“No… that’s for you to keep,” he explains. “You don’t have to return the card. Unless you want to, I mean.”
He shifts from foot to foot, gesturing to a chair for me to sit in. When I do, I notice the stack of papers in front of me.
“This isn’t about the underwear? I mean… did you get a notice from your bank or something about the charges?”
“Charges…” he repeats vaguely then waves his hand in the air when he figures it out. “No, of course not. I trust you to make your own decisions. Absolutely. I’m sure whatever you bought is… completely correct.”
My cheeks burn with embarrassment. “Actually, I can’t wait to show you.”
He clears his throat, looking down. His fingers drum against the pen on the table.
“It’s standard procedure for us to have a contract, I’m sure you understand. We’ve prepared this for you. I prepared this for you. If you’d like to have a lawyer of your own look it over, I completely understand. Or of course I could find someone for you at no charge, of course.”
“Oh! A contract?” I chirp, too excited to contain myself. “Is this it? Gosh, it’s a lot of pages. Did you guys each have to write your own section or something?”
I start to giggle, but then stop when I see his expression.
“Spencer? Is everything all right?”
He clears his throat again. “To summarize, this is a standard employment contract for your services as nanny. We’ll provide you monthly compensation that I hope you think is generous. In addition, you’ll be granted the apartment to share with Sophia. Days off are negotiable, but you will be assumed to be her primary caregiver, of course.”
“Of course,” I agree. Thinking about that chubby little darling makes me smile all over again.
“The Black Card, as I mentioned, is yours to use for expenses related to you or Sophia, at your discretion. We will audit it on a yearly basis, but please don’t feel like that’s intended to be punitive in any way.”
“Punitive?”
He glances up at me apologetically. “Er, it’s not meant to be a punishment. It’s just for accounting.”
“Ah, I understand.”
I reach out to tap his hand in a friendly way, and he withdraws it, almost wincing. I try to catch his eye again, but he won’t look up.
“Much of the rest of this has to do with general instructions on Sophia’s care. Guarantees for your expenses for travel. Outlines of possible international travel… Wait, do you have a passport by any chance?”
“Spencer, what’s wrong?”
“Actually, it doesn’t matter. I can get the passport expedited for you. We don’t have any international travel planned for—”
“Spencer? What’s going on?”
He flips open the stack of papers to the end, where there is a little plastic flag stuck to the page I am supposed to sign.
He’s acting so strange, I really don’t know what to make of it. I’m excited to get the job, but something’s missing. Something is off. Something is…
“Nanny?” I finally ask. “Are there more sections in here for… the rest of it? The rest of us?”
He finally meets my eyes, pressing his lips together into a thin line. He breathes through his nose for several seconds while some silent communication passes between us that I don’t understand.
“Sully asked that I extend to you an offer of employment… for nanny.”
I’m confused, looking around for an explanation.
“Well, are there more papers? I mean, you guys made it sound like Sophia’s mother had to go through a background check with the FBI. Is this it?”
“This is… it.”
My mouth falls open. It suddenly starts to come together.