Boss Nanny Ch. 03

"D diarrhea is pertinent information. He needs to know what he's up against."

Hilary hummed, clearly not believing him. "Where's Kase? Is he not working today?" Matt looked around the cafe just as Kase came out from the back carrying a load of clean dishes. Kase was relieved when Matt helped him put everything away.

"How are you guys feeling about finals?" Kase asked. "Less than two weeks left and I'm nervous as shit."

Hilary made a big show of crying because she too was not looking forward it them. Matt shrugged. "I think I'll do okay."

"You better. You ditched out on Saturdays," Kase complained. "That was our day. Now I work with Yonk and he does that weird eye thing."

Both Matt and Hilary laughed. It wasn't so much a weird eye thing as a terribly uncomfortable habit of staring. Matt didn't think it was anything the guy did on purpose but it could clear a room. He definitely wasn't a favorite to work with.

"If you need a break from the frat house you can come study."

"Is study code for gaming?" When Matt shook his head, Kase laughed, "Nah, I'll pass."

When the end of shift rolled around, Matt changed and headed to the office to grab Aidan, only no one was there. Matt figured they had left.

Denise snuck up on Matt as he turned to leave the office. "Are you looking for Seamus?"

"Yeah, I think they left. I''ll just hang out front and wait."

"Actually, I think they're in the other office. It's not really an office, per se. Anyway, it's at the end of the hall on the right," she pointed.

Matt slowly opened the door and smiled. Seamus was sitting awkwardly on the couch with Aidan on his chest. They were both passed out. Matt looked around. What surprised him the most was the portable crib in the corner and the small shelf that had diapers and a few changes of clothes.

"Isn't that the cutest?" Denise whispered over his shoulder.

"Should I wake them?"

Denise shook her head. "Aidan sounded fussy. I think they're both tired."

"You don't think he'll be mad? I bet he has shit to do."

"I think he'll be fine. If I'm wrong then I'll tell him I told you not to wake him." Denise pushed Matt out of the room and closed the door. "Go study."

An hour later Seamus and Aidan came out. They both wore the same sleepy expression and ruffled hair. Aidan had sleep lines on his face and his brown hair was sticking straight up. It was adorable. Judging by Hilary's lusty stare, Seamus' nap hair looked sexy, too.

"Sorry, I wasn't sure if I should wake you up or not."

Aidan looked half asleep when Seamus handed him over. "It's fine. He needed the sleep."

"It looks like you did, too."

"I guess I did. I was out." Seamus couldn't finish the sentence without yawning, making them laugh. "Hey, I want to apologize. I, um, I was rude the other day. I'm sorry."

"You were rude," Matt confirmed, though his words weren't harsh.

"I know."

"I never said I was going to go hook up with him—or anyone else."

"I know."

"But I could if I wanted and I shouldn't feel guilty about it."

"I know," Seamus repeated again.

"Okay then, it's settled. You buy Aidan and I dinner and I forgive you for being an overstepping asshole."

"That's it? I buy dinner and all my transgressions are forgiven?"

It had been a long shift and Matt was hungry. "Just this one transgression."

"Deal."

Matt was thinking somewhere along the lines of McDonalds or Subway. Panera if Seamus was feeling fancy. Not Cavalier. That place was way out of Matt's league. Matt was still wearing his work clothes for Christ's sake. Cavalier had white linen tables and seven-dollar sodas. He couldn't afford to look at the restaurant let alone eat there.

Seamus ignored Matt's grumbling.

"Fine, then you can get Aidan." It wasn't much of a punishment but getting the damn car seat out of the backseat of the coupe wasn't an easy task. "I don't think this is a family friendly restaurant anyway. They probably don't even have a high chair."

"Aidan doesn't use highchairs."

"They're gonna turn us away."

Again, Seamus ignored him and held open the front door. The restaurant was classic-contemporary and very expensive looking. Matt made sure to note the lack of high chairs by the front door. Seamus again reminded him that Aidan was too small to use them anyway.

"Hello Mr. Ryan. Just the three?" A beautifully put together woman with a bun and flawless makeup greeted them.

