Page 6 of The Single Dad Dilemma

“Hello,” she says, in a cheerful tone. “I’m Laura Conlin.”

“Hi. Ridge Jessup.”

She pulls my hand in for a firm shake, which is already a huge improvement over the last lady. Taking a seat in front of me, she pulls out a notepad and pen, which also seems like a very good sign.

“So it says here you’ve been a nanny for the same family for the past five years. May I ask why you’re moving on from them now?”

“May I be completely honest with you?” she asks.

“Um, sure,” I say. “Always.”

“I fell in love with the dad,” she says. “And we had an affair.”

Oh shit.Jesus, she just said that, didn’t she?

“And so the wife fired me,” she says. “And he stopped talking to me.”

Why is she telling me this? She should stop talking.

“I’m going to miss the kid,” she says.

Oh, well, that’s a nice sentiment.

“I had started to think of myself as his stepmom, so it was like losing a child,” she says, clutching her chest.

And there it is. My creep-meter just went way the fuck off.

“So you would be like my stepmom?” Lou’s head pops up from her coloring book, staring up at this woman in front of me with a curious expression.

Oh. My. God.

“Maybe,” Laura says.

She looks back at me with what can only be described as “fuck me” eyes. I might be out of the game, but I know that look. I get it sometimes when I’m in the grocery store with Lou or pushing her on the swing at the park.

Before she can say anything else, I thank Laura for her time and tell her I wish her the absolute best recovering from her heartbreak and the loss of her child. I didn’t really know what else to say.

When NanniesRUs said they do background checks, I guess that only really catches the crazies that have been in trouble with the law. It’s obvious I’m going to have to weed out the other kind.

“I didn’t like her either,” Lou says. “She seemed more interested in playing with you than me. I want someone who wants to play with me.”

I really wish she hadn’t said literally any of that. My cheeks are hot and I feel pain behind my left eye. That’s a stress headache, for sure.

Once Lou’s attention is back on her coloring book, I rifle through the stack of papers on my desk as I try to find the resume for the next candidate. If the dates on her job history are any indication, Anita Caldwell is the oldest of the candidates today. Maybe that means she’ll be a little more grounded and proper. She’s at least fifty, so maybe her eyes are all done fucking people.

Several minutes tick by. And then several more. Ten minutes after the appointment was supposed to start, an email dings on my computer screen, and I open it to find a message from Anita.

Dear Mr. Jessup,

I’m sorry but I can’t attend the interview today. I came to the address you provided and it was a tattoo shop. The idea of being in such a place makes me very uncomfortable. I would urge you to stop associating with tattooed people immediately. For the sake of your child.

She goes on for a few more sentences about how she can connect me with some fine male members of her church to mentor me into making better decisions. She also says she’ll pray for my soul in her nightly prayers.

Honestly, that’s not surprising. It’s not the first time either. There’s always one in every bunch who treats me like this. And compared to the rest of today, it barely registers on my scale of shock. Laura still holds the title.

I don’t bother responding and turn my attention to the stack of papers in front of me. I sort through them for the last resume of the day. What was the name? Danielle? Diane? Ah, here it is. Darcy.

Wanting to spare myself from any more surprises, I read over her education and job history with a fine-tooth comb. In fact, I read it twice, trying to use some kind of sixth sense to sniff out anything amiss.

---