Page 3 of Single Dad Billionaire Boss

“I left her a voicemail that your trip to Singapore was going ahead,” Marsha said. “I told her you depart on Monday, but she hasn’t called back to confirm her schedule.”

“All right,” I said, annoyed. “Let me know when you speak to her. She knows that if she receives a call from my office she should pick up, not let it go to voicemail.”

“I agree,” Marsha said, pursing her lips. “But if you ask me, I always thought her a bit…carefree.”

I chuckled. “Carefree” was Marsha’s way of saying Kristen was flaky. “That’s a nice way of putting it, yes. The Masons spoke very highly of her. She had been great with their son, Tyler, and even helped him get over his fear of jumping in their pool.”

Marsha nodded blandly and left my office. Two minutes later, she buzzed me on the intercom. “Yes?”

“She called back.”

“Go ahead and put her through. I want to go over all the details and it’s only an hour until she picks up Zoe from school.”

There was a tense pause and then Marsha cleared her throat. “I’ll be right in,” she said, and in the next moment, she was inside my office. Marsha closed the door and stood at my desk like a statue.

“What is it?” I asked.

Marsha took a deep breath. “I have some bad news. It seems your nanny is presently in Las Vegas.”

“Excuse me?”

“Kristen eloped with her boyfriend today.”

I shot to my feet. “You’re telling me that Zoe’s nanny quit?”

“Yes. Which means she won’t be able to get her from school today, much less provide care while you’re in Singapore.”

Marsha looked as if she were bracing herself for my reaction, but in truth, I was the one who was afraid. The thought of my poor little girl alone at school, confused and scared and left waiting with no one to pick her up, sent a bolt of panic coursing through my veins. The inconvenience to me, the coming trip to manage, all that was secondary.

“I’d be happy to pick her up,” Marsha said, and I huffed in disgust.

“No. Thank you, Marsha. I’ll go get her. Useless, impetuous Kristen!”

The tension eased in my chest as I felt my fear transform into anger. Anger was always much easier to deal with than fear. Instinctively, I glanced around my office to see if there was anything dangerous that needed to be removed before I brought Zoe here. I almost laughed when I caught myself. We sold sporting goods, not cutlery.

“I’ll leave in fifteen minutes,” I said. “Please get someone to bring up the new climber model. Zoe will love that. And thank you, Marsha.”

Marsha left and I looked around for a space to put the climber. I was proud of it. I’d designed it myself, after all. Lightweight and sturdy, it was both a portable treehouse and a six-foot hexagon jungle gym. It had a mesh platform on top and a pop-up canopy with a flap door and a vinyl skylight. The blue and yellow models had sold out three times this year, but the new one I was bringing up for Zoe had a purple gradient that was darker at the base and faded into a glittery lavender at the top.

My heart swelled. Zoe would be so excited to come to work with me and play on a climber made especially for her. She was the reason I had such a large office—not for conferences or gym equipment or to show off a collection of expensive art and antiques. It was really just a big playroom for Zoe.

It was then that reality came crashing back in and I began to pace the floor. What was I going to do? Certainly not swear and break things, or heaven forbid, have a drink. Those were things that theoldJacob used to do before he became a single father. I took a deep breath and began talking to myself.

“I am going to Singapore. Zoe needs to be in school and have as much of her routine unchanged as possible. The nanny quit. Okay, I can call the agency for a replacement, but do I risk another flake like Kristen? I suppose I could ask Hayden. Zoe could stay there, maybe, and her nanny could watch her along with Brent.”

I sighed. That wasn’t a great solution either. Take her out of her own home and put her in constant contact with Brent? Brent was two years older than Zoe and was bossy and loud. Six days of dealing with him would be torture—never mind that Brent’s mother was my late wife’s best friend. I pinched the bridge of my nose. The idea of Zoe’s unhappiness, of her wondering why I left her there and didn’t come home, was starting to give me a headache.

Just then, my cell rang. “This is Sanders,” I barked, and a woman cleared her throat.

“Hello, Mr. Sanders. My name is Ella Clark. I’m calling about the nanny position.”

“What?”How did anyone even know there was a nanny position?I wondered.

“I’m sorry to bother you, Mr. Sanders,” Ella said. “Kristen’s my roommate. Or she was until she ran off and got married. She said she told you I would be calling about filling in for her with Zoe.”

“Really now,” I said, forcing calmness into my voice. “You mean to tell me that my former nanny—a young woman who quit without notice and left my child stranded at school today—is handing out my cell number to her friends to see if I will hire them? Given Kristen’s behavior, she’s hardly a strong character reference, don’t you think?”

“I know. She’s… impulsive,” Ella said. “And she made a really irresponsible choice. I’m sorry she did this to your family. And I don’t blame you for hating me by association. I’m not a nanny at all, honestly. I’m a social worker. I just found out that we lost a grant that pays for my salary at the health department where I work. Since I’ll be job hunting—and roommate hunting, apparently—I guess Kristen thought she could clean up her mess by suggesting the nanny job.”

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