2. Penny
PENNY
T his was going to work.
I practically had the job in the bag.
So long as I dealt mostly with the charming, clever little girl and not her father.
I must’ve done something to rub him the wrong way since he looked at me like I was the enemy.
Like he wasn’t the one who needed help. And he obviously did.
This was a busy company I’d walked into earlier, and it was kind of chaotic.
It wasn’t the place for a four-year-old to be hanging around.
Even though he would be the one paying for my services, I was sort of in charge here. I held all the cards. I had to keep reminding myself of that, or else the weird looks he kept giving me would get under my skin and dig away at my self-confidence.
“Are you gonna be my new nanny?” Sofia was easily the most adorable kid I had met in a long time.
She had gorgeous olive skin and a crown of soft, brown curls I would love to get my hands on if given the chance.
I always wanted to try out those curly hair tutorials online, but my hair was the exact opposite.
I could barely get a curl to hold for five minutes.
I needed to get a hold of myself before I got too attached, but I couldn’t help it.
Even with the weird, snotty attitude from her father, I had a good feeling.
There was an instant rapport between us.
She was smart, she seemed well-behaved. When we came to the corner of Wilshire and Beverly, she reached up and took her father’s hand when crossing.
“Look both ways, Dad,” she reminded him.
What was their story? The only thing I learned at the agency was that Travis Knight owned a big shipping company, a single parent, and had complained to Mrs. Forrest that his previous nannies were all unreliable.
She had also mentioned him describing Sofia as highly intelligent, requiring a nanny who could meet her educational needs.
My credentials checked that box, unlike the other available candidates at the agency.
“ These are the sorts of people who are this agency’s bread and butter, ” Mrs. Forrest had reminded me over the phone. “ It’s important we leave them with a good impression. Word travels fast in these social circles. ”
I had never exactly been part of a social circle, so I didn’t quite know how that felt, but I got the idea.
It definitely seemed like he raised her well. He was involved with her life. She was polite and sweet, and she had a great vocabulary—all signs pointing to somebody taking the time to teach her well.
The ice cream shop sat in the middle of a row of businesses arranged around a central plaza. A fountain shot jets of water into the air while kids played, chasing each other around it, trying to splash each other when their moms weren’t looking.
“They have real ice cream here.” Sofia wrinkled her nose as we approached the colorful shop, with the two of them walking in front of me while I observed. “I don’t like that stuff Marissa tried to make me eat.”
Travis glanced back at me. “Ex-nanny,” he explained. He then looked down at Sofia. “They probably have the fake stuff here, too, but you can get some actual ice cream. Okay?”
There were dairy-free alternatives among the flavors lined up in the freezer case, but there was full-fat ice cream too. “I like chocolate peanut butter,” I told Sofia as we studied the colorful choices. “What’s your favorite?”
“Mint chocolate chip.” She looked up at her father, eyes shining. The kid knew she had him wrapped around her finger. “Can I get a scoop? Please?”
“Sure thing,” he told her, though he seemed a little distracted, flustered. “Whatever Penny would like too.”
“Thank you,” I murmured, ordering a scoop of chocolate peanut butter in a cup. Looking at Sofia, I explained, “Ice cream cones can be so messy, and I don’t want to get anything on my dress.”
“It’s a pretty dress,” she said with a sigh, reaching out to touch the soft fabric before pulling her hand back. “Sometimes I drip on my clothes, so I wear a napkin up here.” She patted her collarbone, then pointed at me. “You should try that!”
“I will.” I winked, and she giggled, and her father sighed softly without saying a word. What was his problem? He was obviously grumpy. How had he raised such a happy little ray of sunshine with that kind of attitude?
Once we got our ice cream, we went back outside and found an empty table. Sofia sat between us, swinging her feet happily after carefully tucking a napkin into the neck of her T-shirt. “See? It really works,” she told me, digging in with abandon.
“Let’s see if it helps me.” I tucked a napkin into the neckline of my dress, then took the first spoonful of my scoop. “Wow, this is delicious,” I declared.
“Do you go to school?” Sofia asked.
“Not anymore. I just graduated a little while ago.”