Seamus nodded and they followed her through the restaurant until they were seated. A waiter came, greeting Seamus as Mr. Ryan then read them the specials, most of which went right over Matt's head.

"So, Mr. Ryan—" Matt mocked as soon as the waiter left.

"Don't. Don't do that. It's not cute."

"But Mr. Ryan," Matt teased. He quite enjoyed irritating Seamus. "This one of your other sources of income, isn't it?" Seamus nodded. "Does this mean I can order whatever I want without guilt?"

"I wouldn't take you somewhere and then get mad cause you got the lobster."

"Oh, they have lobster?!"

"The best lobster. I recommend the Kholdaar Machli Biryani."

"Kolndal what?" Matt grabbed the menu and found what Seamus was talking about. "I don't know what any of this is."

"Well," Seamus put his elbows on the table. "That makes two of us. Don't ask me what the Kholdaar Machli Biryani is, I just know it tastes good."

"You're telling me that you own this place and you don't know shit about it?"

"First—" Seamus held up his finger. "Watch your language in front of the baby. Secondly, I know everything about this place that matters."

"You're saying the food doesn't matter?"

Seamus thought about it for a second then smiled. "Yeah, I don't know that much. That's why I hire people that do."

They had a great dinner, which Aidan knew nothing about because he slept through most of it. The food really was phenomenal. He didn't end up getting the lobster, too many weird ingredients and Matt just wasn't sure about that. Seamus decided they'd have a multi-course meal so Matt could try a little of everything. There wasn't a coursed meal that he saw on the menu so he could only assume it was custom for Mr. Ryan. Matt thought it was Seamus's way of familiarizing himself with the menu.

Seamus was actually a good conversationalist. It was weird to think there'd been a point where Matt had been nervous and riddled with guilt about Seamus watching Aidan. Now he couldn't imagine anyone else doing it. Seamus was such a natural. Even during dinner with Matt there, he helped out by prepping and feeding Aidan once he woke up. He even carried him out to the car.

"Now I'm curious, what are your other sources of income? And does Coffee|Bar count as one or two businesses? I mean, it's a coffee shop by day but it's a pretentious lounge at night."

Seamus drove with one hand on the wheel, one on the gear shift, and a sly smile on his lips. "It's one, unless I'm trying to annoy Kelly's family, then it's two. There's Cavalier, Dough Guppies—"

"What?! I love their pizza."

"Holden's Chevrolets," he continued.

"You own car dealerships? As in, more than one?"

"And Purple Canary."

"Purple Canary! Holy shit. I need to sit down."

"You are sitting down," Seamus laughed.

"You're right. I need to lay down," Matt tried to recline the seat but immediately hit Aidan's car seat. He turned and glared at the small backseat. "You couldn't spring for something bigger? I mean, you own multiple dealerships." Matt adjusted his sit back up. "God, this is crazy. Those are all landmark businesses. Tell me more about them. Which two were Kelly's and which three did you start?"

"Holden's Chevrolet and Cavalier were Kelly's. We were working on Purple Canary before he died. Coffee|Bar was the first one I did from the ground up, then I bought Dough Guppies. It was a failing business but we turned it around."

"That's impressive for anyone, let alone someone under thirty. It's almost unbelievable."

"I wish I could take more credit but it's all Kelly."

"You kept them going. That's a big deal."

"I'm hardly the driving force behind their success but I do stop by weekly, ask Aidan. My staff is what keeps them going."

Matt wasn't going to argue. If Seamus didn't want to take ownership of his success then that was on him. Matt respected that he put a lot of that success on his employees. He had to hand it to Seamus, he wasn't nearly as cocky as he thought he was a few months ago.

When they got to the apartment, Matt made sure to glare at Seamus as he tried to get the damn car seat out of the car. "Multiple dealerships, dude. Multiple dealerships."

* * * * *

"Are you busy this afternoon?" Matt asked.

Seamus picked Aidan up off the floor and gave Matt a suspicious look.

"I'm not going to murder you, calm down," Matt laughed. "If you weren't busy, I was going to see if you might take Aidan and I to the mall. Aidan's clothes are about to rip at the seams and the mall is on the other side of town."

