Page 53 of The Nanny and the Nerd
“Yes, it’s an actual job, Mom,” she replied, wishing she hadn’t picked up.
“And what about the writing contest? Have you abandoned that?” the woman fussed.
Penny clenched her jaw as she pulled the contest entry form, her wallet, and the fancy phone Rowen had given her out of her bag. Clicking the internet icon, she entered the contest’s entry webpage address into the browser window. Like a preteen, after sucking down a venti mocha latte, she banged out her name, contact information and filled in the payment portion. She had plenty of money in her account. She could totally cover it. Theclick-here-to-enterbutton pulsed as if it were purposefully taunting her, jeering at her from somewhere in cyberspace.
She nibbled her lip.
Did she have the guts to enter?
“Penelope?” her mother chided.
Penny glared at the screen, then jammed her finger against theenter-herebutton. “There! I did it! I entered the writing contest! Are you happy, Mom? I know it’s not brain surgery or quantum physics, but it’s done.”
“I don’t understand why I have to hear news about my youngest daughter’s life from her friends! When were you going to tell me?” her mother lamented as the swish of shifting papers came through the line.
Like one of Pavlov’s dogs, Penny knew what was coming. “I planned on telling you the next time you called with another inspirational quote,” she deadpanned.
“Lucky for you, I do have one,” her mother countered, oblivious to her youngest daughter’s attempt at sarcasm. “It’s Thomas Edison, again. Remember, he’s the man who—”
“I know who Thomas Edison is,” she grumbled, cutting off her mother.
“Here it is,” the woman began, clearing her throat. “I have not failed. I’ve just found ten thousand ways that won’t work. It’s quite fitting, don’t you think, Penelope?”
“Why would you say that, Mom?” she asked and instantly wished she hadn’t.
“It’s you, Penelope. You’ve got failing down to a tee. Now it’s time to find what works. I’m not sure that the answer is accepting a position as a nanny, but this might be one of your failures that will eventually lead to success.”
Penny closed her eyes and bumped her head on the steering wheel. “I have to go.”
“To write? To browse business schools?” her mother chimed.
This woman! How could she think she was helping?
“Mom,” she tried, but the woman bulldozed over her.
“One last thing, honey. I’ll be leaving to visit your sisters tomorrow. I’m flying around the world to visit Diana in New Zealand first for three weeks, and then on to Switzerland to visit Claudia for three weeks as well.”
The annual pilgrimage! The upside of her mother’s trip was that she’d barely hear from her over the next six weeks. The negative? Once she returned, she’d be telling wonder twin tales for the next six months.
“Be safe and tell Diana and Claudia hello for me. I called them a few weeks ago, but I never heard back,” she answered.
Her mother’s flowery laugh cut through the line. “Honey, they’re so busy, thriving at the top of their fields. They can’t always get right back to you.”
Heat rose to her cheeks. She hated how her mother got under her skin!
“Goodbye,” she snapped, flipping her phone closed, then tossing it into her bag. Anger and frustration burned inside of her. She felt like…like…
Stupid writer’s block!
Unable to put anything into words these days, Penny parted her lips and released a primal shriek—the shriek of every stifled creative person who had a nincompoop of a mother and an MIA boss who kissed like he’d been born to do it. She inhaled an angry breath, preparing to let loose again when a sharp tap on her window caught her attention. She flicked her gaze, then screamed again as an older gentleman stared back at her.
“I wanted to make sure you were okay, miss. I didn’t mean to frighten you,” the man said, taking a step back.
“I…” she stammered, her heart racing.
She couldn’t blame the man for being concerned. She was screaming inside of a Lamborghini. As posh as the Crystal Creek neighborhood was, there was a limit on what people could do inside a luxury vehicle.
The man bent down. “I’m Chuck. I play dominoes in the park. I recognized you. You walked through the park a week ago. You work for Rowen Gale, right?”
