Chapter 15
Solo had been nervous before, like when she’d jumped out of a plane for the first time in the Army, when she’d presented her first custom paint job to a client, and when she’d told Janie she wanted to have kids.
But standing in their living room now, looking across the lawn and waiting for Janie to arrive for the nanny interviews, made all of those things child’s play.
Gabe had insisted she take the day off work, so Solo had cleaned the house twice, changed her shirt three times, and made sure the triplets were dressed in actual matching outfits instead of the chaotic mix-and-match situation that had been happening more often than not since Janie had left.
A couple of times this week, she and her dad had a little trouble with the triplets’ color-coding.
Luckily, Tia was already pretty independent about her fashion choices.
She’d thrown a fit when Solo had held up both the purple and the green sneakers.
“You’re going to wear a hole in the floor,” her dad said from the couch, where he was reading to the girls from a picture book about trucks. Tia sat in his lap, taking the prime position like the prima donna she was, while Luna and Chloe flanked him on either side, unusually still.
She turned to face him. “I’m not pacing.”
Her dad scoffed. “You’ve checked that window four times in the last five minutes.”
Solo forced herself to move away from the window. “I just want this to go well.”
“It will.” Her dad looked at her over the top of his reading glasses with that knowing expression. “You’re not just talking about the interviews, are you?”
Before she could answer, Janie pulled up in front of their house. Solo’s heart thudded against her chest. “She’s here.”
Her dad waved her away with his free hand. “Then go let her in before you explode.”
Solo was at the door before Janie had even made it up the path.
She opened it without considering that she didn’t need to.
This was Janie’s house, and she could let herself in.
But she’d given up her key. Whatever, it was too late and it would be too weird if she closed it now that Janie had reached the threshold and was looking up at her from the bottom of the steps.
God, she looked beautiful in a pair of simple black skinny jeans and that soft blue sweater Solo had always loved on her.
Had Janie chosen it because of that? Solo stepped aside before it got any more awkward.
“Hi, I’m glad you made it,” she said, then wished she hadn’t.
Maybe her tone sounded too accusatory, like she’d expected Janie not to show, to decide work was more important than choosing a person to take care of their children.
“You sound less surprised about that than I feel,” Janie said. She laughed lightly and averted her gaze, suggesting she might be just as anxious about tonight as Solo was.
“You nearly didn’t come?” Solo asked, wishing she’d had the courage to kiss her wife’s cheek.
“We’re hip-deep in a new class-action suit on behalf of hundreds of authors.” Janie shrugged elegantly. “It might end up being thousands. So it’s all hands on deck and a lot of late nights.”
Solo closed the door and leaned against it while Janie removed her shoes.
She’d forgotten how much she loved to watch the ritual, and better still, she took it as a sign that Janie still considered this to be her home.
She’d missed the sound of Janie’s bare feet against their wooden flooring, announcing her presence before she was anywhere near Solo.
“This isn’t causing any problems for you, is it?
” She didn’t much care for Janie’s boss, but Janie’s job was an important part of her identity, and it kept the triplets in diapers and dinosaur nuggets.
Janie placed her heels against the stairs and shook her head. “I explained to Phillip why I needed the time, and I’ve been putting in more hours than anyone else. He was fine about it.”
Solo raised her eyebrows. Janie had always been very strict about keeping her personal and business life separate. “You’ve told him what’s going on? With us? With your mom?”
Janie huffed. “Of course not. I just said we needed to interview for a new nanny because our previous one left without giving us any notice.” She placed her phone and handbag on the table by the door. “He’s a big fan of my mother, and I don’t want him running back to her, trying to score—”
Janie was cut off by three small bodies launching themselves at her legs.
“Mommy! Mommy!”
Janie seemed to hesitate for a second before she dropped to her knees and gathered all three girls into her arms, her expression transforming into something that made Solo’s chest ache.
This was what she remembered Janie looking like when she was happy, surrounded by their daughters, laughing as they competed for her attention.
“I missed you guys so much,” Janie said, kissing their heads in turn. “Have you been good for Mama and Grandpa?”
“I paint!” Tia said, puffing her chest and smiling widely.
Janie stroked Tia’s cheek. “And it was beautiful. Mama sent me pictures.”
