Page 7 of Protecting the Boundary
Her shoulders relax and she carries on asking questions. The interview lasts for another hour, and by the end of it, I’m not even sure she’s interviewing me anymore because we’re talking about all kinds of things that don’t seem to have to do with the job, like my last hike or my favorite bookstore that’s a hole in the wall in one of the many strip malls around Los Angeles.
“Well, Meredith, I think you’ve answered all of my questions. Do you have any questions for me?”
“Actually, I have a question for Kaylee, if that’s okay?”
Kaylee has been sitting quietly on her grandmother’s lap the entire time, watching me with keen eyes that I suspect see a lot more than the adults around her think. But unlike most children I’ve met her age, she hasn’t squirmed or shown any desire to get down and play. She watched and listened like a small adult.
But at my statement, she perks up.
“What’s your favorite thing to do?”
“Color,” she says, her voice still soft although she’s no longer whispering.
“What’s your favorite thing to color?”
She hops down and runs over to a small kids’ table in the corner of the room. She grabs a piece of paper and comes running back. It’s a picture of a very popular Blue Heeler cartoon.
My smile grows. “Can I tell you a secret?”
She nods slowly and leans forward when I do.
“I love this show.”
Her face lights up with a huge smile, and I swear my heart melts into a puddle on the floor. I smile wide at her and spend the next few minutes talking about the show with her. I’m sure Mrs. Brooks is watching, but my attention is focused solely on the sweet little girl who I know without a doubt I’ll fall in love with if I get this job. It would be impossible not to.
She also reminds me a bit of myself when I was little.Quiet and reserved, but very observant and curious.
When our conversation reaches a natural lull, Mrs. Brooks says, “I wanted to make sure you understand this would be a live-in nanny position. My son-in-law has to go out of town for work fairly often, and it’d be best to have someone living here to make things easier on Kaylee.”
“I understand, and living here wouldn’t be a problem. I’m living back at home with my dad now.”
She smiles. “Great. We have a few more interviews this afternoon, but we’ll make a decision by the end of the week and give you a call either way.”
I love how she includes Kaylee in the process. “Sounds great. It was so wonderful to meet you both.”
“You too,” she says as she walks with me to the door.
I turn back and squat down again. “It was nice to meet you, Miss Kaylee.”
Her smile is the widest I’ve seen it yet, and it makes me feel ten feet tall because I get the sense she doesn’t smile this big for just anyone.
“Bye, Miss Mere.”
I laugh softly at the shortened version of my name. To be fair, Meredith is probably hard for a three-year-old to say. Then I walk out and leave, hoping it won’t be the last time I get to see that sweet little girl.
FIVE
On my way home from practice, I swing by the store to pick up more eggs so I can make Kay breakfast tomorrow morning. While I’m there, I decide to detour down the cookie aisle to grab her favorites, knowing how her face will light up when she sees them.
My stomach’s been in knots all day knowing that Larissa was running nanny interviews. I’m still not one hundred percent sure about having a stranger live with us—even if they’ll be in the guesthouse and not in the main house. I’ve kept the circle of people I trust with Kaylee relatively small, and opening it up to anyone else is uncomfortable. But it’s just for this season—that’s what I keep telling myself. At the end of the season, I can fire the nanny and we can go back to how it’s always been.
I turn the corner and stop in my tracks when another person collides into me. A feminine “oomph” catches my attention before I hear the clatter of her items falling onto the ground. Fortunately, my eggs are unharmed.
“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry,” she says, ducking down before I can see her face. Her black hair falls in soft waves around her.
I find myself squatting down to help her. “It’s okay. Ishould’ve been paying attention to where I was going. Here,” I say, handing her the box of tampons she dropped. Pink instantly floods her cheeks, and then she bursts into laughter and sits back on her heels, finally looking up at me for the first time.
My breath gets stuck in my chest as her dark brown eyes meet mine. They sparkle with a lightness that draws me in. Her flushed cheeks stand out on her smooth, fair complexion, and I lose my train of thought when she laughs and shakes her head at the situation.