“You’re lucky.” When I lifted my eyebrows, she explained, “I don’t like school very much.”
“It’s a little problem we’ve run into this year,” Travis explained. He was fairly checked out of our little interaction, sitting back with a bottle of water after passing on the ice cream. With a body like his, I could imagine him being super health-conscious.
All right, maybe it wasn’t cool to notice his body when I was interviewing for a job with him, but I had eyes.
I couldn’t miss the broad, thick shoulders under his button-down shirt.
Rolled-up sleeves gave me a look at his tanned, strong forearms. And I had definitely noticed his ass while we were walking. It was worth noticing.
I had to remind myself what I was here for, snapping out of it and turning back to Sofia.
She was demolishing her ice cream and loving every second of it.
I hoped she would always attack the things she loved with that kind of passion.
“What is it you don’t like?” I asked, keeping it casual as I took another spoonful.
“I know when I was your age, I didn’t like it when people called on me to give answers, and then everybody would look at me and wait for me to talk. It would freak me out.”
“That’s okay,” she mused, stabbing at what was left of her scoop like she was an archaeologist digging for an artifact and not a chocolate chip. “I like to give the answers. I raise my hand!”
She demonstrated for us but, unfortunately, chose the hand that was holding her spoon. “Careful there,” Travis warned, gently taking the spoon from her before she sent any more flecks of pale green flying in all directions.
“Sorry. So then, the teacher calls my name, and I answer, but then everybody looks at me like this.” She folded her arms, wrinkled her nose, and gave me what could only be described as a stink eye.
“Oh, I’m sorry. That’s no fun.” I sighed, shaking my head.
“And I tell them, if you know the answer, you should raise your hand too. But they don’t.” She shook her head mournfully, taking her spoon back and sinking it into her cup. “It’s dumb.”
Travis was watching me, waiting to see what I would say. He probably thought he was pretty slick, testing me.
“Sometimes,” I offered. “People get upset when there’s somebody who isn’t afraid to speak up and answer questions and be heard.
That’s because they might be a little nervous themselves.
Do you know what I mean? Then they see somebody like you who isn’t nervous, and they wish they could be more like you, but they don’t know how to say that, so it comes out the wrong way. ”
“Is that true, Daddy?” She blinked up at him, and it was pretty obvious from the way her voice changed that, as far as she was concerned, he hung the moon and stars. That was another good sign.
“I think so,” he agreed. It was another good sign that he put the water aside and turned his full intention on her.
She had his eyes, hazel flecked with green and brown.
“Don’t ever let anybody make you feel bad for not staying quiet just because they say so.
” He held up a finger, though, and touched it to the tip of her nose.
“Just like you don’t make anybody feel bad if they don’t know the answer. Right?”
“Right,” she solemnly agreed.
“Because not everybody is going to know things as fast as you do.” This was starting to sound like a conversation they’d had before.
Maybe Sofia would benefit from testing to place her in advanced classes.
I made a mental note to approach the idea.
Now that it was summer and school probably wouldn’t be in for another couple of months, there would be time for that.
Here I was, thinking about the future like the job was mine. I wanted it to be, but it wasn’t up to me. He’d be an idiot if he didn’t hire me, but he still looked at me like I was an alien life form he couldn’t identify.
When he wasn’t looking, I dabbed at my mouth and chin with my makeshift bib in case I had dripped something on my face. I knew I wasn’t imagining things.
“Oh! There’s Ava! From school.” Sofia waved an arm overhead, and I followed her line of sight to find a little girl riding a scooter around the fountain. When she waved happily, I guessed not all of the kids in Sofia’s class thought she was pesky. “Can I go say hi?”
Travis sized up the situation and nodded. She would only be a handful of feet away from us. “Go ahead. But stay where we can see each other.”
“Do you wanna come?” Sofia asked me as she hopped up from her chair and wiped her mouth.
“I think Penny and I will talk for a little while,” Travis decided. “Go ahead. But be careful,” he called out after her since she was already running away.
“She’s too adorable,” I told him right away. “And so smart.”
“Too smart for her own good sometimes,” he agreed with a chagrined chuckle. “Four going on forty.”
“I definitely got that impression. I’m sure she keeps you on your toes.”