Her flustered moment that let me peek beneath that confidence. It was adorable. Almost cute enough to make me ignore the hot rush of blood that set my body aflame at her offhand joke. I clenched my fists. This was getting out of hand.
“You can have a seat in the living room while I get Sadie ready for bed,” I said coolly.
I gave Sadie the quickest bath in the world, read her one story and kissed her good night. I crossed my fingers that she’d stay in bed and not demand more stories and songs like she was used to having. When I went to the living room, Rachel wasn’t there. I glanced at the door and saw her shoes were still there, so she hadn’t left. I heard the faucet in the kitchen and went in to see what she was doing. She’d done the dishes and cleared off the counters and wiped them down.
“You didn’t have to do that,” I said.
“I know, you have people to do that,” she said wryly. “But I thought I could help out instead of sitting around. So, am I fired for the inappropriate comment earlier?”
“No. Consider yourself on probation.”
“What does that mean exactly?” she asked.
“It means that I think this will work out fine, as long as you—”
“Watch my mouth?”
“I wouldn’t put it that way. Weigh your words carefully.”
“Got it,” she said.
I offered her a beer and she shook her head, “I’m on my best behavior, remember?” she said, and I got the idea she was teasing me. There was amusement in her eyes, and she didn’t sound snarky about it.
I sat on the couch and she sat, thankfully, at the opposite end of it.
“I apologize if I made you uncomfortable,” I said wearily.
“You did. But you’re interviewing me for a job, so that goes with the territory, I guess.”
“I won’t be—underfoot—while you’re working. The fact is, if I could be at home during those hours I wouldn’t need a nanny for her. I’ll leave any special instructions for the day on the dry erase board by the fridge. If you want anything added to the grocery list for the week, leave a note. If there’s a problem, you can text me. Otherwise, I don’t expect to have to—”
“Deal with me? I get it,” she said with a half-smile. “I get the impression you don’t like me. Which is fine, I guess. As long as you trust me to take care of Sadie.”
“It isn’t that I don’t like you. I don’t feel one way or the other in that respect, which is appropriate. You’ll be an employee, temporarily.”
“Denise is like family, I understand. I’m not trying to replace her. I’m going to spend time with Sadie and make sure she has a great summer. And I’ll stay out of your way. Do you want pictures and videos and stuff sent to you or not? Because she’s a cute kid, and I’m gonna take pics.”
“You can’t post them on social media,” I said quickly.
“I won’t. I wouldn’t have without permission anyway, but that was quick.”
“I’m overprotective. I admit it.”
“That’s fine. It’s your kid, your decision.”
“I’d rather be safe than sorry.”
“I get it.”
“I do want pictures of her, videos especially from her swim lessons so I can see how she’s doing. I love getting pictures of her.”
“Good. And I won’t bother you with a bunch. Just a few.”
“No, it’s fine. I’d like to get them.”
“So you won’t get mad if I blow up your phone with a dozen pics of her jumping in the pool?”
“No, I won’t get mad. I’m not actually—harsh, ordinarily.”
“So, I bring out the best in you?” she asked archly. I tried to smile but I was uncomfortable.
“Maybe I’m just out of my element with the situation. I haven’t had to look for childcare in years, and I was comfortable with the arrangement we had with Denise. Now I have to train you and get used to the way you do things.”
“No, Sadie has to. You go to work and I stay out of your way, right?” she said, challenging a little.
“I didn’t mean it like that. I won’t interfere with your plans with Sadie. I do want her to have a great summer, and she has fun with you. I appreciate your attitude with her, encouraging her to help, guiding her. That’s important to me, and you did well with her.”
“I knew this was an audition,” she grinned, “and except for the whipped cream thing—”
“Which we will never mention again,” I said.
“Right. Except for that, I think I did well.”
“You did. So let me give you an idea of how the routine goes with Sadie. She gets up around seven. You have to remind her to go to the bathroom or she’ll wait too long. Then she has breakfast, gets dressed, and you can play or read or go outside, cook something, whatever. On Tuesdays and Thursdays she’ll have swim at ten in town. I have a booster seat you can put in your car. She gave up napping about a year ago, but sometimes if she’s overtired and cranky you can sneak one in on her if you let her watch part of Beauty and the Beast.”
“Okay. What about eating between meals? Do you have preferred foods or scheduled mealtimes?”
“Three meals a day, snacks if she’s hungry, but limit her to one pouch of fruit snacks a day. She’d eat a ton of those if you let her. I try to get her to drink milk once a day, that kind of thing. She only eats cereal dry. She’ll eat chicken and some fish. She’ll pick at meatloaf unless the onion is invisible.” I shook my head. “I’m raising a picky eater.”
“Sounds like an average kid to me. I would’ve starved without jarred spaghetti sauce. I used to eat it on bread with butter.”
“That’s disgusting.”
“Of course it is. Now
