Page 3 of Six of Hearts
Noah nodded. "It wasn't entirely clear from the job description, by design, but this position isn't just to look after my kids, it's to become the official nanny of, what I call, The Dad Squad."
Everything Noah said and did was surprising, but this caught me completely off guard. "The Dad Squad?”
"I'm not sure what it is, but single fathers tend to gravitate towards one another. In my life, I have crossed paths with five other gentlemen who are all in positions similar to myself. We've all found ourselves raising our children alone, and we all have very successful careers that demand a lot of our attention. We had been finding nannies on our own, but we found that a lot of our nannies were doing similar things at similar times, and that there were always a few of us who were struggling to find a nanny we could trust."
Noah took a drink of his water.
"We were also spending a lot of money. So, we decided to switch it up. We pooled our resources and made sure our kids' schedules were conducive to one another, and decided to vet one really good nanny to take care of all of them.”
My mind was racing, trying to process what he was telling me. Multiple families? That was significantly more complex than I'd anticipated.
"Am I the first one to try it?" I asked.
"No," Noah said.
"There were two before you, but they weren't great. They were glorified babysitters, and we like your education and passion for children.”
I took a deep breath. It sounded intense. Six families as opposed to one was way more than I signed up for.
"How many kids in total?"
"Seven," Noah responded.
"My two boys, aged six, another six-year-old boy, a five-year-old boy, and two six-year-old girls."
"Wow," I responded breathlessly.
"I know it's a lot of work for one person, but they all go to the same school, and we've done a pretty good job of aligning their after-school activities so that they're manageable. You'll rarely have all seven kids all at once, but rather about half of them from day to day." He raised an eyebrow. "Before you make a decision, I'll tell you, we respect the size of the job, and need someone we can trust, so we each pool in $1250 a month for your payment.”
My jaw dropped. "You pool together $1250?" Surely, that's what he meant to say.
He chuckled. "No. We each contribute $1250. The total monthly pay for this position is $7500.”
I sat in silence for a moment, trying to keep my expression professional even as my heart raced. That was more than double what I'd expected. More than triple, actually. That was life-changing money.
"One of us owns an accounting firm, so if you need it, he can add you as an employee to his company so that you'll be eligible for benefits as well. Obviously, if you're going to be caring for our kids, we want you healthy.”
$7,500 and benefits? I could pay off my credit cards. Get ahead on my student loans. Actually have savings.
"There will also be bonuses and incentives along the way, and we'll pay you overtime for nights and weekends.”
I finally released the breath I didn't realise I'd been holding.
"Well, I'm not going to lie to you, that's an incredibly generous offer. Almost suspiciously generous.”
Noah let out a laugh. "I understand why you might think that, but I promise, this operation is completely legitimate. You see, we all have very high-profile jobs. We're CEOs, we own financial institutions, I work for the entire city of Dallas. These aren't just anyone's children. We want the very best for our children, and we expect that the person caring for them is of the highest quality and is willing to do anything to make them happy. To that end, we offer a very generous salary, but make no mistake, we will make you work for it.”
There was a hint of something in his tone when he said the last sentence that I couldn't quite put my finger on, but even with that, his explanation made sense.
Celebrities and athletes had nannies to care for their children too; certainly they made more than the run-of-the-mill nanny.These men weren't famous, but they were wealthy enough, and Noah wasn't lying when he said that their jobs were high-profile.
"Certainly we don't want you taking the position just because it pays well, but we wanted you to know that we're willing to pay handsomely for the right person," Noah said.
I nodded my head. They'd done that certainly. "I assume it's an all-day position?" I asked.
Noah smiled broadly. "You would think, but no, actually. Your shift will begin once the kids get out of school, which is at 3:00, and you'll have them until their activities are done for the day, usually around 7:00."
My eyes widened. That salary for four hours a day?
