I show Carly to the living room and ask her to wait there while I go and get Olivia in from the back garden where she’s playing with Marie.

“Do you want me to hang around?” Marie asks. “I don’t mind looking after her for the rest of the day while you do these interviews.”

“That’s okay. This is the only interview.”

“You’re kidding. I thought you’d get hundreds of replies.”

I sigh with a hint of frustration. Marie likes to pretend my past doesn’t matter, but we’ve had this conversation far too many times now. “You know why not many people applied.”

“They’re not going to know who you are from a job advert,” Marie replies.

“I included my name and address. I didn’t want to waste time with people who thought they wanted the job only to back out when they find out who I am. Better they google me before applying.”

“In that case, I hope this one is good.”

“She is,” I reply.

She’s perfect. Her charm is effortless, and I already know Olivia is going to love her. Most sitters I hire act like they’ve been taught how to behave around children, instead of letting it come naturally. They’re always trying to teach Olivia numbers or the alphabet instead of having fun with her. I don’t need my daughter to be able to count at two years old or write words on her third birthday just because some study says that’s a good age to start. I’d prefer Olivia to have fun or be creative. She’s too young to be worrying about math.

I choose to take Carly’s relative lack of experience as a blessing. In fact, I’m already convinced Carly is perfect for the job.

There’s one minor drawback. I’d quite like to fuck her. Carly’s sweater does little to hide her generous chest, and her wide hips had me salivating the entire time we were sat in my office. All the questions I planned to ask went out of my head and I couldn’t think of anything to say. She probably thinks I’m an idiot. That doesn’t matter—this is about Olivia, not me getting some.

I say goodbye to Marie and carry Olivia into the living room where Carly is waiting patiently. The sun shines into the living room in the mornings, so it’s warm in here and Carly has taken her sweater off. I underestimated her breasts. They’re large and firm—even better than what my imagination had concocted.

“Carly, this is Olivia. Olivia, this is Carly.”

“Hello, Olivia,” Carly says kindly, but without putting on the baby voice that most sitters use. That’s a good start. “What have you got there?” Carly points at a book in Olivia’s hand.

“Moo cow book,” Olivia replies, passing the book to Carly. “It’s about a moo cow who is friends with a pig and they escape the farm and go to the shops where they meet a girl who takes them to her home and they have lots of fun and then go back to the farm.”

“She’s awful for spoilers,” I say.

Carly smiles at me and then looks back to Olivia. “This book sounds like fun. Can I read it?”

“Okay,” Olivia says, passing the book to Carly. Olivia tries to climb up onto the sofa. Carly watches her carefully, but she lets Olivia do it herself even though it takes some time.

“Shall we read it together?” Carly asks. Olivia nods and sits close to Carly who holds the book between them.

Olivia listens intently as Carly reads the story and I mouth along subconsciously. Carly manages to maintain her enthusiasm throughout which is more than I can usually manage. She even puts on different voices for all the characters, and her ‘moo cow’ is particularly amusing to Olivia judging by the giggling.

They look cute together. Is there much more I need to worry about? She’s been vetted, albeit that was a few years ago, and she has a letter of recommendation from her last client.

“Read it again,” Olivia says once the story is finished.

“Do you like the adventures of pig and moo cow?” Carly asks.

“Yeah. They have fun and do silly things.”

“Well how about we make up some stories of our own?”

“Okay.”

“Do you have any coloring pens and some paper?”

Olivia looks up at me. “You have some in your play box, sweetie,” I tell her. “Why don’t you show Carly to your room?”

Carly picks Olivia up and heads up the stairs following Olivia’s vague directions. Carly’s perfect for the job, but she might not want it when I tell her. I have to tell her. She clearly doesn’t know. I thought everyone did a google search on potential employers these days. Carly didn’t. She has no idea what happened here, or what I did.

I head up the stairs a few minutes later and find Olivia drawing what I think is a pig, although it’s just a big circle at the moment.

“Job’s yours if you want it,” I say.

“Wow, really?” Carly replies, momentarily distracted from story time with Olivia. “Thank you so much.”

No, thank you.

“When can you start?”

“I’ll finish off my shifts at New River this week, so I can start on Monday.”

“That would be great.” Please don’t google my name in the meantime. “Olivia, let’s give Carly a tour of the house. She’s going to be looking after you.”

I hold Olivia as we walk around the top floor. There’s not much to show up here other than Olivia’s room, but there is one important point I need to mention.

“This room is out of bounds,” I say near the locked door. “Sorry to sound weird, but you’re not to go in this one.”

“Oh. Okay.”

Carly sounds suspicious, but not enough to make a big deal out of it. Mind you, that’s how the last one sounded and she ended up snooping through my stuff and going into the room anyway. Fingers crossed, Carly is more obedient. She looks like she can follow orders, but maybe I’m still thinking about the girl I met at the party. She’s been on my mind way too much later. Those perfect breasts, that sweet pussy, the timid little moans of pleasure. God damn, she was a fucking delight. She bailed, but that just means she needs more training. I’m a good teacher.

“What’s the scope of my responsibilities?” Carly asks. “Other than keeping an eye on this little bundle of joy, of course.”

“I’m busy at work right now, so I’ll need you to keep on top of chores like laundry and keeping the place clean.”

“What about cooking?”

“Can you cook?”

“Uh, I can learn.”

She’s eager to please. I like that. “I’ll leave money for food, but I can cook if need be. And I don’t want to keep you here any longer than necessary. The second I’m home, you’re more than welcome to leave. If you stay, I’ll pay you extra.”

“Thank you. What do you do for a living?”

“I run a company that manufactures camera equipment. The expensive stuff that only major movie studios can afford. It’s not exactly glamorous, but it does mean I get to meet famous actors once in a while.”

“You must be busy.”

“Yeah, busier than I’d like. I’d love to spend more time with this little one, but it’s good that she interacts with strangers. Speaking of which, I’d like you to take her to the park once in a while to mix with other kids.”

“Will do.”

Whenever I take Olivia to the park I spend the entire time fending off horny moms. Or avoiding stares from women who know who I am. It gets tiresome after a while. Olivia will have more fun with Carly—she doesn’t have baggage. People don’t look at her and see a murderer.