THEO
A soft knock landed on my office door on Thursday morning, just as I was finishing a set of notes for an upcoming deposition.
“Come in,” I called, looking toward the glass door.
“You got another application for the nanny position this morning. It looks promising, so I moved it to the top of the stack.”
“Right.” I blinked at her, my brain struggling to catch up. “The nanny position.” I’d somehow spaced the fact that I still needed to fill it.
This whole week had hit like a freight train—court hearings, client calls stacked on top of each other, early mornings prepping cases. I’d barely had time to eat lunch, much less figure out who was going to take care of my daughter next week.
And with Nora taking such effortless care of Charlotte, I’d all but forgotten it wasn’t her actual job.
Linda lowered herself into the chair across from me. “Since your current sitter is only scheduled through tomorrow, I wanted to check in. Do you want me to start arranging interviews?”
I blew out a breath, rubbing the tight spot between my brows. “Let me look through the applications over lunch. I’ll let you know.”
“Of course.” She nodded, brisk and efficient as she handed me the folder. “I put the strongest candidates at the top. Background checks are included.”
“Thank you.”
An hour later, I finally had time to look at the first application. It was from a woman in her fifties with good experience and strong references. The second was decent, too.
Then I got to the third application.
At first, I thought I’d imagined the name at the top.
Nora Miller.
A double take. A squint. A small, disbelieving laugh.
No way.
I scanned farther down the page and… yep. Not a coincidence. A photo of Nora appeared next to her résumé, bright smile, auburn curls, the whole thing. The same woman who’d been watching Charlotte all week.
Warmth spread through my chest before I could stop it.
Because if this was real and not a practical joke from Linda, Nora would actually be perfect.
I grabbed my phone and typed out a message before I could talk myself out of it.
Me: Hey, I was just looking through the applications for the nanny job and saw you applied. Are you actually interested? Because if so, I’d definitely love to talk about this tonight when I get home.
I stared at the screen, heart pounding as I waited.
A few minutes later, my phone buzzed.
Nora: I didn’t want you to feel obligated in case you have other candidates you like better. And I didn’t want to assume you’d want me just because I’m helping you this week. But I’m honestly interested. It’s been fun watching Charlotte. Really rewarding.
I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding.
Me: That’s great. If you don’t mind staying later, maybe we can talk tonight. Stay for dinner? We can go over details.
Nora: Sounds great. Thanks for actually considering me.
Me: I’d be a fool not to.
The table was already set when I stepped into my kitchen later that night. Three plates. Napkins. Water glasses and a small plastic cup for Charlotte. And something delicious-smelling—roasted chicken with vegetables, by the looks of it—rested on a trivet in the center of the table.
Nora stood at the stove, giving the gravy one last stir before turning toward me with a soft smile. “Perfect timing.”
“Looks like it,” I said, smiling appreciatively as I gave Charlotte, who sat on a barstool at the counter coloring, a quick kiss on the forehead. “Thanks for cooking.”
“I’m happy to,” Nora said, turning off the stove and taking the gravy to the table.
I set my leather bag on the stool next to Charlotte, draped my suit coat over the back, then washed my hands at the sink.
“Are you excited to have Nora eat with us tonight?” I asked Charlotte, who was watching me from across the island.
“Yes,” she said with a wide, toothy grin. “She says if I try two bites of chicken and green beans, I get dessert.”
“Oh really?” I lifted a brow.
“I hope that’s okay,” Nora said, tucking a curl behind her ear as she met my eyes. “I know bribing with dessert isn’t ideal, but she helped me make the brownies so…”
“If it gets her to eat green beans, I fully support it,” I said, chuckling as I turned off the water and dried my hands. “And brownies sound incredible.”
“They’re from a box,” she said with a laugh. “So don’t get too excited.”
“Hey.” I held up my hands. “Anything that requires a bowl and an oven qualifies as gourmet in my book.”
“Then prepare to be impressed.” Looking at Charlotte, she added, “Especially since Charlotte did an excellent job mixing the batter.”
