Chapter 15

Summer

I was really relieved that Tyler had to run into the office the next day, and I could do some of the initial interviews of the new nannies. I’d talked it over with the agency and knew exactly the sort of woman that would work best for the position. Now I just had to spend some time interviewing them.

Having the current nanny help to hire the next nanny might have been a little weird, but I thought it was a really good idea. I knew the kids really well, and I knew what sort of person would fit in best with them.

There were four interviews lined up for the day, but I had gone through the list of people and meticulously picked who I wanted to interview. Each of the potential nannies had to be absolutely perfect before I was going to bother to do an interview with them at all.

The first woman showed up for the interview fifteen minutes late. She had already lost my vote when she didn’t even apologize for being late. She simply shrugged her shoulders and came in like nothing had happened at all. I humored her and did the interview since she was there, and the next one didn’t start for an hour, but it was pointless. Every answer she gave was tainted by my thoughts of how she hadn’t even acknowledged that she was late.

The second interview of the day went much better. Her name was Kimberly, and she brought two little toys for the kids from Australia. We talked for the entire hour about her husband and children and how they had recently moved to the neighborhood from Australia. She was a good interviewee as she also had some questions prepared and asked them about the children and the job. Obviously, with a family of her own, she wasn’t interested in living in the house, but since she only lived a mile down the road, it didn’t seem like that would be too much of an issue. I put a big star next to her file as soon as she left. I liked her a lot.

The third and fourth women that I interviewed both sort of blended together. There wasn’t anything super special about them, and I couldn’t even remember why I had picked them out of all the other resumes I’d reviewed. Each of them answered the questions appropriately and probably would have done a fine job as a nanny, but they didn’t feel like the right fit for Tyler and the kids.

It was an odd feeling to be interviewing the woman who would take your job, but I was alright with it. My new agent had already lined up three gigs for me, and people were looking at my profile more and more. It hadn’t been long at all, and I already felt excited about finally going after my dream of being a model.

I wasn’t delusional about it, though. I knew I’d have to start making plans for my long-term future. But I was alright with hanging out and having some fun while I made those plans. Being a nanny had been the hardest job I could remember doing, but successfully figuring the job out was really rewarding. I had much more confidence than I had in the past and felt like I could handle anything the modeling world threw at me.

After I’d finished the interviews for the day, I drove to the kids’ school to pick them up. I was an expert at getting around the streets in that area now and navigating the school line. It was even comedic to me how nervous I used to be doing this same process that now came easily to me.

“Summer!” The kids yelled as I stopped in front of the school and they jumped in.

“Hey guys, how was school?”

“Boring as usual,” Faith said.

“I had fun,” Thomas added.

That was pretty normal for the two of them. If one of them liked something, then the other one didn’t like it at all. Basically, they never wanted to fully agree on anything. We stopped to get an ice cream on the way home so I could talk to them a little more about me leaving.

It wasn’t going to be a surprise this time, and we had talked several times while Tyler was at his work event. I wanted them to be totally prepared for their emotions and for the stress that came with breaking in a new nanny. Our learning curve together had taken a little bit of time, and I knew it would be similar with the new woman. But if they were prepared ahead of time, I hoped that would help their anxiety.

“So is today your last day?” Faith asked as she looked grumpily at me.

“No, I think I’ll probably work through the end of this week.”

“Are you leaving for good this time?”

She was so angry at me, and it broke my heart. I loved her a lot, and I didn’t want to hurt her, but I just couldn’t stay working as their nanny. No matter what had gone on between Tyler and me, working for him wasn’t the answer, and I was sure of that.

I was starting to have my own career now, and that meant I needed to take the time to run after my own dreams. This was such an exciting time in my life that I really was excited, even if it meant I had to deal with some heartache that came along with the excitement.

“Yes, this time I am leaving as your nanny for good. But we can still be friends. I’ll call and check in on you, and you can tell me all about school and soccer and everything else you have going on.”

“Are you leaving because Dad was mean to you?” Faith asked with a stern face. “He didn’t mean it. We will make him apologize.”

“No honey, your dad didn’t have anything to do with this decision. I am working on some of my own dreams, and that means I’m not going to have time to be your nanny.”

Faith softened up a little bit while she finished her ice cream, but I was pretty sure she wasn’t happy with me at all. It was uncomfortable, and I didn’t like that feeling, but it was much better than when I had just left and had to tell them all of a sudden. That day had been horrible and made me feel bad for what I was doing to them.

We stopped off at their favorite playground on the way home and played for a little while to get some of their energy out before heading home. I really just wanted them to have an amazing last day with me and remember how much I cared about them.

