“Mrs. Mecham smells like cookies,” he said.
“I know she does,” I said, remembering how much I used to love that smell as a kid. “But that’s not the point. The point is, I can’t hire Stephanie to be your nanny.”
“Why not?” He stood up, indignant.
“Because—-”
Because what? Because I have a raging crush on her and I’m worried it will drive me mad being in the same house with her and not being able to act on these feelings? Because she’s the most gorgeous woman I’d ever seen, and the fact that you and her get along so well only makes me want her in my life more? Because I hadn’t been able to get her out of my head for the last year since I saw her sitting in that café?
“Because it’s just not the right fit,” I said.
“What makes you say that?”
Why did I have to have such a curious child? It was moments like this when I thought I should’ve done a better job of not encouraging Will to ask questions so much when he was younger. “It’s just… it’s grown up stuff, okay?”
“You always say that when you just don’t want to tell me the truth.”
“Look, buddy, I don’t even think she wants to work here. I mean, she’s coming from a gig that was a lot different. This house is a lot for some people to just walk into, and she’s going to have to clean it and—”
“Why would she have to clean?” he asked. “We have a maid.”
“I know but…” I didn’t have a way of finishing that sentence however. I’d forgotten who I was talking to for a second and I had backed myself into a corner. Will knew that I didn’t need to hire someone to clean the house, or to polish the silver, cook my dinner, or do the landscaping work. I had a person, or in some cases multiple people, already on staff who took care of all those things. What I did need was simply someone to watch Will. Someone to take care of my son. That’s all Stephanie would be responsible for, and Will knew that.
“Dad,” he said. “I think she’d be a really good nanny. Can we at least give her a chance?”
Unlike the times when Will had begged me for a cellphone, or tried to convince me to let him watch movies that weren’t age appropriate, this request came with a very determined expression. His mouth was a straight line and he wasn’t breaking eye contact with me. Hereallydid like her, and there was no way I could say no to him.
“Okay,” I said eventually. “Okay, that’s fine. We can hire her. On a probationary period though. That way, if it ends up being more work than she wants or something, she can always back out.”
“Yay!” Will threw his arms around my neck. “Thanks Dad. This is great. I’ve never had a babysitter before who liked dinosaurs. Mrs. Mecham pretends like she does, but she doesn’t even know the difference between a pterodactyl and a nemicolopterus.”
“Gee,” I said. “The public school system really failed kids like Mrs. Mecham and me, because I also don’t know the difference between a pterodactyl and a—what did you just say?”
“Anemicolopterus,” he said, slowing down the word this time so I could say it along with him. “It was the smallest of the pterosaurs, it only weighed a few ounces. It was like this big!” He held his fingers less than a foot apart.
“And how big is a pterodactyl?” I asked.
Will put his arms out wide to either side. “Like this big! Or bigger.”
“You mean like this big?” I put my arms out as well and then wrapped my son up in a big hug and picked him up off the couch. “And would they grab their prey like this, isn’t that right?” I swung him around and he laughed and tried to fight me off.
“No!” he said.
“How then?” I asked, flipping him so that his head was hanging upside down. “Like this?”
“No!” he said, he slapped my arm so I knew he wanted to be put down, but he was smiling when I got him upright again on his feet. “A pterodactyl wouldn’t grab something with its arms because it didn’t have arms. It had wings, and it had feet. It would’ve picked up its prey with its feet and dug in with its talons.”
I grimaced. “Brutal.”
“I know,” he said. “It's awesome.”
I reached out and ruffled his hair. “Yeah, I’ll give you that. It’s pretty awesome. Now c’mon, let's go talk to Stephanie and see when she can start.” I opened the door and Will ran out in front of me to deliver the news himself, showing more excitement for a new person in his life than I’d ever seen him exhibit before. It was nice to see that he could trust someone this easily, especially a woman, after everything we’d gone through with his mother. But on the other hand, it was a little unnerving as well. I’d spent the last ten years making sure that I put Will first, happily accepting the role of his one and only parent. I wasn’t used to seeing him form a connection with someone so effortlessly, and I had one moment of feeling like I was at risk of being replaced.
But then I got over it, and did what I had to do, which was what I always did—I put my son first.
I stepped into the living room, stuck a hand out to Stephanie who slid her soft, delicate palm against mine and sent a shiver of incitement down my spine, and tried to give off the impression that this was nothing more than a business transaction.
“Congratulations Ms. Lynn,” I said. “You’re hired.”