Page 5 of Nanny for My Billionaire

“Good eye,” I say, and grab the second bag. The third is fast on its heels, but the fourth bag seems to take a really long time. Once I grab it, we exchange smiles. “That’s the lot. Let’s blow this popsicle stand.”

“Sure thing,” he agrees, and we carry the four bags, two each, out to his truck. I worry that seeing me in his truck again might trigger Adam’s memory of our first kiss, but as far as I can tell, he hasn’t yet figured out that I’m not who I claim to be.

I suppose if I’m really going to do this crazy thing, I should probably let Megan and Sara know where I am and what I’m up to. I vow that I’ll let them know everything just as soon as I can, and I highly expect the two of them to talk some sense into me. There’s no way I ought to be impersonating another woman like this, but the truth is I really just want to see how far it all goes.

Chapter three

Adam

Annadoesn’thavemuchto say as we drive from Boston to Concord over the next twenty minutes. Instead, she just stares out the window at the trees and the old-school houses as they fly past. She doesn’t even exclaim over the old Soldiers’ Monument, like most tourists would have, making me wonder if she’s been to our little town before.

Of course, by the time the thought hits my head, we are already pulling into the driveway of my huge but tasteful house, and there’s no time to ask her if she’s ever come for the popular reenactment tour held on Patriots’ Day every year. Concord has the honor of being the site of the very first battle of the American Revolution, so the place can be pretty popular in April, and it usually keeps Rudolpho’s hopping.

September, though, not so much. Fortunately, a lot of the tourism dies down a bit as summer rolls into fall, leaving things at the restaurant a bit less hectic than they can be during spring and summer.

Anna and I each grab two of her bags, just as we’d done at the airport, and we carry them inside. Earlier, I’d left the boys with my housekeeper, Mrs. Nance, so I could go pick up their nanny. I’d attempted to have a little heart-to-heart with them. I’d pleaded with them to let this nanny do her job so I could do mine because I really didn’t want to let my parents down, they were counting on me to continue the family business. I suppose I might have come on a bit strong, but I hope they will cut me a little slack this time.

“Come on into the rec room to meet Evan and Ethan,” I say to Anna, and she nods, more enthusiastic about meeting the children than she has been about anything else since she’s arrived. I take that as a good sign and smile.

The rec room is a large room on the ground floor of the house. At one side I have some gym equipment I use daily to work out, but most of the room is just open floor space except for two small desks that I have set up for the boys. I encourage them to practice writing their letters and numbers, their names, and a few easy words like ‘cat’ and ‘dog.’ I think they are doing a great job at this after three months, and that’s where we find the two of them now.

“Boys, I’ve brought Miss Anna from the airport,” I announce, and two sets of gleaming eyes give me the immediate sense that they have not at all taken my warnings to heart about treating this new nanny better. Cringing inwardly, I request, “Please come and say hello.”

“Hello, Miss Anna,” both boys say in unison as they come to stand in front of her. “Are you going to teach us to spell your name too?”

She chuckles at the pair of them. “Well yes, if you want to. You know what? It’s the same spelled backwards as forwards.” They give me quizzical looks. “ But I think the pair of you would be a whole lot happier if I took you to run off some of your pent-up energies at the park first.”

“Wait, what?” I exclaim.

Both boys go from calm to excited in the blink of an eye, and they eagerly turn to me with hopeful smiles. “Can we really do that, Daddy?”

I feel a little reluctant to send my kids off with a woman they don’t even know, but on the other hand I remind myself that this woman has been vetted by the special nanny service that sent her. Not only are my sons safe with her, but she’s also been trained in just how to help them get over their issues with being abandoned by their mother. If she thinks a bit of exercise and time outside of the house are just what the doctor ordered, I should probably listen to her.

“Will you want to take along Mrs. Nance since you three aren’t used to each other yet?” I asked uncertainly.

“Yes, we’d love to bring her along,” the nanny agrees. “And on the way home, we’ll all stop by the grocery store and pick up something for dinner. You two look like you’d love some mac and cheese and some chicken strips, am I right?”

“We like spaghetti,” Ethan informs her.

“And chicken strips?” she prods. “And maybe some sort of green food, like Little Foot?”

“Who’s Little Foot?”

She rolls her eyes. “You don’t know the dinosaurs? Wow, you really do need some education. Come on, let’s go and have some fun now, and we can leave my bags until we come home. Right, Daddy?”

“Why don’t you have the boys help you put your bags in your room first?” I suggest mildly. “We do like to try to keep our house ship-shape, right kiddos?”

“Right, Dad!” they happily agree, each boy grabbing a suitcase that is about half his height and industriously trying to figure out how to drag it up the stairs.

“Miss Thatcher? A word?” I say before she can go to help them.

“Sure,” she says with a shrug. “What’s up?”

“Don’t you think it’s customary to find out what the parent’s preferences are before stirring the pot?”

Her look is somewhere between stoic and sly as she answers. “No, not really. I prefer to start off the way I plan to proceed. These kids look like they haven’t had any fresh air in a month, and I aim to improve on that. You do want their attitudes to get better, right?”

I sigh. “Yes, I sure do. But I do think we should at least set a few ground rules. Like, how I prefer to have dinner at five. Once I can return to working at the restaurant, I want to be able to head to Rudolpho’s around five-thirty, and then the evening shift lasts until ten, so I’ll be home shortly after. Which means it’ll be up to you to tuck in the boys.”

---