Page 25 of Man Advantage

I smiled and glanced at them in the rearview. “I wouldn’t have hired him to take care of you two if he wasn’t.”

They were apparently happy with that answer, because they didn’t press for more about Cam.

So far, this was going well. They were unbothered by this new person coming into their lives. They didn’t seem nervous about meeting him.

And all the way home, I prayed this was a sign that I’d made the right decision.

Though the boys weren’t fazed at all by the prospect of meeting Cam the nanny, I was nervous as I brought them into the house. Bryan’s doubts needled at me; I didn’t even know if he’d just been trying to make me second-guess myself or if he really was worried about Zach and Zane not getting along with Cam.

Whatever the case, it turned out none of us had anything to worry about.

As soon as I introduced them in the living room, the boys were alternating between grilling him about everything and excitedly wanting to show him their rooms and playroom.

I trailed behind as they led him upstairs and showed him everything. They dragged him to their closet full of board games and action figures. Showed him their soccer jerseys and gear as they chattered about the upcoming season. Brought him back downstairs to see the video game console.

“They can play that for an hour a day,” I said. “No more.”

Zane huffed and shot his brother a glare. “I told you we should’ve showed him when Dad wasn’t here.”

“Dad was going to tell him anyway,” Zach retorted. “He told himallthe rules.”

Zane just rolled his eyes and grumbled something under his breath.

Cam glanced at me, eyebrows up and lips pressed together as if he were hiding his amusement. Oh, yeah, I hadn’t mentioned to him that the biggest challenge around kids was trying not to laugh, especially when we were supposed to be disciplining them or something.

I mean, how the fuck was I supposed to keep a straight face when I was saying things like, “we don’t tell Grandma her meatballs taste like boogers”? Or “it’s not nice to pretend your plushies are farting on your brother”? When people said parenting wasn’t for the weak, that wasn’t what I’d envisioned.

During my moment of distraction, Zane looked at Cam and asked, “How do you know our dad?”

“We went to school together.” Cam smiled fondly. “We met in…” He furrowed his brow and looked at me. “Was it fourth grade? Fifth?”

I rolled my eyes. “Third, Cam.”

“Was it? I thought—oh. Oh, yeah, you were in Mrs. Vincent’s class too, weren’t you?”

“Unfortunately.”

“Hey! That’s how you met me!”

“Not that you remember.” I chuckled and said to the boys, “We knew each other in elementary school, but then we got to be good friends in junior high.”

“You didn’t like Mrs. Vincent?” Zane asked, apparently clocking my “unfortunately” comment.

I wrinkled my nose. “She was mean.”

“She was.” Cam turned to the boys. “I missedsomany recesses because of her.”

Both boys recoiled in horror.

I snorted. “That was because you were always breaking the rules.” Puffing out my chest, I added, “Inever missed a recess in her class.”

Cam rolled his eyes, and I suspected he was strugglinghardnot to flip me off.

“But you still didn’t like her?” Zach asked.

“She was still mean,” I said. “She was just… way meaner to the kids who didn’t behave.”

Zach looked at Cam, eyes wide with interest. “What kind of stuff did you do?”