Page 12 of That First Night
“Hello? Are you still there?” the girl says.
“Yes. I’m so sorry.” I chuckle at my friends' antics. “Are you looking for a nanny?” I reply back to her.
“Yes. Well no,” she corrects herself. “It’s for my brother. He’s so busy with work that he put me in charge of finding the nanny for him. I have been watching little James for the last three years since he was born, but I finished my pre-requisites for my nursing school program. I am going to be starting the actual program and I won’t be able to commit to watching James as much as I have been anymore.”
“I understand.” I nod.
“And since I am the one who can’t watch him anymore, he asked me to look for someone to replace me.”
“Of course,” I say, a little more excited that I intended it to come out. “I love children, especially the little ones. So that makes James three, right?”
“Yes, he’s a little more than three and a half, to be exact.”
“Well, I would love to get together to meet with him and see if we would be a good match for each other.”
I hear a squeal come from the other end of the phone. “Oh my gosh, YES!” she shrieks. “I would love to get together so you can meet him. He’s the greatest kid.”
I find myself smiling at the phone even though she can’t even see me.
“Are you available tomorrow morning around 9am?” she asks. “I know it’s super short notice, but I usually take James to the park on Tuesday mornings and then we get donuts for breakfast. But don’t tell his dad that when you meet him.” She chuckles.
“My lips are sealed.” I laugh with her. “I can definitely meet at 9am tomorrow.”
“This is so great!” she shrieks again. “This is my cell I called you from. I will text you in the morning when we are on our way. It’s the orange and green playground in Central Park. James' favorite spot because of the colors.”
“Of course, I will see you there. I look forward to meeting you both.”
“See you then. Thanks again, Peyton,” she says before she hangs up.
I look down at my phone in disbelief. There’s no way I landed a nanny job this quickly after only moving here less than 24 hours ago. It took me months to find a job in New Jersey that could afford me to stay at my childhood home and now, I have a possible job lined up in less than a day.
“This is too good to be true,” I mutter out loud.
“PEYTON!” Avery screams. “I THINK YOU HAVE A JOB!”
“I-I think I have a job,” I stutter, still staring at my phone. “Providing little James actually likes me.”
“Shut up, bitch.” She smacks my arms. “He’s going to love you. We already know this, you’re so good with kids. You’re a ray of sunshine, remember?”
I swallow the lump in my throat. The girls have always reminded me that I’m a ray of sunshine when I need a confidence boost. Whenever I want to stick my turtle head back into its shell, they both are there to remind me that I am a ray of sunshine. That I shine brighter than any fear or obstacle that I may face.
I don’t have the heart to tell them to stop calling me that, because it reminds me of a man named Thomas. He blew my mind with the most epic orgasm of my life with just his hands. I lost him that night, never to find him again. When I hear that word though, the flood of memories comes rushing back.
“She said that she helps her brother out by watching his son,” I say, ignoring her term of endearment. “I wonder if the mom is in the picture... I have so many questions to ask Emiline when I see them tomorrow.”
“Oh shit, you’re gonna be working with a daddy.”
“Well, yeah. He is a dad.” I roll my eyes at the obvious.
“No Pey, a D-A-D-D-Y. Daddies are fucking hot, girl. And from the sounds of it, he’s a single fucking daddy. Youknowthat’s my favorite trope in your collection of smut!”
“How am I friends with you?” I shake my head at her, moving back to the boxes to unpack some more.
She’s out the door and halfway down the hall when she screams, “You wouldn’t be able to do jack shit without me, bitch.”
She’s right. Between her and Kali, I wouldn’t be able to do much without them. It was Avery that convinced me to move in with them and it was Kali who convinced me to put that ad out there for this job. They both rushed to me the night my parents died. It was them who checked on Gigi for me when I wasn’t always able to make the trek north. And it has been both of them that have kept me sane all these years. They are like the sisters I never had, and I wouldn’t be able to do jack shit without them.
“Daddy, what’s a dingleberry?”
