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I rested my elbows on the boardroom table, watching Patty light up, just talking about this woman, whom I’d heard about numerous times before.
“I’ve taken her in like my pseudo daughter. Seriously. I wish I could keep her with me, but it doesn’t make sense for me to pay her when my mother will be at the nursing home for round-the-clock care and I’ll be there with her.” Patty’s smile widened, and her eyes lit up with an inner glow. “She’s young, and she needs to be somewhere else other than in a house with old people.”
“How young are we talking about?” Brad asked, a little too interested.
Mason kicked him under the table, and Brad jumped. “What? And please. I’m not that dumb that I’d bang the nanny watching my girls. That’s where I draw the line. I’m not going to do that, no matter how hot she is.” He smirked. “Is she hot?”
Patty nodded. “Yes, she’s very attractive.”
Brad wiggled his eyebrows in an exaggerated effect.
“How long have you known her?” I reached for the coffee in the center of the table and poured myself a cup.
“Well, she cared for my best friend’s son, who was disabled, until he died. That was for a few years. And then she’s cared for my mama ever since.”
“Where is she originally from? Does she have experience with kids? Does she have a family of her own? Do you have her résumé handy?” Mason spat out the questions in rapid succession, and I rubbed at my forehead.
“So …” There was a long, pregnant pause as she stared at all of us. “Regarding her background, I have to say I don’t know too much about her past.” She raised a finger, not missing a beat. “But I trust her wholeheartedly. I trust her with my mother. I would trust her with those girls too, and you know I love those girls.”
Brad slammed a palm against the table. “Sold.”
Mason’s eyebrows flew to his hairline. “Wait a second here. We haven’t run a background check yet. What’s her full name and social security?”
Patty leveled him with a stare and shook her head. “It’s not like that, Mason. You won’t be able to run a background check on her, and she only accepts cash.”
Stipulations, Patty had said. This was it.
He blinked and then double-blinked at her, as though he didn’t understand or that was the wrong answer. He tilted his head, assessing her, and then slowly said, “No. Sorry, that won’t do.” Mason did a slow shake of his head. “I mean, really? Trust a person we hardly know anything about, living in our house, watching our girls, one we can’t even do a background check on?”
Brad pointed to Patty. “Patty basically vouched for her. That’s like Mom vouching for her. How’s this any different than Mom going with Auntie Carol’s recommendation of Patty? She didn’t run a background check. Right?”
That was true.
They both looked at me.
They always looked to me for the final answer.
I had the final say for every big decision at Brisken Printing Corporation and in all things family-related. I’d planned our last takeover, our last merger. I’d planned our parents’ funeral, had the final decision on the flowers and the venue and the food at the reception. I had the final say in all things.
My gut told me to trust Patty. My mother and father had hired Patty on a recommendation, and given the way Patty talked about Becky, I knew she trusted this woman. If Patty trusted this woman with her mother and even our girls, it was worth meeting her.
But I couldn’t give in just yet. A small smile formed at my idea. “I think we should put her through the Mary test.”
Chapter 6
Becky
The Brisken men had asked me to fly up to Chicago, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t risk it. So, I had agreed to take a bus all the way from Florida to Chicago.
Patty picked me up from the bus station, and I was mute the whole ride in their car, wringing my hands in my lap.
“You’ll do fine, Becky,” Patty said soothingly. “I’ve talked you up. Plus, all you have to do is be yourself.”
“Thanks, Patty.”
Word of mouth was how I’d gotten out of my situation. It was how I’d lived the last few years of my life. I needed this job. I didn’t have a huge network of people to find me another job or a résumé that I could give out.
I blew out a breath and stared at the back-to-back traffic in front of us. Big city. Another opportunity. New life. I placed heavy palms on my knees, forcing them to stop shaking. I’d never lived in a big city. My life before had consisted of rural farms and eating at the local sub shop connected to our gas station.
