by Claire Angel
While I was still speaking with Nerina, the doorbell rang, and I walked to the front door. As I opened the door, a pretty face framed with blonde curls and green eyes stared at me openly and made me stutter a bit. Then I put the phone down.
“Can I help you?”
“I’m Sara, you called me because Tabitha gave you my number?”
In my mind, I was wondering who Tabitha was and I guess my facial expression probably revealed my confusion, as Sara added, “Your gardener, Tabitha?”
“Oh, okay, sure. Um, come in, sorry, where are my manners? Please, you can put your bag on that table there and then you can have a seat. Can I get you something to drink?”
She came in, placed her bag on the table, and walked past me towards the couch as she said she would like a glass of water. From behind, I could see that she had curves in all the right places. Her skinny jeans showed off her thick thighs, and I could see the shape of her butt with every curve highlighted.
I quickly turned around to go and get a glass of water before she would turn and see me staring at her butt. As I handed her the glass of water, she gave me her resume and said that I could call any of her references. I took her document and paged through it. There was a varied range of part-time jobs, and about a dozen kids that she had been a nanny for over the past few years.
I only had time to call two references, so I picked a number of a five-year-old girl’s mother and another random one. After I spoke with the second mother, I was convinced that the rest would all give the same testimony – she was allegedly an angel, bringing out the best in their children. She came highly recommended.
I didn’t have time to call more people, so I went back into the living room and found that Piper had already introduced herself to Sara and her gun. They were play acting and Sara had just been shot in the leg, crawling on the floor, and in her last dying jerks, she got hold of Piper and tickled her. Piper was screaming with laughter until she begged Sara to stop, as she couldn’t breathe anymore. Still laughing, they both became aware of my presence.
Piper jumped up, and asked excitedly, “Is she my new nanny, Daddy?” I could see she had already approved of Sara, but I just needed to ask her a few more questions before I could leave my daughter with her.
“Sweetie, please give Sara and me a few minutes, and then I will tell you if she is going to stay, okay?” Piper pulled down on her lower lip until it was almost touching her chin, said then said something about me never liking the nice ones. Then she ran off to the porch to go and play outside.
“I see you and Piper already have become friends, but I just wanted to ask a few questions before I go, if you don’t mind. Where do you live?”
I could see Sara frowning at the question. Maybe she thought it to be inappropriate, but she answered nonetheless. “Milroy Street in South Westside. It’s a fifteen-minute drive from here.”
“That’s great, that’s close enough if I ever have an urgent emergency at the office. Speaking of which, would you say you are fairly flexible to be here any time I have to be gone? Or would you rather be here every day from seven till five?” As I asked the question and the frown on Sara’s face returned, I realized I was making a fool of myself by asking these irrelevant questions.
So I just apologized, and told her, “Please be here every weekday from seven till five, as I usually have to leave just after seven and I’m usually back around five. How would you feel about sleeping over?”
Goddamnit, can’t I correctly ask questions anymore or get two thoughts in the right order? What is she doing to my mind?
“Sorry, I mean if I have to work late or travel abroad, would you be able to sleep over and babysit till I’m back? I mean, you don’t have a husband, a boyfriend, or any family members that would be concerned about you?”
Oh, man, open mouth and apply foot. What is wrong with me? She will be the babysitter. I don’t need to know anything about her private life.
Sara looked at me a bit suspiciously but still said, “No boyfriend, I live with my granny, and she won’t mind if I have to stay over to look after Piper. Anything else you might want to know, like my blood type? All my other relevant information is on my resume.”
I noticed she had placed a slight emphasis on “relevant” and I took it as a sign to get serious and start focusing on the matter at hand.
“Yes, yes, of course, my apologies, my mind is not focused. I’m thinking of work and the fact that I’m already late. Wait, do you have any questions?”
She smiled for the first time at me, and asked, “What will the hourly rate be or will it be a daily wage? Do you have a list of emergency contact numbers that I can use? Who is her doctor, and what is the procedure you want me to follow during an emergency? Would you like me to prepare breakfast, lunch, and dinner for her or you as well? Are we allowed to go on day trips to the museum or the park? Does she have any classes or sports that I will have to take her to for practice sessions? You know, the normal routine that your daughter has.”
If I didn’t misjudge the quick, sneaky smile around the corner of her mouth as she was rambling the list of questions, I would have thought she was seriously expecting me to answer them as quickly as she was throwing them at me. Just the irony of the situation made me laugh about it all. I had been so concerned about her that I completely forgot to tell her about Piper.
“You can do and go wherever you want to, just as long as you let me know via a text or leave a message with my secretary Nerina. During emergencies, do whatever you have to in order to stabilize the situation and then call me immediately. She doesn’t have any classes or sports training sessions, and food wise, the kitchen maid will take care of that.
“The previous ladies worked on a weekly wage, but none of them stayed long enough to receive payment, as they left before the end of the week. I’ve tried to contact them and pay them, but most of them don’t answer my number.
“So for the last three nannies, my secretary called to get their payment to them. So would a weekly wage of $1000 interest you?”
