the sitter | lewandowski

seventeen

17 ; insatiable

Robert woke up the next morning alone, unlike the way he'd fallen asleep. If he listened closely, he could hear Nova's giggles mixed in with Saoirse's, slightly muffled by the wall that separated his bedroom from hers—presumably, they were in Saoirse's bedroom and not the one Nova had slept in.

He got up and stretched out before having no choice but to put on the clothes he'd arrived to Saoirse's house in—knowing that to walk around even shirtless would be inappropriate—before he glanced at his reflection in the mirror, fixed his hair, and went to Saoirse's room.

Saoirse had been doing nothing but playing with Nova, using a few of the stuffed animals that she still had on her bed and giving them different voices in order to entertain the one year old. And entertain her she did, for Nova had her curly hair in front of her face as her shoulders shook from laughter until she ultimately fell back onto the bed—Saoirse was only entertained with the fact that Nova was so amused.

Nova sat up and spotted Robert before she instantly let out a small noise of happiness and clapped her hands together, leaving Saoirse to turn around as her eyes landed on the Pole's as well.

She didn't say anything, but instead smiled a little as he came to sit on the bed, Nova climbing into his arms before she spoke with an excited voice. "Daddy!"

"Good morning, Nova." Robert kissed her forehead, then gazed over at Saoirse. "And to you too, Saoirse." He didn't know whether or not he should kiss her, but he figured that it wasn't like Nova would go and tell Roisin, so he kissed her forehead as well.

Saoirse climbed onto his lap and kissed his cheek. "Good morning, Robert. Or should I say daddy?"

Robert's eyes widened before a smug smirk found his lips. "You're something else, you know that?"

Saoirse lay her head on Robert's shoulder. "So I'm told."

Robert chuckled. "What do you have planned for the day?"

Saoirse tittered. "Homework, homework, and even more homework. Then I'll meet with Kati later on."

"Kati? You're friends with her?"

"What, you don't like her?"

Robert shrugged. "I wouldn't consider myself a fan."

"Yet you hired her?"

"I told you," Robert rose his eyebrows. "Anna begged me."

Saoirse picked up Nova's hand and compared it to the size of her own, not looking at Robert as she spoke. "What did you see in Anna, anyways?"

Robert sighed. "I don't know. Things were different than they are now, and people change. She was different and so was I. Anyways, I don't want to talk about it...I have you now."

Saoirse offered Robert a toothy smile, and after that Roisin called her down to help with breakfast. Robert went back home afterwords and took his daughter with him, who he claimed would be spending this day with her mother, and Saoirse got dressed and began to do her homework—a task that would take the entire day.

Once she finished, she was more than eager to meet Kati at the bar downtown—the only thing standing between her and the door, literally, was Roisin.