"Yeah, I could do that."

"I'll buy you dinner. Anywhere you want as long as it's cheap."

"What time?"

Matt looked at his watch. It was nine am. Finals were creeping up and he needed to study. "Five? Six? The mall closes at ten."

"Okay." Seamus turned his attention to Aidan for a minute then packed him up and took off.

The day passed super quick. It always did when his nose was in a book. He found forensic accounting interesting which made it easy to get lost in his assignment. By the time Seamus came back, he was almost finished. He quickly wrapped everything up and grabbed his jacket.

"Would you look at this," Matt whistled at the giant dark maroon SUV with dealer plates sitting outside his apartment.

"Aidan picked it out."

"I'm sure he did," Matt laughed as he walked around the Suburban, checking it out. "He couldn't have picked anything smaller?"

"First my car is too small, now it's too big. Will you always be this difficult to please?"

"Probably," Matt laughed. "Can I drive?"

"I thought you didn't drive?"

"I can drive but I don't have a car."

Seamus looked at the keys, apprehension rolled off him in waves but he tossed the keys to Matt anyway.

"Seriously?" Matt stood, mouth agape. He never expected him to say yes, not with a brand-new SUV.

Seamus rolled his eyes and nodded for Matt to get his ass in the front seat. Matt didn't need to be told twice, he handed Seamus the car seat and practically sprinted to the driver's side.

"My low income upbringing is about to shine real bright because holy forkin' shit this is nice." Matt ran his hand over the mahogany brown leather seats. The inside of the SUV was as luxurious as it came. "Aidan has good taste. His throw-up is gonna look real nice against this leather."

Seamus smiled as he locked the carseat in the back. "Yes, that was one of the deciding factors."

Matt spent most of his life in dumpy cars. His mom was constantly jumping from one piece of crap to the next. His dad drove a decent truck but nothing like the one he was currently driving. He had no clue that driving something so nice could make him feel so good but as he drove to the mall, he felt like a million bucks.

He parked pretty far from the entrance because he had never driven something so big. Seamus was smirking at Matt as they walked into the mall. Matt knew he'd been caught staring at the sweet ride a few too many times.

"Sorry," he blushed. "It's so nice. I'm super green with envy right now."

Matt had never shopped for a baby before. He walked from store to store while Seamus dutifully carried Aidan. Matt couldn't figure out what was important and what was a waste of money. Seamus recommended a multipack of plain colored onesies.

"Why? So he can dress like you?" Because they both knew that while Seamus was well dressed, his style was simple.

"Less is more. In thirty, fifty, or eighty years from now, he won't look back on his baby pictures and think what the fork did they dress me in."

Seamus grabbed a couple packs and tossed them in the cart along with plain stretch pants and socks.

"What about jeans?"

Seamus looked at Matt like he was crazy. "He can't move in those. He's a baby."

"He can't move period, he's a baby. Besides, jeans are classic."

"Then he can wear jeans when he starts walking."

"What about jeggings?"

"What the fork are jeggings?"

"Leggings that look like jeans," Matt said, pulling a pair off the rack so Seamus could see.

"No, those are terrible. You're terrible. I'm firing you. You don't get to shop anymore." Seamus handed Aidan to Matt and walked around the store, throwing various outfits of different sizes into the cart. When he was done, he came back and gestured for Matt to take a look. "I probably went overboard. If it's too much, I'll pitch in. Consider it an early Christmas present for Aidan."

Matt lazily shifted through the clothes. Seamus did a good job and no way Matt was letting Seamus pay. Not after watching Aidan free of charge.

Matt felt good after spending the evening with Seamus and Aidan; shopping and driving the new SUV, so Matt drove them to a local restaurant instead of the food court at the mall.

Seamus side eyed him but didn't say anything as they entered the restaurant. Aidan was awake this time, which was fun. They ate, talked, and played keep away from Mr. Grabbyhands.

Spending time with Seamus was becoming normal—comfortable even. He no longer felt like a burden. In fact, it kind of felt like a partnership.