Chapter 2

Tyler

“Get your darn backpacks already you two,” I yelled as I stood at the front door. “If we are late, I’m telling your principal it was because you two are the naughtiest kids in the world.”

“Dad! You just woke us up two minutes ago,” Thomas said as he came down the hallway. “I’m going to tell Mrs. Phillips that you woke us up late,” he said with a huge smile.

“I think she’ll believe us over you, Dad,” Faith added as she joined us in the entryway. “We are the best-behaved kids in school. Mrs. Phillips loves us.”

“Foiled again,” I said dramatically as I held the door open for them to head out to our car. “Remember to put your seatbelts on, and take your backpacks off. Seatbelts don’t work if you’re wearing your backpack. And did you get your lunches? Wait, did I make your lunches? Darn, I didn’t, did I?”

Faith and Thomas were already in the car as I stood in the doorway and tried to decide if it was better to take the time and make their lunches or try and get to school. Since we were already running late, I decided we had to get going, and I’d just let them eat lunch at school that day.

“Mom used to make our lunches the night before,” Faith said while we drove to school.

“Um, what was the name of the last nanny?” I asked. “Rosanne, Rita? Rachel, that was it. How did she do it?”

“She made our lunches before she woke us up. Then she made us breakfast because it’s not good to go to school on an empty stomach,” Thomas added. “I get tired when I don’t eat breakfast before school.”

“Breakfast, that’s what I forgot. It’s okay; we will swing by fast food and get you something real quick.”

Faith and Thomas both smiled in the back seat as if they had just won a victory over me. The truth was they had been winning victories over me for the last three years since my wife Claire had passed away.

We got their breakfast, and by the time we arrived at the school, the normally hectic drop off line was non-existent. I loathed the morning drop off and pick up procedure at Oakwood Christian Academy. The complex process and long list of rules were nearly impossible to remember, and I was constantly getting yelled at by the staff whenever I had to do it.

“Are you hiring a new babysitter today?” Faith asked while we ran into the building.

“I’ll start the process.”

“Maybe you should stop yelling at them and being mean so they would stay around?”

“Maybe you should just worry about being an adorable eight-year-old and leave the nanny hiring to your old dad?”

My kids were still pretty angry with me for not being able to keep a nanny around. They had liked all the ladies we hired over the last few years. It was always me who had issues with the children’s care, and I just couldn’t sit back and not tell the nanny what I thought. Honesty was a value I cherished, and being honest with the nannies was the best way for them to learn how I liked to have things done around the house.

“Bye Dad,” Thomas yelled as he ran off to his classroom and didn’t wait for me to sign him in.

“Hi, sorry. Faith and Thomas English are here,” I said to the front secretary as I signed the tardy sheet. “I apologize.”

“Oh, it’s alright Mr. English. We all know how hard it’s been for you and the kids since … well, you know. I must say you look like you’re doing very well, though.”

“Thank you, Ginger, that’s very nice of you,” I said and then turned to Faith. “I’ll be here at three-thirty to pick you up. Check the back of the line though because these moms arrive way too early for me to keep up with them.”

“Come on honey, I’ll walk you down to class,” Ginger said as she waved at me and even gave me a little wink.

The staff at Oakwood had been amazing to us over the last three years as I adjusted to learning how to navigate being a single father. For many years, I just got smiles and waves from the ladies, but lately, it had turned into full-blown flirting. I figured they’d decided that three years was a good enough mourning period, and now they could start hunting me for sport.

I got out of the building as quickly as I could to avoid any other awkward run ins with the female staff and other parents at the school. It wasn’t that I didn’t mind being friendly – the problem was that I really wasn’t planning on dating anyone, and there was no reason for them to waste their energy flirting with me.

“Call Rob,” I said to my Bluetooth when I got into my car.

“Yep, what’s up Tyler?”

“I’m going to work from home today. I’ve got to call the hiring agency and see if they have any other nannies available.”

We were partners, and I didn’t need Rob’s approval to work from home, but I always liked to give him a heads up so he wasn’t waiting for me. With today’s technology, there was no reason I couldn’t do all the same work I normally did but do it from the comfort of my home office.

Of course, the bigger issue was how my time seemed to slip away from me when I was at home. I could swear that there was an entirely different time clock when I was trying to get things done at home compared to in my normal office. Inevitably, I’d get distracted by appointments I needed to be at, yard work, groceries, or any number of other things that had to be done at home.

