Blair put her hands in the air as if surrendering. “If you ask me, a big boy does whatever his mommy asks him to.”

Nolan scowled once again, clearly unimpressed with Blair’s answer, but a second later, a mischievous grin spread onto his face. “I’m the fastest boy. Watch.”

Before either of them could do anything, he took off down the sidewalk. Erin yelled after him as she tried, and failed, to keep up. Her heart rate quickened as she watched him get closer and closer to the crosswalk where the cars were moving much faster than they should. “Nolan Patrick, get back here right now.”

He stopped for a moment, and she actually believed he might turn around, but then that grin was back. “Race home!”

“Can you please take this?” Erin threw the pool bag on the ground beside Blair, not even bothering to see if she picked it up before taking off after him.

“Nolan, wait!” Much to Erin’s surprise, Nolan stopped in response to Blair yelling his name. “If you wait there and do not cross the road, I’ll carry you home on my shoulders.”

“Really?” Nolan’s eyes went wide as he jumped up and down. “Yes! Yes! Yes!”

Erin stopped and put her hands on her knees. “Thank you,” she said as she struggled to catch her breath.

Blair smirked. “No big deal.”

It was a big deal, though. At least, to Erin it was. “You know, for someone who claims to know nothing about kids, you did a great job with him today.”

Blair shrugged, but the cocky smirk remained on her face. “It helps that I’m still a child and have the maturity of someone his age. I just thought about what I’d want and offered it to him.”

“You’d want someone to carry you on their shoulders?” Erin asked with a laugh.

“Hell yeah! You wouldn’t ?”

Erin laughed once again. She wasn’t sure when the last time was that she had laughed this much. “If you still want the job after spending the whole day with him, it’s all yours.”

Blair bounced up and down the same way Nolan had when she offered to carry him on her shoulders. “Getting paid to act like a child? Of course I still want the job!”

Instead of feeling excited, Blair’s response made Erin nervous. While her naivety was cute, it also worried Erin. “He’s not always as well-behaved as he was today. There’s a lot more to it than just having fun.”

“I’ll figure it out. Don’t worry.” The smile that remained plastered to Blair’s face didn’t ease Erin’s worries one bit.