Chapter Twenty-One: Gone From You
Lucas cringed as the buzzing sound rang through his apartment. He had his hands full-Damian was screaming his lungs out, apparently having forgotten what a good baby he'd been in the first weeks of his life.
Without pausing to see who it was, Lucas buzzed whomever it was up into his apartment.
"Uh, Luke? Do you need a hand?" asked Peyton, entering the apartment and seeing him struggle with his son.
"Could you? Thanks, I have to get him something to eat," said Lucas distractedly. He hurriedly placed Damian in Peyton's arms.
Peyton soothed Damian while Lucas ran off, jiggling him slightly in her arms. The knack she'd gained with her goddaughter came back easily to her, and soon Damian's yells had ceased and he was resting peacefully in her arms.
Lucas raised his eyebrows when he arrived back in the room to his silent son.
"Wow. How the hell did you do that?" he asked. She laughed.
"You'll get used to it. Natalya taught me a lot," explained Peyton. She blushed when she remember Lucas' connection to her.
"I'm sure she did. So, I'm looking for a nanny to take care of him basically all day, make him lunch and dinner, put him down for naps and stuff," said Lucas.
"I can do all that. Taylor, Haley and I all took shifts taking care of Nati," said Peyton.
"Is… Natalya the only baby you've ever taken care of?" asked Lucas.
"No. I babysat constantly when I was a teenager, I was a mother's helper during the summer I was fifteen, and just after I graduated college I looked after a family of kids for about six months," said Peyton.
"Wow. What made you want to apply for this job?" asked Lucas.
"Well, really I want to be an artist but it's pretty damn hard to get buy doing so, so I'm trying a different approach. And I've always like kids, so I thought this was the best thing for right now," she said.
"Sounds good. If you don't mind my asking, how old are you Peyton?"
"I'm twenty-seven," she told him.
"Oh. I thought you were younger, Haley's age," he said.
"Thanks. Haley and I met in college, when she was a sophomore and I was a senior," explained Peyton.
"I realize this is slightly inappropriate, but have you heard from her?"
Peyton stared sadly at him. More than she'd have ever though possible, she missed Haley. She'd grown accustomed to her. She was having trouble imagining life without her.
"Not a word. Taylor found a number and she thought it was Haley's, but she called it like seven times and nothing happened so we figure it was a fluke," added Peyton.
"That sucks. Nathan misses her like crazy," said Lucas.
"I wish she'd stayed just ten minutes later, he could have told her everything. Oh, he's nodded off. I'll just go put him to bed," said Peyton.
Lucas followed Peyton as she went down the hall to his son's bedroom. He smiled as she efficiently set him down in the bassinet and smoothed a blanket over top of him.
"So, I'm going to hire you," said Lucas suddenly. Peyton laughed again and immediately felt guilty, having remembered Brooke.
"Obviously. But you have no idea as to how to go around it, do you?" she wondered.
"No freakin' clue. Hiring help was always Nathan's style. So, Monday to Friday, eight to seven, however much you want," said Lucas.
"Sounds good. I'll think about it," she promised.
"You do that," he said, smiling. Suddenly she was terrified they'd entered into flirting territory.
"I'm sorry about Mrs. Scott," she said softly. Instantly his mood darkened.
"Thank you. When do you want to start?" he asked, his cheerful mood having vanished.
"I can start as soon as possible," she said eagerly. She'd been fired from her job months back, and had had to support herself on her meager artist salary, from selling her comics and working for magazines.
"How about next week?" he suggested.
"That's great. Thank you for seeing me," she said.
"Yeah, thanks for coming in. When you come next I'll show you where everything is," said Lucas.
"Okay. Bye Luke," she said, wondering quickly if she should be calling her employer 'Mr. Scott'.
Lucas stared after her as she left. He'd known her for years. He'd always known she was attracted to him, and had always been vaguely attracted to her, his desire for her only marred by her age and his feeling for Brooke. He still felt attracted to her. Now all he could feel was guilt, his fiancée having died only two and a half months previously.
Peyton slowly made her way home on the subway. She'd gone to Lucas' first and foremost because she'd needed a job, praying that her attraction to him had faded. She'd been unlucky. Somehow it had blossomed. And the timing could not have been worse-Brooke Scott had just died. He was now a father. He'd never been further away from her. Peyton knew she wanted him, but a stronger force inside of her quenched the side of her that desired him, reminding herself that he loved someone else. That his lingering glances meant nothing, would never mean anything.
"Hey. How was your interview?" asked Taylor when she arrived home. In the past months, Taylor had become somewhat subdued.
"Great. I got the job," said Peyton shortly.
"How's he doing?" asked Taylor. Peyton looked carefully at her roommate, amazed at her genuine concern. The lack of Nati and Haley made Taylor a completely different woman.
"Good. He misses her too," said Peyton. They met eyes for a moment and silently mourned their loss. Peyton went off to her bedroom and remembered, with slight grief, the Taylor that would have teased her about her 'interview' with Lucas. She wasn't the right Taylor any more.