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“Nice to meet you,” I say, shaking her hand.
“You too.” She smiles, sweeping her deep, red curls over her shoulder before taking her seat in the living room.
It doesn’t matter that I’ve said I don’t want anything. Connor is from the South. He brings us each a coffee before taking a seat. Hospitality is ingrained in him.
I perch on the edge of the chair as I take a sip of the drink to be nice. “So, Heather, Connor tells me how helpful it’s been to have you. What made you interested in becoming a nanny?”
“I love kids, I have my teaching degree, actually. There are just no jobs currently at the school I want to teach at,” she starts to explain. Heather is nice. Extremely qualified. Overly qualified. But I know Connor and Tanner are good guys and I’m certain that they’re compensating her better than the school system would.
Most people might not be sensitive to this, but I am. My mother was a teacher. Thirty years. She retired in June, but not with nearly as much as she deserved.
“So, Heather was just telling me about her friend who is looking for a job,” Connor chimes in.
“Oh, yeah. Astrid. She’s amazing. She has a master’s in education. Has been a teacher for?—”
I cut her off. “She’s your friend?”
“Best friend. She actually works at that school and?—"
“She’s hired.” I pull out my phone. “Is all right if you give me her number? I’d really like to have someone start next week if possible. I’d like to make sure Violet adjusts as well as she can before I leave for our first game.” If this person is half as qualified as Connor has said Heather is, I’ve made my decision. I don’t care about her personality. In fact, it’s better if I don’t want to get to know her. The less attached I get the better.
Heather just stares at me blankly as if I’m the strangest man she’s ever met. In her defense, I probably am. I’ve always been straight to the point.
Connor told me about his last nanny leaving. Their son, Jake, cried for days. He’s five, so it makes sense that he didn’t understand. But Connor cried too. They’d become friends. I don’t need more friends. I have my teammates. I have Violet. That’s enough.
This last year leading up to making the team, I was stricter with myself than ever before. That’s meant focusing on sleep, nutrition, drills, and lifting. My entire day is filled with either hockey or Violet. I don’t go out. I don’t do anything that won’t further my career. So I plan on continuing that mentality now.
“S-sure. Her name is Astrid Kinsley,” Heather says, remembering finally that I asked her a question. She takes my phone. “There you go. She’s expecting your call, so..” She swallows, looking nervous. “You really don’t want to know anything else about her?” She looks from me to Connor and back again.
“You said she works at the school?” I clarify.
“Yeah,” she says.
“Has a master’s degree?”
“Yeah…”
Then she’s already gone through a background check and she’s clearly more than qualified. “Nope. That’s perfect. That’s all I need to know.” I stand, shaking her hand again, then turning to Connor. “Thanks for the coffee, man. I’ll see you later.”
The less I know about Astrid, the better. I want to be as far removed from her as possible. As long as my daughter is happy and safe, that’s all that matters. And this will be a smooth transition.
CHAPTER 4
ASTRID
Icannot believe how perfectly everything is working out. Things are finally looking up in my life. Finally. Heather helps me pack my entire apartment in less than a day. It’s crazy how fast this all happened. I’m moving in so fast. I can barely contain my excitement.
It’ll be an easy move. I don’t have a lot of stuff. Mostly books. That’s the hardest part to move. As a history teacher, books are important to me. When I gave some of my stuff away, books were not one of the options I considered.
I try to reward Heather’s hard work with pizza and beer, but she insists on waiting to cash in until after my first nanny paycheck.
She really is the best friend.
I went from not having any idea where I would live or how I would make it, to moving into a beautiful house tucked away in that tree-covered neighborhood I like so much. The Glades. Sure, it isn’t technically my house. But for the next few months at least, I get to say I live in the Glades.
I haven’t met the family yet. Not that it matters. The daughter’s name is Violet and she’s six. She’s started school already, but I guess the hockey season doesn’t start for another few weeks, so I’m not really needed, professionally. I’m basically living for free this month so that Violet can get to know me and everyone feels comfortable. Oh, and I have zero responsibility at the house, so I can focus on the start of the school year. I really lucked out that the dad is letting me continue to teach since even when he’ll be gone, I won’t be needed during the day.
Sounds like the perfect job.
