Chapter 17 #2
“So, was the game as exciting in person as it was on TV?” Avery asks.
“It was. I hadn’t watched hockey in almost fifteen years,” Petra says, and this info is new to me. But it makes sense, given that she didn’t know I was playing in New York. She would have had to be actively avoiding hockey to not know this.
“Like, hadn’t watched it even on TV?” Avery scrunches up her eyebrows, obviously wondering how Petra hadn’t ever watched the sport I play professionally.
“Yeah, I . . .” She pauses. “I was kind of anti-hockey for a while.”
“Oh,” Avery says, and even though she clearly wants to ask more questions, she glances at me and then changes the subject. “So, my friend Taryn and I are going out for drinks on Thursday night. Would you want to join us?”
“Oh,” Petra says, disappointment tinging her voice. “I’d love to, but I can’t. Aleksandr’s in Philly still, that’ll be game 5. I’ll be here watching it with Stella.”
I weigh the fact that Petra sounds like she does want to see Avery again before I open my mouth.
Hopefully that wasn’t Petra trying to bow out of plans gracefully, because if so, this is going to piss her off.
“You guys could always meet here. Plenty of drink options and you can watch the game together.”
“I love that idea!” Petra says. “If you want to,” she adds quickly, glancing at Avery.
“Of course I want to. That sounds perfect.”
“Great, I might invite my friend Emily too,” Petra adds.
On the promise of future plans, Tom says they need to get going. He mentions an early morning meeting, but I’m not fooled for a second because I recognize the way he’s looking at Avery. It’s exactly the way I’m looking at Petra—like I can’t wait to get her naked and on her back.
“I do have my own place in the Village, so I wouldn’t need to live here full time,” the second nanny we’re interviewing this morning says after we finish giving her the tour.
So far, the interview’s gone very well. I can tell by her body language that Petra thinks this girl is the one.
With the first candidate, we didn’t even bother showing her around because it was obvious we weren’t going to hire her.
“I’m happy to stay here overnight whenever necessary, but I do find that it’s also good for everyone to have their own space. ”
I consider what she’s saying. “That’s great,” I agree.
Natasha was such a godsend those first few months Stella was with me, and I don’t think I could have done the parenting thing without her.
But Stella and I are settling into a routine now and it would probably be awkward to have a nanny here when I didn’t need her.
And even though what I’ll be paying her could warrant a 24/7 work schedule, I know that’s not a healthy expectation either.
“I’m just at the beginning of the playoffs now, and God willing, I’ll be playing for another month or more.
But then, summer should actually be much lighter in terms of how often I need you.
Things will pick up dramatically when the season starts up again, but I generally have the schedule well in advance so we can see all the time I’ll need you here late for home games, or for a few days and nights when we are traveling.
Depending on the schedule, sometimes we’re on the road for a week or more at a time. Will that work okay?”
She nods. “It will.”
“Discretion is critical,” Petra says. “That NDA you signed when you arrived is in place because Aleksandr is very private and Stella is still adjusting to this living situation, and it’s essential that her new normal not be upset.
Can you truly handle not telling anyone—your roommates, your family—who you are nannying for? ”
“I don’t have roommates or a family, and I can definitely avoid telling my friends.”
I watch the way Petra’s eyebrows knit together. “I’m not trying to pry,” she says. “But if you’re going to have such close access to this family, I do need to know what your situation is? How does a young woman like you live in the Village without roommates? And do you really not have any family?”
Raina, the potential nanny in question, steels her shoulders as she opens her mouth to respond.
“My parents died in a plane crash in Alaska when I was a teenager, so I moved in with my aunt, who had a brownstone in the Village that she’d inherited when their parents passed.
It had been in my dad’s family for generations.
My mom was an only child and her parents had already died by then, so it was literally just me and my aunt.
She passed away from cancer a year ago. The reason I never finished at Columbia was because she got sick my junior year, and I had to take a leave of absence my senior year to take care of her. ”
Petra looks at me, her eyes wide, then looks back at the girl. “Will you excuse us for a minute?”
