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Actually, I did like lasagna.
“You mind a little cleaning up?” Dylan asked, and I couldn’t believe my two friends were lobbing questions at her like we should truly consider her.
“I don’t mind cleaning,” Kennedy told him and turned to me. “Do you need help with that too?”
I hated to admit it, so instead of answering her, I explained, “My son is three, and I’ve had trouble keeping up with him and with all my work.”
“I would be happy to help around the house. In fact, while we’re talking about your house…”
I huffed. We weren’t talking about my house. She and my friends were talking about my house. I was trying to find a way out of this “interview.”
“Are you offering room and board?”
I tipped my head back. “I’m sorry. What?”
She shifted her attention to the paper beneath my hands. “Are you offering room and board?”
“Like a live-in position?”
“Yes.” Her audacity was both startling and confounding.
I hadn’t originally planned on making this a live-in position because it had never occurred to me to have my gray-haired, cardigan-wearing, tissue-carrying older nanny living in my house.
“I would be very interested in housing,” she said. “In fact, I would take a pay decrease for it. I’m currently renting a room from a woman, but she’s going to be selling her house to move, so…”
No qualifications and in need of a place to live? Kennedy wasn’t painting a real great picture of responsibility and maturity here.
Dylan hummed quietly on one side of me, while Jude nudged my other side. I twisted on my stool toward him, and he raised his brow, silently urging me on. I shook my head. He frowned.
“I’ll vouch for her,” Nate said, and I’d almost forgotten he was here. Although I wasn’t sure how. He was the one who’d gotten me into this mess, bringing this girl to me, offering her up on a platter to be my son’s nanny. “She’s Taylor’s sister.”
“Who’s Taylor?” I asked, and he pointed to a woman on the other side of the bar, watching us with a shrewd gaze. Beside her was the guitar player from the band. I’d spoken to him on an occasion or two. If you came to Walt’s enough, you got to know people, and since Nate knew everyone and liked to make connections, he was always introducing people.
Exhibit A, Kennedy.
“Listen,” I started, only to be interrupted by her, as if she knew I was going to dismiss her.
“I don’t want to give you a whole sob story, but I could really use a break. Ineedthis job.”
Next to me, Jude, the patron saint of soft hearts, asked, “What happened?”
“I was in a car accident today, and because of that, I was fired from my job.”
“Really? Are you okay? Here, sit,” he said, and Dylan laughed into his beer.
“What?” I muttered under my breath.
He stayed silent, though his smirk was awfully telling. I was getting steamrolled. He knew it, and I knew it.
Jude stood and waved Kennedy over to take his place next to me. That was when I realized just how short she was and how she smelled like a mix of sugar and fresh flowers. And it wasn’t only her breasts that were voluptuous, but the rest of her too. Her stomach was round and looked soft under where her shirt was tucked in at her waist. Her thick thighs were covered in dark denim, ripped at the knees. Brown boots capped off her legs, and she crossed them once she was seated.
“I’m sorry about your car accident,” I started, “but?—”
“So, it sounds like you’re pretty flexible,” Jude said then caught himself. “With your schedule, I mean.”
She laughed, a frothy, cheerful sound. “Yes, my schedule’s very flexible.” She met my eyes. “I’m willing to work when you need me. All I ask is that I have two nights off a week.”
“That sounds more than fair,” Jude said, and I wiped my hand down my face. Was she working for me or everyone else?