I glanced at my daughter just in time to see her chest puff with pride.
“Well then,” I said. “I bet they’ll be extra delicious.”
We sat down together. Charlotte and I in our usual spots, Nora just to my left.
I dished up small portions for Charlotte and then much bigger portions for myself and Nora.
I passed the plates, the quiet sounds of dinner settling in around us.
Forks clinked. Steam curled up from the food. Charlotte hummed happily as she dug in.
I took my first bite and immediately had to restrain myself from groaning. My housekeeper had been prepping my meals for close to two years, ever since the first fall after Alisha had passed and my sister Lucy had moved out to live near campus with Nora.
But there was just something about eating a meal fresh out of the oven that always made it better.
“Thanks again for heating this all up. I can’t tell you how nice it is to have a hot meal when I get home from work.”
“Did your old nanny not cook the food for you?” Nora asked, a small frown creasing her brow.
“She did,” I said, after I swallowed a bite of chicken.
“But she and Charlotte usually ate around five, so I always had to reheat mine when I got home from work.” But I didn’t want to seem unappreciative of what the last nanny had done, so I quickly added, “Charlotte doesn’t always have the patience to wait, and I’m sure it might’ve been awkward for the nanny to eat with me since we didn’t really know each other.
But…” I glanced around the table. “This is nice.”
“I’m glad you like it.” Nora’s expression softened.
“My mom always thought it was important to eat as a family as often as we could growing up—something she said she wished she’d done with my older sister when she’d been at home.
So, I thought it would be nice for you and Charlotte since you only get so much time together with your busy schedule. ”
“Well, I appreciate it,” I said, meaning it. Then I found myself asking, “But how did I never know you had an older sister? For some reason, I always thought it was just you and Ky.”
“That’s what most people think.” She sighed, giving me a faint smile. “It’s… kind of a complicated dynamic.”
“Oh?” But since I definitely understood how talking about family and home life could bring up emotions we didn’t always want to dive into, I added, “Y-you don’t have to explain, if you don’t want.”
“It’s okay,” she said, setting her fork down. “My sister’s a lot older than me. She was nineteen when I was born.”
“That’s a pretty big age gap.”
It did make sense—when I met Nora’s parents at the college gymnastics meets she and my sister had competed at together, they had seemed quite a bit older than my own parents. Probably in their late sixties.
“Did Lucy never tell you that Ky and I are adopted?” she asked gently.
I frowned, searching my memory. “I don’t think so.”
Which surprised me since I’d always thought Nora looked so much like her mom. Same curls. Same freckles dusted across her nose. And Ky had his dad’s build and sharp jawline.
“My parents were actually my grandparents originally,” she explained, seeming to read the confusion on my face. “My sister is my biological mother. Her name is Becca.”
“Ohhh.” I nodded, the pieces starting to make sense.
“Becca got pregnant with Ky when she was fourteen,” she said. “She and Ky lived at home the first few years of his life, but after high school, she took Ky with her to Georgia to move in with a guy she met online.”
“That’s quite a ways from home,” I said, surprised, since moving away from family with such a young child would have been out of the question for me. “Don’t your parents live in Massachusetts or something?”
“They live in Amherst.” She nodded. “So yeah, it was a big move. My parents didn’t see Ky or Becca for a few years after that. They didn’t even know I existed until I was two.”
“That’s pretty young to be on your own with two kids,” I said. “I had a hard enough time suddenly taking care of one kid when I was twenty-eight.”
“She wasn’t exactly the best-equipped parent,” Nora said, swallowing and looking down at her plate. “Hence the reason why she lost her parental rights.”
“That makes sense,” I said, feeling bad for making the comparison, since of course the scenarios were different. “Sorry.”
She chuckled. “Don’t be.”
“Did she hurt you or Ky?” I asked, worried. “Is that why she lost her rights?”
Then, glancing at Charlotte briefly, I wondered if this was the kind of conversation we should be having in front of her.
People didn’t just lose their parental rights for nothing.
“I don’t remember a ton from that time,” Nora said.
