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Ramsey
Iliked her. I could admit I might have misjudged her. I knew better than to judge a book by its cover. She looked tough and edgy, but she was pretty normal. I loved that she asked about Lily. She wanted to connect with Lily. That was exactly what a nanny should ask. She had yet to ask me about hours or the pay. That told me her genuine interest was in Lily.
“Does Lily have a set routine?” Deanna asked. “Are you strict about her having to do homework immediately after school?”
“I don’t feel like I’m overly strict, but there are some rules,” I said. “I do want her to do homework, but she rarely has any. She usually likes to do her school stuff. I don’t mind her taking a break from school and hanging out for a bit. I can’t say I’m crazy about video games, but she can play if that’s what helps her unwind. My main goal is to make her happy. I’m not talking about spoiling her, but I want her to learn how to make good choices now when I can provide some guardrails. When she gets older, her choices are her own to make.”
“That’s a good strategy.” She smiled. “Is she generally a happy kid?”
“I think so.” I shrugged. “She has her days, but she’s pretty happy. She doesn’t let much get her down. She has a few good friends at school, but she’s not really a social butterfly. Maybe because she’s spent a lot of time with adults. She goes to a private school, which means she’s not in school with kids from the neighborhood. Our house is on a little piece of land. There are mostly retirees who live around us. Due to who I am, I do tend to keep a pretty close watch on her. There are unsavory people everywhere.”
“Who are you?” she asked.
“I’m not in the mob or anything.” I laughed. “I have a name in the tech world. That tends to attract some attention. Add in the wealth and it makes my daughter a target. I don’t live in a house with bulletproof windows or anything like that, but I like to keep her close.”
“I understand.” She smiled. “I imagine all parents want to keep their kids close.”
“Of course. Which is why I’m pretty picky about the nanny I hire.”
“I get it,” she agreed.
“You haven’t asked me about the pay or the hours,” I said.
“I figure that was the least of my concerns.” She shrugged. “I want the job. I want the child to be happy. The money is not the most important thing. And it’s not like I have a busy life. I’m wide open.”
“I pay a hundred thousand a year,” I told her. “It works out to about eight thousand a month. The job requires around forty hours a week, but typically less. The summer schedule is more intensive. If it looks like there will be long hours during a given week, I’ll compensate with a bonus. As I said, you’ll use my car. I expect promptness. I can’t have my daughter waiting at school for someone to show up.”
The woman was looking at me with shock on her face. Clearly, she wasn’t expecting the wages. I felt I paid a competitive wage. I knew other families paid more. A lot paid less. I hoped that the wages earned loyalty. That had not worked out for me thus far, which was why I was offering her more money. I had to do something to get a nanny to stick around longer than a few months. I was tired of the revolving door and I knew Lily was over it as well.
“Okay.” She nodded.
“Before I formally offer you the job, I would like to talk with my daughter,” I told her.
“I would love to meet her,” she said. “Again. More than justhere’s your chicken strips.”
“I’d like that as well,” I agreed.
“I have to work all week, but if you’d like to bring her to the restaurant on Saturday, I could take a few minutes to talk with her,” she offered. “It’ll give her a chance to meet me without any pressure. If she hates me, then I’m nothing but her server.”
“She won’t hate you.” I smiled. “Lily hates no one.”
“If she doesn’t click with me,” she corrected. “I think it’s important she and I mesh well. I don’t want to make her uncomfortable. If it looks like she could like me, there’s a park across the street. We could go there and hang out a bit.”
I felt good about the situation. I was certain we were onto something. I liked her. She impressed me. No, she wasn’t the traditional nanny, but that hadn’t worked out. Non-traditional seemed to be the way to go. “I’d like that.”
“Okay.” She smiled nervously. “Then we’ll talk Saturday.”
I sensed her nervousness. Maybe she wasn’t expecting things to go as well as they did. “Did you have any questions for me?” I asked.
She shook her head. “I don’t think so. Did you want to ask me anything?”
“If Lily does like you, are you going to continue waitressing?”
“No!”
The word came out of her mouth without any hesitation. I smiled. “Would you need to put in a two-week notice? I only ask because I’m working out childcare with my sister and her fiancé. I just need an idea of how long we need to plan to leave work early and such.”
“No.” She shook her head. “I’ll have to talk with my boss, and I’ll try and cover my shifts, but I won’t need two full weeks.”
