Epilogue
EPILOGUE
TRAVIS
Years from now, if anyone asked me to describe the most hectic, balls-to-the-wall, insane day of my life, I would tell them about today. Sitting at my desk, I wondered how the hell so many things could go wrong in a handful of hours.
It started with being rear-ended on Wilshire Boulevard. The guy behind me thought I was waiting too long to make a left turn, it seemed. It was irritating enough to throw off my morning schedule, but nothing major.
Then came the call from my office manager just as I reached the office, telling me she found a small deluge raining down on the accounts receivable, accounts payable, and payroll departments when she arrived this morning. The burst pipe meant all of the electronics in that area would have to be replaced, and the employees sitting at those desks moved elsewhere for the time being. The constant hum of equipment as the maintenance crew cleaned up the mess had my head aching way too damn early.
But the cherry on top of the shit sundae was the sudden appearance of my four-year-old daughter minutes before I was due to leave for a lunch meeting. “I am so sorry, Mr. Knight,” her nanny had babbled, flustered and breathless. “But my agent got me an audition in twenty minutes, and I have to be there. I can’t pass it up.”
I hoped for her sake the audition went well because she wouldn’t work for me another day. After I’d fired her, I had my assistant rearrange my schedule while I called my friend, Spencer. “ What’s the name of the agency where you found that part-time girl for Hannah? ” I’d asked, referring to the ten-year-old daughter he shared with his girlfriend, Rowan.
The two of them were devoted parents, but they also had busy careers. The last time they traveled to New York for business, Rowan’s parents were both down with the flu, meaning they had to take the kid with them. Rowan had raved about the nanny they found to cover for them while they were in meetings. I had hope there might actually be a few good ones out there.
He’d texted me the information, and I called immediately. After briefly describing my situation to the agency’s owner, I explained, “I need someone dependable. I’ve been burned by three different girls over the last six months. They tell me they’re in this for the long haul. Then they drop my daughter as soon as something flashier comes along. I can’t afford for this to keep going on.”
“ Mr. Knight, we cater exclusively to parents in your position. ” She’d promised she would send someone to interview in my office within an hour.
And she had. She had sent me someone who looked like a character from a children’s cartoon show. Sitting behind my desk, from which I ran a shipping empire spanning half the globe, I took in the unusual sight of the young woman before me—blonde pigtails, a floral-print sundress, anda pink backpack over her slim shoulders. She could’ve passed for a high schooler, though the information the agency had emailed told me she was twenty-four and a recent grad school graduate.
Her sapphire blue eyes sparkled as she extended a hand across the desk. “Mr. Knight?” she asked in an excruciatingly sunny voice, just slightly more painful than stepping on a Lego in bare feet. “I’m Penny Harmon. Your new nanny.”
That’s what she thought.