
“Okay,” Jules says. And she returns to her mac and cheese as if they hadn’t just had a very, very serious conversation. Ricky follows suit.
Before Sharon can think of a proper way to turn the conversation to something else, Ricky asks, “What do the President’s farts smell like?”
And the rest of the evening is spent in spirited debate over whether the President farted, what the farts smelled like, and what would happen if he farted on royalty.
Sharon’s family says it’s blackmail, and she calmly explains that it’s actually extortion. If they want her brother-in-law’s latest affair covered up, she gets custody of the kids. But what, her parents say, will people say? Sharon tells them she doesn’t care. She wants custody of the kids. She’s going to get it.
It still takes a year to get all the paperwork done, and she goes out with the kids and Steve to celebrate. At this point, she’d be a fool if she didn’t think she and Steve were attracted to each other. She’s seen how her Secret Service agents open doors for her, and Steve does it with so much more care than that.
Still, she holds off. He’s an employee, after all. She can ask him about his experience in the commodities trade, but she can’t ask him if he has a condom preference.
It’s another six months when Steve asks for a meeting while the kids are out.
He doesn’t waste time, either. Before he even sits down, he announces, “I’ve taken another job.”
She stares at him. “How-”
He hands her a one-page letter. She recognizes the language, though it still doesn’t click. “My resignation. I’ll talk to the kids.”
She can’t stop staring. Finally, she manages to choke out, “Why?”
“It’s a risk. But I think it’s worth the risk.”
“The kids will miss you.”
“They’ll understand. And I’ve got some friends you can talk to who’d be interested in the job. Want me to set up interviews with Daisy?”
She nods dumbly. She can’t do anything that doesn’t feel dumb right now. Had she done something? Had the kids done something?
And then he’s gone, and she’s left to stare after him, dumbly.
The kids aren’t as upset as she’d thought they’d be, and Steve spends some time with them and his friend Natasha, who’s going to replace him when his time is up. She teases the kids more, challenges them, and though she’s patient, she’s also not as blissfully indulgent as Steve had been. Steve and Sharon might have helped the kids with their homework, but Natasha quizzes them. And when she helps the kids practice soccer or drums, she drills them. And the kids go along with it. It works.
And Natasha’s great with Sharon, too, blending into the day-to-day of the house easily.
Sharon wants to ask what she did to drive Steve away, why did he take the other job, but in the end, she tries to focus on her work and the kids. She goes with them and Natasha to the aquarium and gets sucked into a scavenger hunt Natasha has set up for them.
Steve leaves, and Sharon tells herself that life goes on. She feels like it’s going on in a way she hadn’t anticipated and wasn’t wild about, but it goes on nonetheless.
She’s surprised when she walks into her office and finds Steve chatting with Daisy, and she greets him and greedily hopes that he’s here to get his old job back. She likes Natasha, but she misses seeing Steve around the house.
“Got a minute?” he asks.
She glances at Daisy, who nods, and she nods as well and leads the way into her office. “What can I help you with?” Please say a job, please say a job…
He clears his throat. “Well… I was thinking… Would you want to go out sometime?”
She stares at him, blinks, and stares some more. “Like- outside?”
This time, he stares and blinks. “Maybe? But definitely dinner.”
She still stares, wondering if he’s trying to get her to go for a walk on the National Mall, and he grins self-consciously.
“On a date,” he clarifies.
“Oh!” And then she almost says no, because he works for her, and that would be unethical, and then she blinks at him. “You don’t work for me,” she says slowly.
“That’s why I’m asking now,” he confirms. He tilts his head to the side. “Have you had coffee today?”
“Clearly not enough.” She stares at him. Does she do anything but stare when he’s around? “Um. But yes. I’d like that. I- Yes.”
A year later, and she has two happy, healthy children, and a husband that gets hotter every time he does the laundry or pours her coffee, and the house doesn’t feel empty anymore.