Northman and the Nanny Ch 1

Chapter 1

EPOV

“Thank you Ms. Thompson, we’ll be in touch.” I said for the umpteenth time today.

I could see the growing frustration on Bill’s face but I could really give a shit.

“Damn it Eric! That was the sixteenth applicant this week and the only ones you have even remotely been interested in are the ones that will be eligible for Medicare by the end of the year.” He spat.

“I don’t give a flying fuck how many applicants I have to go through, I will not have my daughter staying with just anybody and certainly not the Jessica Simpson wannabe bimbos you keep bringing in here for me to interview.” I could spit too.

“Look cousin, I love you like a brother, but this has gone beyond ridiculous. We cannot continue having the firm staff look after Holly. They love her, you know they do; but these people went to law school for a reason and I doubt any of them want to add babysitting to their curriculum vitae as one of their job responsibilities while employed here.” He paused behind one of the leather wingback chairs in my office, leaning over the back of it before he started again.

“Listen, you’re one of the most sought after attorneys in the state, hell the country for that matter, but you can’t keep turning down multi-million dollar cases because you don’t have adequate childcare. What are you going to do with the Ferguson case goes to trial in 3 or 4 months? Don’t you think you should find someone now so Holly has time to adjust to them before you are gone for weeks at the time?”

He was right, damn it. Fucker. But it didn’t mean it was any easier to handle.

“I know! I know…damn it! But knowing I am going to have to leave her in the care of a virtual stranger just makes the whole selection process that much more of a challenge. I’ve got to get this right the first time because we really don’t have time for a do-over if I screw it up.” I groaned leaning back in my chair and rubbing my temples praying for some clarity.

“Alright, no worries ok? We still have two more applicants and if neither of these work, then we’ll start again. I don’t want my little cousin staying with just anybody either…we’ll find the right person for her, I promise. Besides in my opinion the interview we have scheduled for tomorrow morning is the best applicant in the lot. She has everything we are looking for and at least on paper, she’s perfect.” Bill said sounding a little more sympathetic to my plight.

“Well I guess we’ll start this again in the morning then. I’m going to go grab Holly and head on out for the evening. This will be the first night this week she’s had a shot at getting to bed at a respectable hour, I’d like to take advantage of it.” I said as I was placing files in my brief case to review at home.

“I don’t blame you. Give her a kiss for me and I will see you in the morning. Goodnight.” Bill said as he made his way to the door.

“Night, Bill…and thanks.”

He didn’t say anything else just a nod of the head to let me know he heard me.

I grabbed my brief case, turned off the desk lamp and made my way down the hall to one of the unused case prep rooms where we had made a space for Holly to be able to draw and play. She had everything that she needed, there was even an old laptop set up so that she could play her favorite computer games but what was intended to be a temporary situation had turned in to a much too familiar routine for the past year.

Hearing voices, I stopped outside of the prep room door to listen.

“So Holly, who has been in to play with you today?” I wasn’t sure but it sounded like Michelle from accounting’s voice.

“Ms. Sue, Ms. Carol and Mrs. Margaret all came in today.” Holly answered sounding like she was calling out the roll.

“Wow. It must be nice to have so many playmates, huh?” Michelle asked her trying to engage her in conversation and I found myself leaning closer to the door so I could hear her response.

“I guess, but no one really gets to stay very long, ‘bout the time we decide what we are going to play with they have to go, so most times I just play by myself.” My daughter answered with painful nonchalance.

Bill was right. This wasn’t fair to Holly, being raised by secretaries and law interns that were roped into doing so because they were too afraid to piss off the boss. She deserved better. My need to keep her with me because of my fear and lack of trust of anyone else had only managed to put her in the exact situation I tried so desperately to avoid.

I made up my mind. Enough dickin’ around. Hopefully one of the applicants tomorrow would have everything I was looking for and if not I’d go back through the previous applicants in earnest and I’d find someone suitable to take care of Holly.

I peeked around the corner and within seconds two of the most beautiful blue eyes spotted me.

“Daddy!” She screamed as she came running full force and jumped into my arms.

“Hey Precious, are you ready to go get some dinner and head home?”

“Can we get pizza?” If I didn’t know better I would swear the child was part Italian.

“Again? We’ve already had pizza once this week.”

“Please?” Like I could say no to those eyes.

“OK, but this is the last time this week. Deal?”

“Deal!” She squealed as she grabbed her things to leave.

I thanked Michelle for her time and Holly grabbed my hand as we headed to the parking garage.

o~O~o

SPOV

“Look Sam, I don’t want to keep going through this. This is would be the perfect set up for me and you know it. The hours are perfect for my classes; I would be able to give up my apartment and no more late nights working while waiting for ‘last call’ before I could drag my ass home to study. The pay is great, not to mention the fact that I won’t have to pay rent any more…this is a dream job and I can’t understand why you don’t see that.” I was getting frustrated with making my usually understanding fiancé understand the value of this opportunity.

“And just where exactly do I fit in to all of this? Huh? I mean I doubt very seriously your new employer would take kindly to sleepovers between his au pair and her fiancé…and don’t give me that shit about the benefit of giving up your apartment, I’ve been asking you to move in with me for over a year now so that dog don’t hunt.” Sam’s expressions always seemed to turn redneck when he was pissed, but he did have some valid arguments.

Sam and I had started dating halfway through my sophomore year at college. We met through mutual friends and since our group was always together, it was almost seamless to fall into a relationship with him. Our connection was perfect, void of all the drama that appeared to plague the relationships of those around us so when he proposed my senior year it just seemed like the natural next step. Accompanying his proposal was a request for us to live together as it seemed wasteful to pay rent on two places when we were always together at one or the others. And while I had accepted his proposal, I had not yet been willing to move in with him a subject that had become the topic of about 90% of our conversations. Sam couldn’t understand my reluctance and honestly I couldn’t explain it to him, it was just not something I could commit to just yet and I planned to explain it to him as soon as I understood it myself.

“Look Sam, having this discussion is ridiculous. I don’t even have the job yet. It’s just an interview and from what I gathered from the agency this man has already gone through more than a dozen applicants already and hasn’t found anyone to his liking, I have no reason to believe I will fare any better.” I could only hope, but honestly if all these others didn’t have what he was looking for then I doubt very seriously I had anything that would appeal to him either.

“So what time is your interview?” Sam asked now trying to sound like he was being supportive.

“Tomorrow morning at 10:00.” I answered skeptically.

“OK, let’s just talk about something else for now.” Ah, so it wasn’t really support more like a covert way of finding out when to postpone the conversation.

Great, either way, tomorrow is going to suck!

TBC