in what she just said, Orlando attempted to pretend he’d followed along with all she’d been saying. Thankfully, his guess appeared to have nailed it. Chastising himself for getting so preoccupied he’d missed half of what Felicia said the first time, he paid attention this time as she went on about the car. He was about to wrap it up with her when she asked one more thing. “So, was the baby okay?”
The guy finally walked away from the counter and Dani. Orlando could now give Felicia his full attention. “What do you mean?”
“This morning when we were on the phone, you had to go because your mom was calling on the other line. You sounded worried.”
“Oh, yeah.” He stopped before stepping toward the noisy shop. “She was just asking about the food I didn’t pack him.” Deciding he preferred to take the rest of the conversation outside—away from the lobby—he stepped out and told Felicia about the tip he’d gotten from Dani about the baby food. Again, he was mindful not to gush too much; though he was already smiling midway through it.
“Dani? I thought you said her name was Danica?”
“It is.” He cleared his throat. “But I found out today she also goes by Dani.”
“Today? So, she and your mom are watching Baby O together?”
“No.” Orlando started through the shop. “She’s the new temp here at the shop. She’s sitting in for Talia until the doc clears her to come back. If,” he added, remembering what Nine had said about thinking that was it for Talia. “The way things are looking, Talia may not come back to work at all.”
“Oh . . .” Felicia was quiet for a moment before adding, “Well, I guess that answers the other question I didn’t get to ask before you had to hang up this morning.”
“What’s that?”
“I was gonna ask if you’d done a background check on her. But I guess the temp agency takes care of that for you, right?”
The question had him stopping in his tracks. The thought hadn’t even crossed his mind up until that moment, and now he felt stupid—irresponsible. He’d been so caught up on how impressed he was by Dani he’d neglected something so crucial. Nine was waving him over from where he stood across the shop, walking around his latest project. “Uh, yeah. Listen I gotta go. Nine’s waving me down. I’ll talk to you later.”
For the next couple of hours, he got busy with work. It wasn’t even until Dani stuck her head into the shop to let them know she was leaving that he thought about it again. Nine smiled, taking a bite of his burrito after Dani was gone. He wiped his mouth, glancing back at the lobby area. “Crazy how it all worked out, huh? We got the help we needed so bad, and you got yourself a sitter.” Putting his burrito down on the paper bag he’d taken it out of, Nine walked around inspecting his latest masterpiece. “Still needs some tweaking, but I think we got ourselves another winner here.”
Nodding in agreement, Orlando took in the old truck, but his mind was on something else again. “Yeah, I think so too. Listen.” He rubbed at the beginning of his afternoon stubble. “You uh . . . you do a background check on Dani?”
Glancing up at him, Nine started to scrunch his face, shaking his head, but then his expression changed. He peered at Orlando curiously. “No, why? You think I need to?”
“Well, no, not for the shop. I think we’ll be okay. But I’m just wondering, ya know, because she’s gonna be watching Little Man. Shouldn’t I?”
Nine’s brows furrowed. “She say something to you that makes you think you need to?”
“No. But isn’t it the responsible thing for a parent to do? Make sure whoever’s watching their kid isn’t dangerous?”
This time Nine scoffed. “That sweet little thing? Dude, she just turned twenty-three. How much of a background can she have? Plus, she works with kids and is working on getting licensed. Pretty sure that wouldn’t even be an option if she’s got background issues.” Orlando watched without responding to that as Nine shook his head, taking another bite of his burrito. A couple of the other guys came over to check out the almost finished truck, and Nine got preoccupied with them. They all stood there talking about the truck and other projects they’d be starting on while Nine finished his food, and then Orlando started back to the