I had already sent Kimberly a text message to see if she could come back over for a visit later this evening. Nothing too major – just an opportunity for her to meet with the kids and Tyler while I was there to help break the ice a little.

It was nerve-wracking to think that this woman might be the one taking over my job, and that I could move on and follow my dreams. I’d never been so close to my dreams while also having so many positive people around me and feeling like I was actually being responsible and doing what was right for the people I cared about and not just for myself.

Sleeping with Tyler wasn’t planned, and I had only decided to do it after seeing him and realizing just how much I missed him. Watching the kids love on him when he got home from his trip and seeing how much he truly missed them had been absolutely adorable.

I wouldn’t take back our last evening together for anything, though. I knew he was probably thinking that I was going to stick around, and we could date and have this fabulous relationship, and I had those thoughts too at one point, but I changed my mind. I wasn’t the type of girl who could just forget about things very easily, and I honestly knew that I’d always be thinking about how we met and the animosity I had over being his nanny and falling for him.

One of the things my father taught me when I was younger was that you had to know when a situation wasn’t working any longer. He had taught me in relation to business when he was making me go with him to his office and trying to get me to learn his company. But some of the things stuck with me, and I had thought about them throughout the years.

He said that ending a business relationship could happen on good terms or bad and that all depended on timing. If you had time to plan a good exit, then you could maintain the business relationship down the road. However, if you were emotional and left suddenly, it was burning a bridge that you might need later on.

At the time, I have to admit, my father’s wisdom was lost on me. I’d forgotten all about it until I stormed out of Tyler’s house and quit during our argument. But I was seeing now that my father was a smart man, and his advice rang really true.

We pulled up to the house, and my stomach fluttered with nerves. It was going to come as a surprise to Tyler that I’d actually interviewed some nannies. He and I had briefly talked about me doing the interviews when I agreed to come back, but we hadn’t discussed it since then, and I had a feeling he was going to be a little bit angry about the whole thing.

I was nervous as I didn’t know whether I was going to be able to maintain my cool and keep this interaction as positive as possible. The way I handled everything in the next few hours was going to determine if the kids and Tyler liked this woman, and if they decided to hire her.

“Be extra nice to your dad tonight, okay guys?” I said as they ran inside.

Tyler was already home, which was pretty unusual. He’d talked about slowing down a bit after getting home, and I liked that he was actually doing it and making an effort to be home for the kids. Although I did plan on working the rest of the week, I was hoping I would get to work with Kimberly so I could train her and help with the transition. That meant I had to have Tyler and the kids meet her tonight and see if they were ready to hire her.

I stood in the entryway as the kids played and hugged on their dad. Tyler was by far the most gorgeous man I’d laid eyes on in such a long time. He wasn’t just handsome because of his good looks, though. My feelings toward him made me like him much more than I had when we first met. But my feelings didn’t matter right now because for the first time in my life I wasn’t thinking about myself and was actually thinking about what would be best for Tyler and the kids. A nanny who could just be the nanny was what they needed.

“Hey guys, why don’t you go change into your swim suits and we will run outside in the sprinkler for a little bit tonight,” I said as I motioned for them to head upstairs.

The look in Tyler’s eye made me think he knew that something was up. He waited until the kids were upstairs and then moved closer to me and leaned in to kiss me. I wanted to kiss Tyler, as I loved kissing him. But not now, my feelings were too much, and I honestly believed this thing between the two of us just wasn’t going to work.

“What’s going on?” Tyler asked as he felt I was pulling away from him.

“So today I did some interviews for your new nanny,” I said with a playful smile trying to lighten the mood a little bit. “Don’t get mad, though. I just wanted to surprise you by taking the pressure off and finding someone that I could train and make sure the transition went really smoothly.”

He was caught off guard but still not angry. Things were going better than I had hoped as he smiled back at me and waited for me to continue with what I was saying. My nerves were getting the better of me, and I felt my hands starting to shake as I continued.

“I found a woman that is lovely. She lives just down the street with her husband and two children. She would not be able to live here, but I don’t think that is a requirement, is it?”

“No,” Tyler shook his head as he looked skeptically at me.

“So her name is Kimberly, and she’s from Australia, and I invited her to come over for dinner tonight. It’s just an informal thing so everyone can meet her and see what your feelings are.”

Tyler didn’t answer me. His stare got more intense, and he pressed his lips together like he wanted to say something but was holding back. I was okay with that. If Tyler would just give my plan a chance, I knew it was going to be best for the kids.

“Okay,” he finally said.

