Second Chances

our kitchen-------->chp5

Our kitchen:

The tour started upstairs, with Adrien pointing out the guest room and his own bedroom before he led her back downstairs. It was odd, seeing her work in person. She could imagine each long-gone sketch, yet, she’d never been over to this place. “When did you say you hired my husband and I?”

Adrien pursed his lips in thought. “About a year and a half ago, early summer.”

“Ah, that makes sense, then. My husband and I had a swarm of clients at that time, so he focused on half and I focused on half. We saw each other’s work, of course, but we split up the clients to give everyone as much focused attention as possible.”

“That’s actually very wise,” Adrien said. “I have the feeling you two would have done well for yourselves.”

They had been, but Marinette wasn’t going to say a word on that topic. Instead, she absorbed the décor of the house as the moved to the next room, all while biting back her swell of overwhelming emotions.

“Are you okay?” Adrien eventually asked, his voice soft with worry. “With seeing all this?”

“I… yes,” she answered. “If… if I really think about it, it’s kind of nice, to see that his… our… work lives on.”

Adrien gave her a bittersweet smile. “It will get easier with time,” he said. “I’d say do your best to recall these things with fondness and not resent the fact they remind you of him.”

Somewhere in her mind, Marinette cataloged those words away so she could pull them out later. She would not cry in front of her new boss. Think with your head, she warned herself.

But that was hard to do when her mind short-circuited.

Marinette’s jaw hit the ground as she took in the kitchen. All the elements, from the fixtures to the cabinets to the wall color, were instantly recognizable. So much so that she could picture not only the exact sketch, but all the little notes and doodles that surrounded it.

Giggles spilled out from between her pursed lips before it grew to laughter. When she finally pulled herself together, she realized Adrien was standing there trying to hide his confusion.

“I’m sorry,” she said between giggles. “It’s just…” She gestured to the entire kitchen. “This wasn’t supposed to be your kitchen. My husband seemed to have grabbed the wrong design.”

Adrien stared over the kitchen as though with new eyes. “You know,” he said. “I always wondered about that. I mean, I love it; it’s a great design. Even my father has admitted that. But it always seemed to me that it was not really cohesive with the rest of the house. Nathaniel made it work really well, honestly, but it wasn’t what I was expecting.”

Marinette shook her head. “This was supposed to be the design I wanted for our kitchen, once we got a house of our own.”

“That would explain a lot,” Adrien said. “Well, even though it wasn’t supposed to be mine, I do love the kitchen. It’s a very nice design; I’ll give you that.”

“Thank you,” Marinette said. She pulled herself together with a breath. “Is this the end of the tour?”

“No,” Adrien said, snapping back to reality. He pointed to the entranceway on the opposite side past the dining room on the opposite side of the kitchen. “Down that hallway in the hall closet, there are the laundry machines. That’s also where all the cleaning supplies are stored. Then just past that, there is the door to the garage.”

Marinette nodded. “All right.”

“That’s the end of the tour.”

Marinette grinned. “Your house is very nice.”

“You’re just saying that because you designed it.”

For the second time that day, Marinette truly laughed.

They walked back to the front door of the house. “Well, Mrs. Kurtzburg,” Adrien said, holding out a hand. “It’s been a pleasure to finally meet you. And more of one to hire you.”

“Wonderful to meet you, as well,” Marinette said, shaking his hand. “But please, call me Marinette.”

“Then call me Adrien,” he said. “I think we can be on a first name basis.”

“Adrien it is, then. I’ll see you on Monday?”

“Monday,” he confirmed. “You can come at nine. I’ll warn you now that the first two to three days after I hire a new nanny, I work in my home office.”

Marinette’s brow furrowed. “So, you’re staying around?”

Adrien nodded. “I…umm… like to be here in case anything doesn’t work out. Not that I think you’ll do anything bad but coming home to Emma crying on the first day of a new nanny did not leave a good impression on me.”

Marinette’s mouth formed an ‘oh’ in understanding. “Can I ask what happened?”

He rubbed a hand down his face. “Said nanny’s punishment techniques left much to be desired. I’ll leave it at that.”

Marinette cringed. She hadn’t really thought of that part. Babysitting was one thing, but she was stepping up to be something akin to a part-time mom. With as much as she would be watching Emma, there would undoubtedly be a time where she acted up and Marinette would have to correct her behavior.

She made a mental note to read up on her parenting techniques. Too bad all the books she had once had on that topic were long gone.

“I promise I won’t be, like, stalking you or anything,” Adrien assured. “I just like being here for Emma incase she really needs me.”

It was very clear to Marinette that Adrien was very focused on Emma and her well-being. She had to hand it to him, he was doing the best he could to be a good father for his little girl. Hopefully, that would mean Emma would not end up like her mother. “Well, if I recall correctly, you did warm me that there were days you worked at home. This is just one of those days.”

Adrien grinned. “Yes. I do like working from home when I can, not that I get the chance often. That being said, I won’t take any more of your time. Have a good rest of your day.”

“You as well.”

Only once Marinette had left and shut the door to her red VW bug did she take a moment to sigh and process things. That did not go anything like she had expected. Honestly, she didn’t know what to think about it.

Actually, she did: she thought that a hot shower and a tub of ice cream were in order. She’d sort out everything else after that.