Sara’s eyes went a bit bigger. “You know the average weekly wage is only $750, right? Why did the previous nanny leave when she could earn a wage like that?” Sara placed her hand in front of her mouth, and with the other, she indicated something. “Sorry, that just came out, I wasn’t supposed to say that out loud.”
I felt relieved that I wasn’t the only one making a fool of myself, so I smiled at her and told her no offense taken. “I’ve been asking myself that as well. I even offered to double the wage for the last nanny, and she still refused to come.”
I reached out my hand, and asked, “Do we have an agreement?” She took my hand, and we shook on it. If she should last more than a week, then I would draw up a formal contract stating all the terms and conditions.
Now I seriously had to get to the office – this had taken so much longer than I had anticipated. “Please forgive me, it was a pleasure meeting you, but I have to run.” I started walking to the porch where Piper was playing, and Sara joined us. I kissed Piper goodbye and walked back into the house. After I picked up my briefcase, I went to stand next to the window, hidden by the curtain.
Piper was digging in the backyard where the gardener had planted the flowers just an hour ago, and Sara was showing her how to replant the bulbs. They were talking, and Piper was making elaborate movements with her hands and arms, and the next moment Sara burst out laughing. Piper was also laughing, and rolling on the grass.
They looked happy, and I hoped that this was the beginning of a long and steady relationship. The thought caught me off guard. This isn’t a relationship. Sara is Piper’s nanny. I had to get my mind in order. Focus, get to work and get through this day. I turned around and went to my car.
Chapter 3
Sara
Piper had gone to hide somewhere in the backyard while I was counting to ten.
“Ready or not, here I come.”
I could hear a soft giggle behind a hedge just pas
t a fountain. As I walked in that direction, I said to myself, “Where could she have gone to? I wonder if she is hiding behind the fountain?” With that, I walked over the cobbles around the fountain, and my shoes tapped on the cobbles. “Nope, she isn’t hiding behind the fountain.” Again, I heard her giggling. A smile spread over my face as I remembered the innocent game had a deeper meaning when you became a grown-up – you had to hide your heart, even if the man in front of you was seeking it.
As I walked over the gravel, it crushed underweight, and I could hear a small shriek coming from Piper. “Mmm, I wonder if she is hiding behind this chair. Nope, no one is hiding here.”
I guessed that the anticipation had become too much for her little heart, and she jumped up from behind the hedge, and shouted, “Here I am, you couldn’t find me!” The sweetness of the release after holding your emotions in could be everlasting love or it could lead to tears shortly after that.
Piper announced it was her turn to count, and I had to go and hide, but she gave me strict instructions of where I was supposed to go and wait for her to find me. As I was walking to my hiding spot, I could hear her counting, “One, two, three, four, six, seven, nine, eight, ten! I’m ready or not, here I come!” In a sweet singing voice, the words were all mingled up.
I could hear her walking towards the fountain and repeating what I had said as she went along. Then there was the crunching of the gravel under her shoes, and without a pause, I could hear her starting to run, and as she turned the corner, she shouted, “I found you!” She started laughing and holding her tummy as she doubled over.
With a playful, sulky voice, I said, “No fair, you are too clever for me,” which made her roll over again.
“No, silly, I told you where to hide so that I could find you easy, peasy.”
I crept closer and just as she stopped rolling around and laughing, I was right next to her and started to tickle her tummy. “No, no, stop, stop, please,” she screamed while laughing.
I released her from my grip and asked if we could go and get something to drink. She agreed, and we went inside. Piper ran into the kitchen and asked the cook to prepare juice for us and cookies.
We went to sit outside on the porch at the small cast iron table with two chairs. Piper was lost in her thoughts as she was staring up at the sky looking at the clouds and the birds.
My thoughts went back to how gorgeous and attractive Dryden was. I didn’t expect those blue eyes to be so intimidating. I wanted to run my fingers through his soft, smooth hair and grab hold of it and pull his face to mine. I could feel my cheeks blush as I realized what I was thinking. Tabitha didn’t say he looked like a soap actor, with his perfect hair and ocean blue eyes. If only I could dive into those eyes and swim in there for a while, I’m sure it would be exhilarating.
To think a hunk like that could be so kind and sweet with his little girl – I wondered what had happened to her mother.
My thoughts were interrupted as the cook brought us the juice and cookies. I stood up and asked her what her name was as I took the tray from her and placed it on the table. “I’m Gertrude.” She said it with a thick accent, and I guessed she was German, but I couldn’t be sure. I thanked her, but she just turned on her heels and went back to the kitchen.
Piper told me she wasn’t very friendly or talkative. “Daddy likes her because she makes delicious pudding, and she keeps the kitchen clean. He also says that when she is around, the housemaid also behaves better.”
After finishing our juice, we went inside, as the sun was shining very bright and the heat was a bit too much for playing outside. Piper wanted to show me her room, so she pulled my hand all the way upstairs and into her room. The four walls of her room were a soft pastel blue, and all the furniture was a beautiful white. One wall had floor to ceiling bookshelves, which were filled with books, puzzles, and games. There was a dollhouse that looked like it was never played with because everything was neatly displayed.
