“It’s okay. I know a lot of first-time fathers have the mothers to lean on but your case is unique. I’ll walk you through whatever you think you need to know and we can go from there if you select me.” I didn’t want him to think I was judging him. I mean I kinda was but that wasn’t for him to know. If anything, it only made me want the job more because this kid was going to have a lot of challenges in front of him or her.
“That’s pretty much a done deal, sweetheart.” He leaned back against the sofa but seemed to be detached from what was going on around him.
I’d seen parents who didn’t really care about their children, but this wasn’t that. I’d grown up with a mother who wanted to ensure I was receiving the best care possible as long as she wasn’t the one who had to provide it. It wasn’t a deep, maternal love. She simply wanted to ensure she was getting her money’s worth and that the future product, namely me, could compete with my peers on every level. At least in that she succeeded. My mother wanted a trophy daughter whose accomplishments couldn’t be challenged, but that didn’t seem to be his aim. Despite being present physically, he looked withdrawn, almost guarded and I wondered if it was even his idea to have a nanny.
I took him in again, but longer this time. He had a mop of curly, deep chocolate brown hair on his head. The kind that was probably naturally highlighted from how much time he spent in the sun. He looked like an athlete with shoulders that were broad enough to carry a couch and a neck that was thick and muscular. He stood around six feet tall and while I didn’t have to crane my neck to look at him at five-six; he was still taller than me by a lot.
Objectively, he was incredibly handsome with the clearest bronze skin I had ever seen and teeth that were natural but were almost fake looking they were so nice.
Self-consciously, I tucked a strand of hair behind my head that had escaped the braid I was wearing. His eyes watched the movement and I was trying to stay calm. I’d come dressed in slacks and a button-down silk shirt since I knew the baby wasn’t out of the hospital yet. This was more formal than I would normally wear but I didn’t want them to think I didn’t take this position seriously just because of the additional education I had.
“Well, since you’ve given her your stamp of approval I guess you don’t need me.” Billy didn’t give either of us a chance to answer before she stood up. Mr. Dinero did the same but then she waved him back down.
“I can appreciate your wanting to be chivalrous but y’all have things to get ironed out. Ms. Williamson—”
“Please call me Sterling.”
She nodded her head with a smile. “Sterling. This is a good man so you don’t have to be worried about your safety with him. But if he ever does anything that you think is out of bounds, call me and I will fuck him up myself, do you hear me?” The look on her face was so serious I wondered if she had beaten his ass before.
“Billy!” He was smiling for the first time and damn he needed to go back to sulking cause his smile was too damn dangerous.
“Negro, she is a single woman in a whole different state living with a man and his baby. She needs to know that she has community around her that will rise against your ass. I don’t give a fuck if your image is tanked if you do something wrong to this girl.” She pointed to me as she glared at him daring him to refute any of the sense she’d just made.
“You know I wouldn’t do anything like that.” He almost looked hurt at the accusation and the air felt immediately heavier.
Billy’s head tilted softly, like she acknowledged that he was a good man. “I know that, but she doesn’t. Any woman needs to know that things are going to be okay when she starts out on something. Am I right, Sterling?”
“You’re right. But, Mr. Dinero—”
“Call me Money.”
I shook my head because there was no way in the world I was going to get that familiar with a client. My cousin would fire my ass himself. “That won’t be happening.”
“You can’t call meMr. Dineroevery day. I wouldn’t be able to function with that kind of formality so just call me Money.”
My head shook again and I hated to be stubborn but I wasn’t about to lower my standards. Especially with him looking like he did. “No, thank you.”
“Girl, you gotta call that man something.” Even Billy seemed confused at my desired formality and it was honestly a way to remind myself of not getting attached to clients. I’d made the mistake of thinking I was part of a family while I was in college. They’d had the audacity to question whether I had taken something from them. The idea that they thought me capable of something like that soured the entire relationship. The item was found within the hour where the mother had misplaced it and they thought it smoothed everything over. It hadn’t. I told my cousin I had to be removed that night because of a hostile work environment and he dropped them as clients. One thing Dalton didn’t do was play about his family. They’d begged to keep me or for him to find a replacement, even offering to double the fee but he’d refused. I wasn’t sure who they ended up with because once Dalton dropped you, few agencies would touch you without a major payoff.
“I’ll call you by your first name if that’s okay.” I had to give a little since I didn’t want to start this off on the wrong foot but I still wasn’t completely comfortable relaxing the standards I was supposed to be upholding.
“Aldrich?” Billy supplied his first name for me while sounding astounded that I still didn’t want to use his nickname.
“Rich is fine.” He said it like it were final but I wasn’t about to do that.
“No, Aldrich.”
“Aldrich? Come on, nah, you gotta try to do something better than that.” That smile shone again and he had an almost playful look on his face.
Now I was confused because I wasn’t a fan; I was an employee. I wasn’t about to call this man anything other than his name.
“That’s as good as I can do for now. I am trained to have a level of formality between myself and my employers so even calling you by your first name is a lot for me.”
“Man, okay. I guess. Billy, we can walk you out. Sterling, or do I call you Nanny Sterling or something like that?” He was teasing and it was cute so he needed to stop.
“Sterling is fine.”
“I can tell you right now I’m not gone say all that. A nickname is gonna happen when we get cool.” He shrugged his shoulders as though my acceptance of his nickname would be automatic.