“Like I said, I was only two when we were adopted. Ky was seven so he remembers more. But…” She glanced at Charlotte then, as if trying to find a kid-friendly way to explain her story.
“I guess you could say she got lost in her demons…” She put a hand to the side of her mouth to keep Charlotte from seeing her lips as she mouthed what looked like the word drugs.
“And CPS had to get involved after a neighbor reported that Ky and I were being left alone for days.”
“Oh man,” I said, shaking my head. “I-I had no idea.”
“Not many people do.” She shrugged. “Anyway, once my parents got contacted by CPS, they took us in and adopted us as soon as they could. Ky and I called them “Mom” and “Dad” since the beginning, so most people just assume they had us later in life—especially because we look enough like them. It’s not usually worth going into the details of how our parents were originally our grandma and grandpa. ”
“Is Becca still part of your life at all?” I asked.
“Not anymore.” She swallowed and poked at a green bean on her plate. “She came in and out of our lives a few times before I was in high school. But we haven’t had contact with her since then.”
From her expression, I assumed there was probably more to that story, but since she wasn’t offering details on why they had no contact, I decided not to push her.
I took a sip of water, then set my glass down.
“So,” I said, deciding to shift us toward the conversation I’d originally planned to have over dinner.
“I know we briefly texted about the nanny job earlier this afternoon, but I hope you know that if I’d realized you were at all interested in staying on more permanently, I would’ve been happy to talk about it sooner.
” I paused, searching her face momentarily.
“That is, if you’re still interested in the official nanny job and Charlotte didn’t scare you off with any tantrums this afternoon. ”
She laughed at my attempt at a joke, a cute smile lifting the corner of her lips. “I’m still interested.”
“It’s a long-term position, just so you know,” I said more seriously. “Ideally, whoever I hire will stay until Charlotte starts kindergarten. So at least two more years.” I hesitated, not wanting to scare her off. “It’s important to me that she has stability.”
Charlotte had already enough tragedy in her little lifetime. If I could give her some semblance of normalcy and routine, it would be amazing.
“Totally understandable,” Nora said, glancing at Charlotte and giving her a small smile like she somehow knew exactly what I’d been thinking.
She cleared her throat. “I want to stay in Eden Falls. And my minor was in early childhood development, so…” She tilted her head and lifted a shoulder.
“This job would actually be a pretty good fit for that. And honestly, I’ve been thinking about getting my master’s degree anyway since I’ve been realizing it would probably help on the job front.
So this might actually be a good time to do both. ”
“Well, that’s kind of perfect then, isn’t it?” I blinked, surprised by her answer. “Also, I had no idea you minored in early childhood development.”
“I did.” She nodded. “I’ve always loved working with kids. And even if I didn’t pursue a career with children, with the instability that Ky and I had during my first few years, I always wanted to make sure I was at least a little more prepared to be a mom than Becca was.”
“That’s actually really cool,” I said, my chest warming at the thought that something that must have been really hard in her past had motivated her in such a deep way to do what she could to be better equipped for her future family.
She had just barely graduated from college but was already way more ahead in that regard than I’d been at that age.
“And it definitely bumps you up the list of candidates,” I said. “You’re even more qualified than I thought.”
“Oh really?” she asked, her eyes lighting up like she actually did want the job.
“Plus,” I said, a smile tugging at my mouth before I could stop it, “there’s also the small fact that Charlotte adores you.”
Her smile broadened. “So you’re saying I might actually have a chance at getting the job?”
“If you’re serious about staying on…” I set my fork down, leaning back slightly. “I’d love to offer you the position right now. It saves me the headache of interviewing people I don’t know when I already trust you—and when I already know Charlotte’s given her stamp of approval.”
“Really?” Her brown eyes brightened with excitement.
“Really,” I said.
“Yay!” Her smile bloomed fully then—real, unguarded, and ridiculously contagious.
And when Charlotte sent Nora a celebratory grin over her plate, I couldn’t help thinking this was the best and easiest decision I’d made all week.