“Tyler, what’s up? That’s like the fourth nanny you’ve fired. This is becoming an epidemic.”

“Technically, I didn’t fire this one. She just decided she wanted to go back to college.”

“Yeah, because she realized that working for someone like you was torture, and she needed a real job to fall back on. You’ve got to lighten up on these ladies. None of them will ever be Claire.”

“It wasn’t like that,” I replied.

There wasn’t another person I knew that I’d let talk about Claire. But my partner Robert knew Clair well, and we had all double dated and grew into our relationships together. Now I was a widower, and Robert was finalizing his divorce. It was pretty rotten how life had changed for us over the years when it came to the women in our lives.

“We have that big pitch for the Heir Hotel chain in October. We still need a full video package and the estimates on the marketing broken down per their smaller chain hotels. It’s a lot to do in just two months. You’ve got to get a nanny hired.”

“I know, I know.”

“Maybe just keep the next one and try and make it work. Could you try to be nice just a little bit?” Rob said with a bit of a chuckle. “Maybe stay home and teach her how you want things done. You know communication is key in any relationship.” Rob thought he knew everything after going through six months of marriage therapy with his now ex-wife.

“Says the man going through a divorce.” I laughed.

“Hey, I’m going to nab me a new wife in no time. You should have seen me at the country dance club last night. I was on fire. Seriously, these girls love an older man. You and I need to go out sometime. I tell you, these ladies would eat you alive. If they’re going after me, I bet you’d get any one of them you wanted. ”

“I’m sure they do go after you. How do they like that old yellow tooth of yours?”

Rob had his front tooth knocked out in high school while playing football, and his veneer had been yellow for the last month because he was too busy working and wouldn’t take time off to get it fixed. His tooth had become a representation of his life. Even his ex-wife complained that Rob chose work over her, and that was why she filed for divorce.

Up until my wife passed away, I had probably been in the same workaholic category as Rob. I spent morning, noon, and night at the office. With Claire gone, though, I had to prioritize, and my children took the lead in how I spent my time. They were Claire’s pride and joy, and being close to my children made me feel closer to her.

“I admit I may have had an issue last night. There was this goddess at the bar who let me buy her a drink, but when I flashed the pearly whites, she suddenly didn’t have time for me.”

“Goddess eh? Why was she talking to you?” I couldn’t help teasing him a little bit. “And more like you flashed the pearly yellow tooth, and she ran for her life.”

“I’ll get the tooth fixed this week. It’s going to happen; I’m putting it on my calendar.”

It was a total lie. Rob wasn’t putting it on his calendar, and he certainly wasn’t going to make time to get it fixed that week with me being out of the office trying to find a nanny. But I figured it wasn’t worth arguing about.

“So did you get the phone number of this goddess?”

“Nah, I couldn’t find her all night and only saw her again as her friends were leaving. She was probably a little too young for me anyway. Early twenties make it difficult to have a real relationship.”

I couldn’t hold back my laughter another second. What the heck was Rob thinking flirting with a girl in her early twenties? Rob was 48-years-old, balding, and had a bit of a gut on him. Even I didn’t flirt with girls that young, and I had a full head of hair and ran almost daily.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” I said as I tried to stop laughing. “But come on, early twenties. What are you doing Rob? She was literally half your age. There’s only one thing you were thinking about when hitting on that girl, and it wasn’t a relationship.”

“She was beautiful damn it. I couldn’t help myself. I would have let her do anything she wanted to me. All night long, every night. Man, she was pretty.”

“Well, I think you should try to stick to within ten years of your age. You start bedding girls like that, and you’re only going to end up being their sugar daddy. Do you seriously want to be paying for these girls to drive fancy cars and carrying ten thousand dollar purses? That’s not a real relationship, Rob.”

“Tell you the truth; I’d have given that girl whatever she wanted. You should have seen her. And I’m sorry to burst your bubble, but at our age being a sugar daddy isn’t all that bad of a thing. The women close to my age are independent and hard headed. They don’t want a man around – they want to prove they can do it all on their own.”

“Okay, okay, I’m going to swing by the hiring firm and try and get a new nanny. You go cool yourself off and get some work done. I’ll email you later, and we can talk about the campaign.”

“Maybe hire one of those hot twenty-something nannies,” Rob joked.