Then Piper pulled me to her cupboard, and as she opened the door, the utter chaos was evidence enough that this was her real room. As she ran in—and I tried my best not to step on a car or a ball, bat, or a gun—she told me to close the door behind me. She switched on the light in her walk-in closet, and I could see there was one shelve with some clothes and one rail with a few dresses.
“Why do you play in your closet and not in your room?” Piper placed her finger on her mouth and said that she was hiding in there from the Wicked Witch of the West.
“Like the witch from The Wizard of Oz?”
Piper frowned at me and asked who that was. I told her to wait there and that I’d be back shortly. With a fully stocked bookshelf like the one in her room, they were sure to have the fairy tale. If not, I could search for it on my cellphone.
While I was standing in front of the bookshelf, I realized that she was standing there next to me, copying my movements. So we both stood in front of the bookshelf with our one hand on our hip and the other hand scanning through the titles of the books.
“Ah, I found it, I knew it would be here.”
“What? What, show me, please, I want to see.” She stretched herself onto her tippy toes and tried to take the book out of my hands.
“Don’t do that, a lady doesn’t grab, but she asks nicely and then allows the person to hand it to her. But this time, I’m going to read it to you instead. Let’s see what pictures are in here.”
It was a beautifully illustrated book, and Piper was mesmerized by the drawings, asking questions about everything she saw. So I started to read the story to her. She soon interrupted me and told me that I was reading wrong, and she began to tell me her version of the story. I sat and listened to her tale, and I was amazed at how creative her little mind was, and I thought the next book we would read should be Alice in Wonderland.
Gertrude came to call us for lunch, as she had set up the table in the kitchen so they could keep the rest of the house clean. So Piper and I went downstairs and were served with sandwiches and fruit salad. Once we finished our lunch, Piper wanted to go outside again. She wanted to show me her favorite tree.
As Piper was skipping ahead, I was left to my thoughts for a while as I followed her along the paths to the back of the yard. I would love to live here. There would be a never-ending source of things to do. Piper stopped at a worker, and as I came closer, I saw it was Tabitha.
“Hey, look who the cat dragged in!” Tabitha was wiping her hand on her pants and then hugged me.
“Thank you for the job. Little Miss Piper over here is quite a sport.” Piper came to stand close to me, and I placed my hand on her head and stroked her ponytail.
Piper looked at me, and asked, “How do you know the garden lady?”
I smiled, and while bending down on one knee, I explained, “She is my best friend since we were in school together.”
I could see a few thoughts were running around in her little mind, as she was frowning and looking into the distance. “Will I ever go to school to meet a friend?”
The question caught me a bit off guard, as I hadn’t even thought about asking Dryden when she would be attending school. “I’m not sure, Piper, but I will ask your father when he gets back.”
Tabitha bent down and packed her tools into her toolbox, and as she came back up, she said, “Well, that is it for today. I’m not going to be able to finish another bedding, so I’m going to call it a day. Have fun, and I’m glad to see you got the job. Maybe we can drink some tea one afternoon.”
Piper immediately started jumping up and down. “Please, please, please, can we do it tomorrow?”
Tabitha explained that she was working at another house tomorrow, but she would be back the day after. Piper made her promise that they would have tea and cake then.
As Tabitha left us behind, Piper once again grabbed hold of my hand and started pulling me towards a tree in the backyard. The tree was covered in white blossoms and had easy to climb lower branches. Piper started to climb the first branch
and then grabbed onto the third and stepped up to the second branch. Not before long, she was sitting on the third branch with her feet dangling, swinging back and forth.
“I bet you can’t climb as high as me,” Piper teased me.
As I didn’t want to encourage her to climb higher, I told her I would come and sit next to her, but then we’d have to play a game. The tree was relatively easy to climb, and I was sure I would be able to go two branches further up, but I had no desire to start a competition on my first day.
So as we were sitting on the branch, Piper wanted to know what game we were going to play. I picked a flower and twirled it between my fingers, and as it swirled down to the ground, Piper wanted to try it as well.
It took some concentration, but soon she was twirling flowers faster than I could pick them. Just as I was reaching up to one of the flowers on the branch above me, Piper shrieked excitedly, “Daddy, Daddy, look! I can make the flowers twirl and fly!”
“So is this why you wanted to know what the emergency procedure is?”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t realize what the time was. We’ll be right down,” I said. As I turned to start climbing down, I could feel his hands on my middle as he picked me up and put me on the ground. He turned and picked Piper from the branch as well. My heart was being silly, beating with drumming in my head.
“Daddy, we had so much fun today.”
Dryden hugged her and placed her on the ground. “Well, in that case, Sara has to stay for dinner so you two can tell me all about your day.” He turned towards me and asked if I would join them. As I didn’t have anything else to do, I accepted the invitation.
Gertrude prepared spaghetti Bolognese. Piper only ate a few bites and then asked if she could go and play in her room. Dryden asked her to eat a few more spoonfuls of pasta, but she didn’t want to.
I explained, “We had a few sandwiches for lunch, and maybe she is still full from then.” Dryden accepted the explanation and told her she could go and play in her room.