“Okay?” I replied excitedly and gave him a hug. “You are going to love her so much. I think this is going to be such a good matchup for you all. The kids are getting bigger, and they don’t need someone here all the time. You guys could probably manage the mornings together, and she could just start after school if you wanted to. That would save you money, not that you need to save money. But you know what I mean.”

“Summer, it’s okay. I’m happy to meet her, and I like that you’ll be around to train her. Then you and I can explore this,” he said as he pointed to me and then himself. “I’d really like to explore what we have going on.”

This was the point where I had to lie. If I had told Tyler right then and there that I wasn’t planning on dating him, our night would have gone horribly. Instead, I told a lie of omission as I moved the conversation forward and didn’t respond at all to what he was saying.

“Kimberly is going to be here in a half hour. We can all play outside for a little bit, and then you could prepare some of your amazing barbecue?”

“Sounds like a plan,” he said as we went into the kitchen to start marinating the meat.

I stayed as silent as possible throughout the evening and allowed Tyler and the kids to interact with Kimberly. She fit in well with everyone, and the kids liked her right away. I think because she was a mother herself, she was at ease around the children and looked much more comfortable playing with them than I ever had.

While we all ate dinner, the kids asked Kimberly tons of questions, and even Tyler had a few questions of his own. It was delightful to see the relationship blooming among everyone and really put me at ease over the decision I’d made.

“So how do you like Kimberly?” I asked the kids while they were helping me put the dishes in the sink.

“She’s really nice,” Faith said. “I think she will be nice to us.”

“Yeah, she seems a lot nicer than I am.” I laughed.

“No,” Thomas said as he hugged me. “You’re still my favorite.”

“Thanks, buddy.” I hugged him back and kneeled down to talk to him. “Remember, I’m still going to be your friend no matter what.”

“I remember.”

“Okay, let’s get the ice cream and ask Kimberly if she wants to be your new nanny.”

I brought the ice cream out and gave it to Tyler to start scooping. As I stood next to him, I felt his hand gently touch mine, and it made me so sad. I liked him and cared about him a lot, but it wouldn’t work between us. We just weren’t right for one another, or maybe the situation and the timing wasn’t right.

“Do you think Kimberly will work? The kids like her, and I like her.”

“Yeah, are you going to train her for a week or so?”

“Yep, I’ll stay for a week and teach her as much as I can. Then I have some exciting modeling jobs, so I’ll get to do some traveling for a little bit,” I said as I started to introduce the idea that I wasn’t going to be around.

“So when can we go out on our official date?”

I paused for a long time as I took the ice cream bowls to the kids and tried to avoid answering Tyler right then and there. I really wanted to finish this dinner up with Kimberly before Tyler and I had our conversation.

“Kimberly, so how would you feel about starting some training tomorrow?” I said avoiding Tyler’s question altogether.

“Yes, I think that would be lovely.”

“Welcome aboard,” Tyler said as he shook her hand, and we all sat down to eat our ice cream.

He was staring at me from across the table, and I knew he felt the tension between the two of us building. We finished our ice cream, and the kids and I walked Kimberly to the door and said our goodbyes. We made plans to meet up in the early afternoon the next day so I could go over some of the things around the house first and then take Kimberly with me to pick the kids up from the school.

The second the front door closed, I knew Tyler wanted to talk to me. He came straight up to me and stood there like he was waiting for me to tell him an answer right away.

“Hey guys,” he said to the kids. “Go get in the showers. One upstairs and one downstairs.” The kids did as he asked and ran to the bathrooms, which left me standing alone with Tyler in the living room. “What’s going on?” he asked with a suspicion that I was keeping something from him.

“I like you Tyler. I really do, and I don’t want this to seem like something weird.”

“What?”

“I’m going to concentrate on my career for a little bit.”

“That’s great. I’m excited for you. I like Kimberly, and the kids do too. This sounds like something exciting. So why do you not look excited? Why do you look like there’s something bad that you need to tell me?”

“I don’t think you and I should date,” I said as I looked away from him. “I’m going to concentrate on my career.”

Tyler looked at me angrily and then walked away. He walked into the kitchen and then back to me as if he was trying to find the words for what he wanted to say to me. Clearly, he was not happy about my decision, and his pacing back and forth continued for a good five minutes before he finally stopped and said something to me.

“Okay, we can talk down the road. I wish you all the best in your career.”

“That’s it? There’s nothing else you want to say?”

“Nope. Thank you for staying on this week to train the new nanny. I appreciate it, and I know the kids do as well. I’m going to go tuck them in now,” he said and went upstairs without giving me a hug or anything.