She nods, looking nervous, like she’s said too much even though all she did was give us the honest answer to Petra’s somewhat invasive question.
Petra stands and I follow her to the living room and then out to the entry.
“Hire her.” The words are out of her mouth in a whispered, frantic plea the minute we’re out of earshot.
“Without checking her references?” I ask. This seems very unlike Petra.
“Of course I want you to check her references.” She uses her hand to sweep the air like she’s shooing away that ridiculous notion. “But as long as they check out, this is our girl.”
God, I love the way she’s been using “we” during the interview and is saying “our” right now.
But I need to not focus on that, because when we woke up this morning she had a text from her assistant about her flight home on Sunday.
I need to accept that she’s leaving. I need to prepare Stella.
And then I need to figure out how to get her back here as soon, and for as long, as possible.
“What makes you so sure this is the one?”
“She’s so chill. Like I could see her taking everything in stride—Stella’s huge personality, your very public career, the erratic schedule.
And most importantly, the fact that she lost her parents when she was younger means she will have empathy for what Stella’s gone through, unlike Irina.
” A shudder runs through Petra at the mention of the almost-nanny.
“I think she’ll be fine,” I say.
“That’s it?” Her whisper makes it sound like she’s hissing this question at me. Is my agreeing with her pissing her off?
“I agree with what you’re saying about why she’s a good fit.” I shrug. “And I could see her here in our lives. I feel like she’d be very easy to get along with and not, I don’t know, not take up too much space, you know?”
Her eyes narrow. “What do you mean by ‘not take up too much space’?”
I’m not sure why this is the wrong thing to have said, but I can tell by her response that it is.
“I . . .” I pause, considering my words.
“I feel like Irina would have inserted herself into everything, insisting that her way was the only way. It would have been like living with a tyrant. Raina seems like the exact opposite. Like she’ll be flexible and easy to be around, but firm enough with Stella when needed.
I’m not worried that if I’m home while she’s here with Stella, that she’ll be trying to nanny me too. ”
Petra swallows. “Okay.”
“Why, what did you think I was saying?”
“I don’t know,” she says, looking off down the hallway behind me. I hate it when she won’t meet my eye. “I’m just sensitive to the idea that women ‘shouldn’t take up too much space.’ That phrase is used often to try and keep women in small boxes so their successes don’t threaten men.”
I put my hands on her shoulders and wait until she looks up at me. “You do know that’s not what I meant, right?”
“I do now,” she says. “Let’s not keep Raina waiting.
” With that, she steps away and walks past me.
Then she turns around quickly. “But when you offer her the job, can you make it contingent on her finishing up at Columbia? Stella is in school for six hours a day. She should at least be able to take some classes, even if not a full load. That degree is the key for her future, so she has options.”
It occurs to me then that I don’t think Petra ever went to college, and I wonder if she’s somehow insecure about that fact. “Okay, but I didn’t go to college,” I remind her.
“You’re a professional athlete.” She rolls her eyes. “Your career wasn’t dependent on it, and you’re set for the future with what you’ve earned so far.” She’s not wrong.
“What about you?” I ask.
“I supported myself with skiing and the endorsements that came along with it, and then modeled when skiing was over. I saved enough money from modeling to start my own business. Most people don’t have that luxury either.”
I want to ask her so many questions about how she got where she is, about her father, and if he got to see her successes before he died, about where she’s going from here. But she turns and walks back into the living room and I have no choice but to follow her.
“Thanks for your patience,” Petra says to Raina when we each take our seats.
“Of course,” she says.
Petra gives me a pointed look.
“We’d like to offer you the job,” I start. “As long as your references check out. I can make the calls this morning.”
“Thank you so much,” she gushes, the excitement evident in her voice.
“There are a couple conditions though, so I want to make sure you’re okay with them before I start making calls.”
She gives a definitive nod and says “Okay,” but her face drains of color. What the hell does she think I’m going to suggest?