Page 8 of Nanny for the Rockstars

“I’m still holding out for Mary Poppins myself,” Terry says.

I roll my eyes at both of them. I’m tired of this, and I’m not very hopeful about any of the candidates. But I’m sticking out the interviews for the sake of Hendrix and my career. If we want to keep doing what we’re doing, we have to find someone.

The next woman walks in, and immediately all our mouths fall open.

“Well,” Julian says as he looks at me and Terry. “Guess the nanny isn’t going to be a stranger after all.”

FOUR

JEANETTE

Iwalked into the room without having any clue what to expect.

Now, I’m standing with wide eyes, staring at the three men who made my life heaven and then hell, just a matter of years ago. They’ve aged, but only like a fine wine. They’ve all gotten hotter, they’re even sexier than when I knew them, and they have that same cocky air to them that I both love and loathe at the same time.

The shocked expressions on their faces tell me they had no idea I was the one they asked to come in for the interview today, and I’m left wondering who’s going to break first. We clearly all know each other, and I’m sure the same thing is happening to them at this moment that’s happening to me.

There’s a short distance I have to walk from the door to where I’m meant to stand for the interview. Something about it reminds me of those reality TV shows where people try to sing or do something else to show judges their talent. Only my judges happen to be the three loves of my life who turned into my worst enemies.

I haven’t thought about them in years, but as I walk the fifteen feet to get to where I’m supposed to stand, my mind races.

A flashback forms, transporting me to ten years ago, all the way back when I was in high school.

I’m walking into school, shy and embarrassed. I don’t feel comfortable in my skin, and I mostly want to be left alone. I’m the definition of a wallflower, and I’m counting the days to graduation. I’ve made it through my freshman and sophomore years, and it’s the beginning of my junior year.

My mom is dead and has been for years, and my dad is an alcoholic who doesn’t do much with me. The only good thing about him is that I don’t have to wind up in foster care as long as he’s alive. Though I do take care of myself entirely and might as well be living on my own.

I’m also counting the days to my eighteenth birthday.

Then I can move out of the shithole he and I live in, and I can start to make something of myself. The only reason I’m going through the torment of finishing high school is to have a fighting chance in life. I don’t want to wind up like my dad, a drug addict high school dropout who hasn’t done anything with his life.

My mom wasn’t much better, but at least I owe her my life. I know she and my father didn’t plan on having me, and I’m pretty sure the only reason she kept me was for the sake of keeping my father around. I promised myself I wouldn’t make the same mistakes, and I avoided any boy in high school like the plague.

Until this fateful day early on in my junior year.

I’m walking through the hall, minding my own business, when I walk right smack into the middle of Julian Simmons’ chest. He’s tall and handsome, lanky due to his age but with promise that he’ll fill out as he gets older. His tousled hair hangs over one eye, and the eye that’s exposed is bright blue and piercing.

In short, he’s like a god.

I can’t find my voice at first, but I manage to stammer an apology and try to turn around to exit the situation as fast as I can—only to run directly into Caleb Simmons, his brother. As they are identical, I’m immediately breathless with the same awestruck amazement all over again, only I’m also dying with embarrassment from having run into one and then the other immediately after.

I try to walk away, but Terry seems to materialize out of thin air, and he smirks at me in a way that makes me melt under his gaze.

I don’t know what the three of them want with me, but I’m immediately bracing myself for them to make fun.

Instead, Julian is the one to speak first.

“Glad to run into you,” he says. “We’ve been looking for you, but you’re remarkably hard to get a hold of.”

“Me?” I ask. “Why?”

“We were wondering if you wanted to go out to see a movie this Friday,” Caleb answers for his brother. “That new horror movie is in theaters, and we were going to go. Figured it would be a fun time if you wanted to join us.”

“You three, and me?” I ask. “Just the four of us?”

“Unless you wanted to bring someone else?” Caleb asks.

“No,” I say with a shake of my head, still uncertain as to whether this is a prank. “I’m just not sure why you three would want to hang out with me, that’s all. Don’t you have popular kids to hang out with?”

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