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“Look. It doesn’t matter that you’re early. We need you. I was going to look over the paperwork from the agency tonight and learn a bit more about you, but here you are. What’s your name?”
“Ada.” I cleared my throat. “I think-”
“Matilda is packing up her room right now. She’s quitting earlier than we’d planned… She was going to stay on and train you, but that’s not going to happen now. You’re a professional, though. Once I introduce you to the kids, you’ll know what to do.” He glanced back through a wide doorway and towards a set of stairs. “Since I don’t know what state Matilda’s room will be in when she leaves, you can move into one of the guest suites. It’s just as private as the nanny quarters. All the amenities remain the same. I have about ten minutes before I need to get to a meeting but I can give you a fast tour…”
The mix-up finally made sense and I opened my mouth to tell him that I wasn’t his nanny, but the woman they’d gotten fired less than an hour earlier. Instead of telling him off, though, I swallowed down my initial reaction and let his words settle. Guest suite. Amenities. Private. My heart beat faster. I wasn’t a liar. I was a good girl who’d lost her marbles a bit and who’d driven to their house to yell at them. Yet… I was jobless, homeless, and while not completely penniless, I was too close for comfort.
Any other day might’ve led to a different decision, but I was there right then, on the day that they’d gotten me fired, and I was desperate. I swallowed down all my rants about them being jerks and smiled sweetly. “A tour would be great.”
He lifted his perfectly cuffed sleeve and looked at his watch. A heavy sigh preceded him glancing up at me like he was considering rescinding his offer, like he hadn’t thought I’d actually take him up on it. “I’ll need you to fill out paperwork, as well. Look, I really don’t have time for this right now. I have less time than I thought. You can find your way around. I’ll have Sara show you to your room as soon as I get a chance. She’ll also give you a binder. You’ll need to read through it and agree to follow all the rules. Until then…good luck.”
I watched his broad back disappear through the doorway and up the stairs in a state of silent shock. Milo giggled in my arms again and I glanced down at him, wondering what the hell had just happened.
“Mi-wo.” He pointed to his chest and then poked me in the chin. “You?”
“I’m Ada.”
“A-ya.” He struggled to get out of my hold and then he took off at a surprisingly fast waddle deeper into the house. “A-ya! A-ya!”
“Shit.” I hesitated for a moment before chasing after Milo. A list of potential dangers flew through my mind. The lake, the bluff on the right side of the house, the stairs, all of the hardwood floors waiting to bust his chin open… “Milo!”
4
***Ada***
Milostaredatmefrom his side of the couch and I stared back at him from mine. We were at a stalemate. I wasn’t a real nanny and I had no idea what the hell I was supposed to do. The house was so massive that I was scared to leave the area closest to the door I’d come in through so I just made sure Milo and I stayed close to my base. My skin crawled with anxiety as I waited for the cops to pop out and arrest me for impersonating a childcare provider. I didn’t know if what I was doing was illegal but every time I heard a sound come from the rest of the house, I twitched a little.
“A-ya.” Milo yawned and shifted closer to me on the couch. “Mi-wo go sweep.”
I grunted when he climbed into my lap and roughly settled against my chest, his little head knocking into my chin. “Okay, Milo. You sleep, buddy. I’ve got you.”
In my babysitting days, I’d never had a kid put themselves to sleep like Milo did. Within minutes, his body went slack and his thumb was deep in his mouth as he slept. I stared at the top of his head, wondering if he wasn’t actually a little lizard person. What kind of toddler just decided it was nap time like that?
I’d cornered Milo in a big TV room filled with half a dozen big couches that all reclined and faced a screen larger than the apartment I’d shared with Camden. We were on one of the couches in the back of the room so I could see the doorway and anyone coming in. With that semblance of privacy, I wiggled my phone out of my pocket without bothering Milo and dialed my mom’s number.
As always, she answered on the first ring. “I knew you were going to call. I just knew it. I have ESP.”
I bit back a smile. It was the same way she answered every call from me or Dad. “Hey, Mom.”
“Oh, no. What’s wrong? My baby sounds sad. Why does my baby sound sad?” She barked something in the background and then a loud clicking filled the line before my Dad’s throat clearing covered even that.
“You’re sad, Ada? Sad-a? Are you okay?” Dad cleared his throat once more and murmured something to my mom that I could just barely hear. “Stop it, Mandy. If I wanted to take the cough syrup, I would. I’m starting to think you’re getting me high to take advantage of me.”
I cringed. “I can hear you.”
“No, you can’t.” Dad’s smile was so familiar to me that I had no trouble seeing it in my head. “Anyway. Tell us what’s going on. Shouldn’t you be at work?”
I told them everything in a whisper with my hand over my mouth, in case the mansion came equipped with cameras that someone was watching. I didn’t end my story until I got to the part about holding a sleeping toddler while sitting in the Carrington Estate. I waited in silence once I was done and picked at my skin around my irritated thumbnail.
The silence stretched out until I was ready to shout at them to say something but then I heard Dad snort. “That’s great!”
“What?” I expected them to tell me to come home to their place and get away from the rich guys who thought I was someone else, but Dad genuinely sounded excited.
“Your dad’s right! This is amazing, Ada!” Mom truly sounded giddy. “You loved that place growing up! Now you get to live there! And if anyone can change those grumpy rich guys, it’s you. Maybe this will be your Cinderella story! Grandbabies, Kenny!”
I rolled my eyes. “Mom, stop it.”
“No. Never. I want grandbabies. You’re almost thirty now!”
