Page 5 of The Unexpected Nanny
When I turned back around the little old lady who was waiting to take my order said, “What a beautiful family you have there. You must feel pretty lucky.”
“Huh? Oh, she’s not mine,” I said then stopped. What did I care what this lady thought? “Thanks. How about some nuggets and fries and a hamburger with three large drinks?”
“Sure, what kind of sauce would you like for the nuggets?” she asked me, leaving me wondering what kind of sauce Skye liked.
“Give me one if each,” I said then paid the bill and went to fill up the cups while I waited for the food to come out.
Again, I was left wondering what type of soda Skye really liked. I settled on a Mr. Pibb because who doesn’t like that?
With the order placed on a tray, I took it and the drinks and went out to the play area to find my daughter and her new friend. Skye was sitting at a small round table with the face of a clown on it. “Go, Joy!” she shouted as my daughter ran through the maze at the top of the structure.
“Wow, she’s never ventured up that high before,” I said as I placed the food on the table then ditched the tray on the table next to ours. “You have a remarkable effect on her.”
I took the seat opposite hers and pushed the packets of sauce over to her. She turned around to face me. “Thanks. You’re really a great dad. I wish I’d had one as good as you. Mine was always gone. I hardly ever saw him. It was just my mom and me most of the time. Until I turned fifteen, then it was just me.”
“Your dad left?” I asked her as I handed her a straw.
She took it and said, “No, he didn’t leave my mother. She just started going out and staying out. Dad worked out of town. I guess they had an open marriage or something.”
“Oh,” I said, feeling like I’d dug too deep. “How committed are you to that job?” I wasn’t sure why I was even asking her that question. Words seemed to be coming straight from my brain and right out of my mouth with no forethought what-so-ever.
“It’s a job. And it’s pretty easy,” she said. “I won’t keep it once I get my nursing degree. If that’s what you mean.”
“I meant that I might have a job for you. If you’re willing to let that one go.” I still couldn’t believe what I was saying. It was not like me at all. It was more like what a character in my head would say.
The thing was, I hadn’t had any of the voices in my mind that I’d had when I was actively writing. When I was in my prime, before the incident, I talked to myself all the time. And the characters in my head spoke to me and one another nearly continuously.
I had to admit to myself that my being so wrapped up in my stories and my writing might have been why Tanya went looking for love in all the wrong places. I knew I’d have to learn how to divide my attention between my writing and Joy. It’d be tough to learn how to do it, but I would do it for my little girl. The woman Joy had inadvertently found might just be my key to making it all work out.
“What kind of job are we talking about?” Skye asked then popped a naked nugget into her mouth.
“No sauce at all for you?” I asked her.
She shook her head. “Nah, so about this job?”
“Oh, um well,” suddenly I was hesitating about offering her the job of the babysitter. I wanted it to sound more prestigious than that. “Have you ever considered being a nanny?”
“A nanny?” she asked as she seemed to be thinking it over. “I can honestly tell you that I’ve never thought about doing that.”
“Hey, look at me, Skye!” Joy called out then jumped off the top of the platform, landing in the ball pit.
Skye jumped up and clapped as she whooped and hollered, “Way to go, Joy! Great jump, kiddo!”
“Thanks,” Joy said as she made her way to the side, most likely to do it all over again.
My heart was pounding with how great the woman was with my kid. When she sat back down, and I saw pure and honest happiness radiating all over her, I just said it, “Be my nanny, Skye. Joy needs you.”
“Huh?” she asked with a frown on her pretty face. “I honestly know nothing about kids. Really, Aiden. You need to hire a pro for something that important.”
“Can you run some bath water that won’t freeze or scald my kid?” I asked her.
“Well, yeah, I can make a decent bath. I can cook too. I can do the normal things. But taking such an active role with anyone’s child, well that’s daunting.” She sipped her drink and smiled. “Hey, they had Mr. Pibb? It’s my absolute fav, but you hardly ever find it. Thanks, Aiden. You’re a mind reader.”
“That’s how I feel you are with Joy. Please take the job. I can pay you seven-fifty a week. You’ll have complete access to my second car, a Range Rover. And room as well as board. Plus, the job of nanny will look great on your resume when you go to get a job as a pediatric nurse. Don’t you think?”
“Well, yeah, it would, I suppose. And seven-fifty? Do you mean seven dollars and fifty cents an hour?” she asked me as she looked into my eyes.
“No, I mean seven hundred and fifty dollars a week. And you’ll only have to take care of Joy from nine to five each weekday. You can have weekends off,” I sweetened the deal to see if I could get her to agree.
