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Eli slowly climbs down from my lap and goes over to the corner, where his toys are upturned and spilling out. The housekeeper manages to keep the house mostly clean, but she’s off today and so it’s a bit of a mess. I probably should have straightened up before inviting Kenna for an interview.
He picks up his toy train and brings it over to the coffee table, pushing it around and making “choo-choo” noises.
“Do you like my train?” he asks. He has trouble with “r” sounds so it comes out like “twain.”
“I love trains,” Kenna says, and then she kneels down to get to Eli’s level, watching him push the train around on the table. “Have you ever been on one?”
“No. I wanna be the ‘ductor,” he says.
“The conductor? They’re very important,” Kenna says easily. “Do you have another train so we can play together?”
“Only the caboose,” he says, and hurries over to grab it and bring it back to her. I watch as she pushes around the trains, crashing them to make Eli giggle, and I make my decision right then and there.
“I want to hire you,” I say, and Kenna looks up from the trains, her eyes widening. “You do? Didn’t you have any interview questions?”
“Just one,” I say. “When can you move in?”
Kenna grins, standing up, and I stand too, shaking her hand. It feels so small in mine. She reallyisyoung, but she’s wonderful with Eli, and Maggie seems to like her, too.
“Immediately,” she answers.
“I can give you a tour right now,” I say, but then Maggie wakes up and looks green around the gills, so I grab her up and take her to the bathroom.
Eli usually trails along behind me everywhere that I go, but once Maggie seems to have rid herself of all the peanut butter cups she stole from the pantry, I peek my head back into the living room and Eli’s still playing trains with Kenna, who has sat down on the floor with him.
“I will pay you a huge bonus if you can start today,” I plead, thinking about all the meetings I have to reschedule and the paperwork I need to finish.
“You don’t have to give me a bonus,” she says.
“Five grand,” I offer, and Kenna blinks at me.
“O-okay,” she stutters.
“I’ll have my lawyer draw up some paperwork and get it to you by this afternoon, but I’ll pay you the five grand in cash,” I explain.
She blinks at me again. “Sh-sure, that’s fine. Thank you so much for the opportunity, Mr. Ledderman.”
“Call me Derek,” I say, and Kenna smiles.
“Then call me Kenna.”
I deposit Eli and Maggie on the couch and Maggie looks up at Kenna with some interest.
“Kids, this is Kenna. She’s going to be your nanny,” I explain, worried that Maggie will have a tantrum about it. She had with the last nanny, who had been an older woman that was a little too harsh with the kids. I’m sure she’s a nice enough woman, but I don’t want anyone who will punish a child for crying after skinning their knees.
Eli grins. “She gets to sleep over?”
I nod. “Most nights.” I turn to Kenna. “You can do what you’d like with your weekends, I just work Monday through Friday. I can work at home on weekends.”
Maggie is looking at Kenna coolly and I’m a little nervous. Maggie is precocious and she can have a bit of an attitude problem.
“Can we watch Paw Patrol?” Maggie asks, surprising me by looking right at Kenna.
Kenna looks at me and I nod slightly. “Sure thing. When your Dad and I get back, I’ll introduce myself more properly, okay?”
Maggie grabs the remote and turns on the show and I let out a long breath.
“I thought she was going to have a bigger reaction,” I explain as I lead Kenna up the staircase.