“Nope. I go for well-trained and excellent references. Looks have no bearing on a nanny’s ability to take care of my children.”

“Yeah, yeah, boring. I’ll talk to you later.”

Hiring a new nanny was going to be exhausting. I’d spent two weeks going through profiles the last time and interviewed twelve women. No one was good enough for my kids. So when we found Rachel, I was excited and hopeful that she’d work out well for us.

Unfortunately, after a couple months, I realized she just wasn’t the right one. So when she decided to quit, it was for the best. Now I could get another nanny who would fit into our family just right.

“Mr. English, I’m disappointed to see you walking through my doors again,” Mrs. Canter said. “What happened this time?”

“Nothing. She just decided she wanted to go to college.”

“Mr. English, Rachel was a thirty-four-year-old mother of triplet teenagers. She was the best of the best that I have. I’m not sure I’ll be able to find you someone else.”

“Oh, you’re underestimating your abilities. I’m sure you have someone that would fit.”

“Maybe you should ask some of your friends. Get some recommendations from people that you trust, and then go from there? I think you’ve interviewed everyone that I have in my books here.”

My stomach churned, and a bit of panic started to set in. I needed a nanny. The big campaign pitch with the Heir Hotel chain was only a few months away, and I’d have to travel out of town for two weeks. I needed to hire a nanny, train her, and be comfortable with her staying alone with my children; all in the next two months.

“No, I need you to find me one. I don’t have the time to ask around and then check references and all of that. I really would prefer if we could look at the nannies you have available. Maybe there’s someone you don’t think I gave a fair shake to? I’d be happy to interview them again and see if things might work.”

“I’m going to be honest with you, Tyler; you’ve got to lighten up a little bit. I know your children mean the world to you. I’m one hundred percent sure that you only want the best for them. But a nanny has to have the freedom to do things her way and build a relationship with the children. Nothing is going to be the same as before, but you can find someone that makes your children happy and will take excellent care of them if you allow the woman to have some freedom.”

“I understand. So do you have anyone I can interview? I promise I’ll be more relaxed with the rules.”

“Not at this time. But I’ll put the word out and see if any of my colleges have someone that might work for you. I’ll get back to you if I hear something. Until then, I’d put the word out with your friends and see if any of them know a good nanny. You’d be surprised at the quality of person you can find by using personal references like that.”

I was devastated. With only a couple months to go, I had to get a nanny hired right away. If I didn’t start working with the new nanny this week, it was going to be impossible to teach her everything that needed to be learned before I had to leave on my trip.

“Okay, can you call me if you think of anyone?”

“Of course, and I wish you the best of luck.”

As I walked out of the staffing agency, I had no idea what I was going to do next. I’d already taken so much time off of work to stay home with the kids that Rob was taking on twice as much work as he needed to. I had to get back to the office and pull my weight with this new deal we were working on.

“Call Jason Hartley,” I spoke to my Bluetooth.

“This is Jason.”

“Hey Jason, it’s Tyler English; I am in desperate need of a nanny. Do you have any recommendations?”

Jason was a local CEO that was also a single father. I’d run into him a few times at charity events and exchanged numbers in case we could ever arrange a play date. His little boy was just a few years younger than my son.

“Hey, Tyler, I’m sorry. I’ve had Rosie for awhile now and haven’t needed to look. I can keep my ear out and see if I hear about any, though. What’s going on?”

“My last one decided to go to back to college.”

“Wasn’t she in her thirties?” he snickered.

“Yeah, I think it was just an excuse to quit. Something about me being too demanding and rude.”

“Well, I know how tough it is to find someone. I’ll ask around and let you know if anyone pops up. Have you tried Canter Care? They have a huge list, and that’s where I found Rosie.”

“She blackballed me from there.” I laughed. “Told me I’d already interviewed everyone, and she didn’t have anyone else for me.”

“Ouch.”

“Well, thanks for keeping your eye out. I’d appreciate it. I really need to get someone hired right away.”

“No problem, good luck.”

I made a few more phone calls to the men and women I knew who used nannies. Of course, everyone was happy with the person they were using and couldn’t think of anyone that I could possibly call.

By the time I returned home and sat down to work in my office, the situation was feeling dire. How was it possible that every good nanny in Chicago was already hired, and there wasn’t a single one that I could interview?