Team Babysitters | Daniel Ricciardo

Chapter 05

Hazel was laughing hard when she was playing in her jumperoo next to me while I was busy on my laptop. I was writing a column for a magazine where I usually write for and as the deadline for that was on Friday morning, I thought this was the perfect moment to make a start again. It wasn't, because Hazel distracted me a lot. She was so cute jumping in her jumperoo. I remember getting this with Sarah. At first, Hazel was a bit too small for it, but when she was the perfect fit for it, she absolutely loved this and it was the best way to distract the baby without having to do much yourself. It was at this moment that Daniel also walked inside through the garden door with Michael. They both looked very sweaty, to say the least. 
"Back already?" I asked as they greeted me while they made their way to the fridge. I saved my word document on the laptop before my attention went to the two men. 
"Already? We've been gone for two hours, isn't that long enough?" Daniel sighed as he leaned against the kitchen counter while chugging his drink. I shrugged and started to smile again when I heard Hazel laugh again, enjoying herself while jumping in her jumperoo. I looked over at her and shook my head with a laugh.
"She really enjoys that, hmm?" Daniel laughed. He crossed his arms over each other. "Good to know for when you let me alone with her." 
"I have yet to see if you can actually handle a baby on your own." Michael laughed. Daniel looked up at him weirdly.
"Of course I can. If I didn't I don't think James would've accepted me living here for free." Daniel defended himself. I shook my head and my attention went back to my work in front of me while Daniel said goodbye to Michael. When Daniel came back I saw him trying to look at my work on the laptop, but I closed it as fast as I could when I realised he was. 
"What are you doing?" He asked, raising his eyebrows. 
"Just some work stuff," I mumbled. I was a paid writer. I did a lot of columns for magazines and I wrote short stories. It didn't pay as much as I hoped to, but it has always paid the bills and I could work from home which I loved. So I wasn't one to complain. And although all I do is share my writing with strangers, it was still weird for me to show someone that I knew and was standing next to me my writing. 
"Work stuff, hmm?" Daniel sat down on the chair next to me and turned his body towards me. He had a curious look on his face. "What kind of work stuff?"
"It's just a column I need to write for this magazine. Trust me you don't want to read it," I explained while I slowly moved my laptop closer to me and started to hug it. 
"So we have a writer under this roof, hmm? Cool." I looked at him confused. I wasn't expecting the word 'cool' coming out of this man's mouth, not when he had a job where he risked his life. 
"Yeah, whatever." I smiled and stood up to get myself a drink. 
"What do you want to do today?" Daniel suddenly asked, making me turn around. I shrugged. 
"I don't know. But we don't need to forget to pick Vicky up from preschool in like an hour." I reminded Daniel as I walked back with a full glass of water. 
"We won't forget sweet Vicky, don't worry about that. Have you eaten yet?" 
"I have, dad." I laughed as I sat down. "I gave Hazel a little snack and I got myself some cereal. Good enough for you?"
"Well... I accept it this time."  

Picking up Vicky from preschool was a whole different adventure when I went with Daniel. First of all, he liked to make fun of me riding a mini cooper. Which I didn't really understand because my mini cooper was my favourite thing ever. It, however, meant though that we were going to pick up Vicky in an Aston Martins... I had Hazel in my arms while I watched how Daniel was struggling with putting both Hazel's and Vicky's chair in the car. 
"Why is it so loose? I tighten it like a hundred times now," Daniel sighed frustrated. I started to grin as I looked closer to what Daniel was doing with the chairs. It was kind of mean from me to not help him, but he insulted my car and insisted to drive his instead. So in my opinion, he deserved to struggle. "Goddamit!"
"Hey! I'm holding a baby." I warned him for his language. He looked back at me and rolled his eyes. I could tell he was getting more frustrated now.
"Have you tried the strap on the other side?" I asked amused as I saw it not being attached. 
"What?" Daniel asked confused and looked at the other side of the chair to find indeed another loose strap. "I hate this thing. Why do they even need these things? I'm a professional driver. I will be driving safer than I ever have driven before,"  
"I hope so," I commented and handed him Hazel carefully when he was finally done. I got in the passenger seat and waited for Daniel to do the same while Hazel started to make some funny noises. Daniel got in the driver's seat and before he started the car he first looked behind him to Hazel and then to me.
"Ready?" he asked with a grin.
"Just start the damn car and please let me remind you that we have a baby in the backseat. "I reminded the guy next to me. He looked like the kind of guy that would drive fast on purpose and him being a racer didn't help my thoughts. 
"It's not the first time I've driven with Hazel in the car, right Hazel?" He looked back again almost expecting a respond from Hazel, but Hazel had slowly been quieter and I was pretty sure she was slowly falling asleep. I shook my head with a laugh and was relieved when Daniel finally drove away. 

When we got to Vicky's preschool I was the first to walk inside with Daniel behind me, carrying Hazel. We found Hazel sitting on a table, drawing with another kid. I smiled when she realised I was looking at her. Vicky waved at me and I walked over to her, leaving Daniel who was just looking around.
"Hey Vicks, how was your morning?" I asked as I crouched down to be more on their level of height. Vicky put her arms around my neck and hugged me.
"Fun!" she almost yelled. "Look what I draw!"
"Wow Vicks,"
"That is...That is Daniel, and that's you.' she explained. I pretended that I saw her vision in the drawing, but if I really was honest I only saw circles over each other and some stripes.
'What about your daddy?" I asked the little girl. 
"I am not finished," she said with a sad smile. I told Vicky that she could finish it at home and that she should say goodbye to her friend that sat quietly next to her. I looked up to look for Daniel and saw him talking... or well flirting, with the teacher. I shook my head and walked over to them with Vicky holding my hand. 
"Ahh Victoria, ready to go home?" the woman that Daniel was talking to asked Vicky sweetly. Vicky nodded and the teacher looked at us again. She introduced herself to me as Jeanine, Vicky's teacher and I told her shortly who I was before she explained how Vicky had done this morning. Obviously they knew about what happened with Vicky's mom, so they made sure to keep a close eye on Vicky. "She's done surprisingly well today. She was a little bit sad when James left, but for the rest of the time she was okay." 
When we left and we got in the seats I looked at Daniel with a judging look. "What?" he laughed as he started the car and looked in his mirrors before driving off. 
"Were you seriously flirting with her?" I asked him with raised eyebrows.
"do you still want my trainer's phone number?" Daniel commented back. I shook my head, but couldn't help the grin that got on my face.
"I can easily ask him tomorrow for that," I smirked at him. He looked shortly at me before his eyes went back to the road. He now had a grin on his face too. 
"Not if it's up to me," he said. I looked at him with yet again raised eyebrows. So he started to explain what he meant. "Cockblocking, my dear."
I slapped him immediately as I looked behind me to the kids. They both seem to have fallen asleep.
"I'm not sure if that's about me saying the word cockblock, or the fact that you don't like me doing that tomorrow." Daniel laughed quietly. I shook my head. 
"It's just a number," I explained to him. He put his hand on my shoulder and patted it.
"Oh Saffie. At first, it might be just a phone number, but then it's going to be a date then it turns into some sexy evenings if you know what I mean and before you know it you have one of these," he summed up while pointing to the kids in the back. "And then you're stuck with the guy. You don't want that, trust me."
"Daniel?" I asked. He looked shortly at me with an amused laugh.
"Yeah?"
"You're dramatic, you know that right?" 
"Dramatic? Or realistic?" I laughed and shook my head. Instead of commenting back I looked outside of the windows and waited until we were home. One thing was for sure; spending time with this guy was going to be a lot.