I locked eyes with her. “Really?”
Jordan nodded. “Yeah. It’s like I said, I want to be immersed with kids. What better way to do it than with seven babies as opposed to two?”
She smiled and it took everything in me not to lean across and kiss her. I was hopeful that she would be open to being our shared lover as well as our shared nanny, but I was so relieved that she was willing to be our nanny, that I didn’t want to risk it by proposing anything additional for the time being. I reached into the desk drawer on my left and pulled out the file I had of the Single Dad Club kids’ dietary restrictions, extra-curricular activities, allergies, meds, and each of their father’s descriptions of their quirks and personalities.
“I’m thrilled you’re willing to do it.” I handed the folder over to Jordan. “Here’s everything you need to know about the kids. Obviously, you’ll learn the most about them by interacting with them, but this will give you an idea about their schedules and what their individual needs are.”
Jordan nodded. “Excellent. I’ll study it tonight. When would you like me to start?”
“If you can take some time to read it over this week and then give me a call with any questions by Friday afternoon. If you’re comfortable with it, we’ll have you meet them after we pick them up from school on Friday. We’ll also give you the keys to the Stan Van,” I said.
Jordan snickered a minute, and it hit me that I just threw one of the kids’ phrases at her with no explanation. “The what?”
“The Stan Van,” I repeated, imagining the twins cracking up as I said it. “When we first decided to combine our nannies into one position, we bought a van for the nanny to use. I handed the keys to the nanny and made a Freudian slip, calling it a ‘Stan’ not a ‘Van.’ The kids thought it was hysterical, and so it became the ‘Stan Van.’”
Jordan giggled. “That’s so cute.”
“You’ll have the van at your disposal. Feel free to use it for whatever needs you have so long as you’re getting the kids where they need to go, and we’ll make sure it gets a full tank of gas over the weekend so you’re good to go on Monday,” I told her.
She nodded. “Wonderful. It sounds like you guys really have done everything to make things go smoothly.”
“Well, we’ve done what we can, but we’re glad we have you to come in and do what we can’t for them,” I responded, and I meant it. Our kids deserved a woman in their lives. I stood up and held out a hand for her to shake. “Welcome to the family.”
Jordan stood up, clutching the folder close to her chest. She took my hand, and I tried to keep my body from setting ablaze at her soft skin. “Thank you. I’m happy to help.”
Not as happy as we will be if we can get you play house with us too, I thought to myself as I led her out of her office and down to her car, wondering how I was going to go about getting her to sign on for daddy care too.
3
Harrison
My whole body was buzzing with excitement at the thought that we finally had a new nanny, and if we were lucky, one that wouldn’t just look after our kids, but us too. Ethan was a reserved and resigned kind of guy, and didn’t often show excitement, but his voice bubbled with something when he called me to tell me that I needed to pick up Oliver and Cade and head over immediately to discuss. He couldn’t stop talking about how gorgeous and smart she was, saying that she was going to be perfect for the kids.
It wasn’t as if I didn’t think that was important, but I wanted to know how perfect she was going to be for us too. He hadn’t made any mention of what she thought of the other half of our arrangement, and it made me fearful that she wasn’t okay with it.
“For fuck’s sake, I hope this one sticks,” Oliver spat out. “I’m sick of the revolving door, and I know Ty is too. These kids deserve something stable, you know? And we do too.”
Oliver was the brute among us. He was different from me in almost every way he could be. We were both tall, but he still towered over me at 6’2” compared to my 5’11” and he had light blond, feathery hair, which was much different from my dark brown buzz cut. He was a cop and truly believed that some problems required a bit of violence to solve, while I was a firm believer that there was a logical solution to everything. That aside, he felt like a brother to me, even though he didn’t realize I’d previously been a navy seal and worked in the FBI.