I had already looked at daycares in the area, and I was sure they were fine, but Sadie and I were both used to her having one-on-one care in her own home. She got plenty of socialization at school. What she needed was the nurturing and supervision of a nanny, a full-time babysitter. Especially with summer vacation starting in a few weeks. It had been a colder than usual spring and April had looked like March, but it was already the month of May.
I was going to have to contact the employment agency in Overton to see if anyone there had experience with childcare and a CPR certification. I felt bad for Denise and valued her greatly as a family friend, but I wished this wasn’t a problem. I didn’t want to deal with it. I’d been lucky to find one caregiver who would love Sadie like her own and watch over her. When Denise had taken the job, she’d been happy to have a baby to fuss over since her youngest had just joined the Army. She had spoiled Sadie and played with her and rocked her to sleep. Now I was on my own again, and I was going to have to interview strangers about caring for my child.
I didn’t want to advertise in Rockford Falls. The reason being, most of the kids were at home with mom during the summer, and I didn’t want some woman taking pity on us and saying Sadie could come to their house like she was a poor motherless waif. And I definitely didn’t want the single moms to scent blood in the water and come after me offering to take care of everything and warm my bed besides. The employment agency was the only option I had at this point, and I wasn’t happy about it.
7 Rachel
The kitchen table was covered with wadded-up paper. List after list of possible ways to earn money quickly. I couldn’t sell enough blood plasma in that length of time to do any good. I didn’t have any antique collections I could have appraised and auction off—no rare Roman coins or Vermeer paintings. My skill set ran to pie making and restaurant management, so a second job would require me to work a cash register for minimum wage when I wasn’t working at the diner. I combed through the help wanted ads in Overton and considered moonlighting as a telemarketer, but I had too much attitude to be any good at that. Dog walkers only made seven bucks an hour and I would have to drive to Overton to get the dogs. I shook my head, feeling defeat creep up my spine.
One thought kept popping up. What about Max and Sadie?
I could be a bit of a meddler. I liked to solve people’s problems for them, and Max needed someone to take care of Sadie. Sadie was a fun kid, and I could spend days with her and move my shifts to evenings and weekends at the diner. College kids and teenagers working the summer could do the day shifts and have their evenings free. It could be a win-win. If I could get him to pay me like fifteen bucks an hour. I looked into it and that was not even a lot to ask for in-home babysitting services for one child. It sounded crazy, but it could solve both our problems.
That meant counting on him to want a pie baking waitress to babysit his child, but he had seemed like he was anxious to resolve the childcare situation. I didn’t wanna say desperate because that didn’t make me sound great, but he was. He seemed desperate, so I probably had a shot of pitching the idea to him and not getting an automatic no.
The next day, when Laura came in for coffee and to show me pictures of Brenna with her cute messy bedhead hair, I told her my plan.
“You’re gonna babysit for extra money?”
“If I can get the job, yeah. I need another income stream so I can buy this place. It’s my dream.”
“No margarita nights for a few months then,” she said.
“No social life of any kind, but it’ll be worth it. And you can come in here and see me, leave a big tip,” I said.
“I think my husband and I will have to start bringing Brenna in for supper once a week so she can see you.”
“Oh, please bring her! I can’t miss out on seeing my munchkin all the time.”
“I will,” she said. “And the thing is, it’s worth a shot. You’ve got to try everything you can to get this place. If there’s any way I can help, let me know.”
“I don’t know. If you see him in town, casually mention that you always thought being a nanny was my real calling,” I shrugged.
“Anyone who’s had your pie knows your calling. And it ain’t babysitting. But if I see him, I promise to scare the shit out of him and be pushy and awkward and make him hire you.”
“I knew I could count on you,” I laughed.
“You realize he’s never in town, so I won’t run into him.”
“Yeah, I figured it was a safe bet.”
“So, you really don’t want me to try and put in a good word for you?”
“You’d probably threaten him with your taser, Laura,” I said. “So please leave him alone.”
“All right. I’ll bring the family in tomorrow night. Brenna will want pancakes.”
“Good deal,” I said.
All that day I thought about scheduling and how to manage everything and save the money for a down payment. I was putting a fresh lemon icebox pie in the case when I saw Max walk in with Sadie. It felt like a sign. This wasn’t their usual night to come in for supper and it was early yet, too. This was