Tia tugged on Janie’s skirt and tried to pull her toward the living room. “Mommy see.”
Janie allowed herself to be woman-handled by the triplets but glanced back at Solo. “It’s still there?”
Solo rubbed her hand across the back of her head and chewed on her top lip. “Yeah. I wanted you to see it in person.” She thought Janie’s eyes got a little shiny for a moment, but she was already focused on their babies as she was dragged away, and Solo couldn’t be sure.
Her dad came over after greeting Janie with an awkward-looking hug. “I’m going to take the girls to the den. It’ll give you two some space for the interviews, and you can bring them in to meet the girls at the end. If you want.”
“Thanks, Dad.”
“Slugger?” He waited until she looked at him and squeezed her shoulder. “Breathe. You’re doing great.”
She nodded, not trusting herself to respond in case she got all weird, then helped him take the girls out of the way. Neither she nor Janie had any hope of concentrating on what anyone else was saying if the triplets were in the room.
They’d just gotten back to the living room when the first candidate arrived. Clara was a woman in her forties with an impressive resume and impeccable references that the agency had already checked out. She sat across from Solo at the kitchen table.
Janie slid onto the chair beside Solo. She took her mug in one hand and placed the other on the table between them. Solo looked at her slender fingers and shivered at the memory of when Janie had last touched her. Too long ago. And all the blame lay at Solo’s feet for that.
“So, Clara,” Solo said, “will you tell us about your experience?”
Clara launched into a detailed description of her work with twins and triplets over the past fifteen years. She was thorough, professional, and warm without being overly familiar. On paper, she was perfect.
Could they be that lucky to find the right person so quickly?
“What’s your approach to discipline?” Janie asked.
Solo glanced at her, grateful for the question. They needed someone whose philosophy aligned with theirs, and Janie had always been the one to keep the girls in line, while Solo was a soft touch. And boy, did Tia know it.
“I believe in natural consequences and positive reinforcement,” Clara said. “Toddlers are still learning about the world, so I prefer redirection over punishment.”
Solo liked the sound of that. Natural consequences were great as long as the situation wasn’t dangerous, but she and Janie would never let anything bad happen. “What about nap schedules? Our girls are pretty routine-oriented.”
Clara nodded. “I’m a big believer in consistent schedules. Especially at this age. Structure helps them feel secure.”
They talked about logistics, meal preparation, and emergency procedures. Clara answered everything competently and asked intelligent questions about the girls’ individual personalities and preferences, and how Solo and Janie told them apart since they were identical.
When she left, they sat in silence for a moment.
“She was great, right?” Solo straightened Clara’s resume and slipped it to the bottom of the paperwork on the other possible nannies.
Janie wrinkled her nose slightly. “Yeah.”
“You didn’t like her?” Solo asked.
“No, I did. She’s just...” Janie gazed out of the kitchen window and tapped the table lightly with her nails.
She couldn’t be searching for words. Janie’s grasp of language was one of the things Solo loved about her, and she always knew the exact thing to say and the perfect way to say it. So she took another sip of coffee and waited.
“She’s very ‘by-the-book.’ I think she’ll follow all the nanny rules perfectly, but I doubt she’ll connect with the girls.” Janie turned sideways in her seat and looked at Solo. “She didn’t have much personality, and Tia won’t stand for that.”
Something warm and squishy unfurled in Solo’s chest. She loved how Janie knew exactly what the girls’ emotional needs were, not just whether someone could keep them alive and fed.
Usually, Janie had to focus on practical solutions because Solo was too busy with the touchy-feely stuff.
“You’re right,” she said. “She was a little...beige.”
“Yes, beige.” Janie touched Solo’s arm lightly and too briefly. “And sterile.”
“That’s the word.” She pulled out Clara’s paperwork again and tossed it in the recycling. “Should we see how the rest go?” she asked, enjoying spending time with her wife, despite the challenging situation.
Janie’s answering smile filled the kitchen like sunlight after a storm.
Candidate two was Louise, a bubbly woman in her late twenties who’d been a kindergarten teacher before switching to private childcare. She was enthusiastic and sweet, but halfway through the interview, Chloe wandered in with Solo’s dad and immediately hid behind Janie’s leg when she saw Louise.