“Hey, man. This is Ms. An…”
“Thyri.” I cut him off. “He can call me Thyri. Hi, handsome.” I spoke to EJ, whose face lit up like he’d seen me before. He then leaned forward on the table and held his hand out to me. “Oh,” I said, getting up with my hand out.
He went to put his leg up like he was going to climb up on the table, only to be stopped by Enzo’s voice.
“We ain’t doing that. Here.” He sat him down on his feet. “Go around and shake her hand.”
“I’ll meet you halfway,” I compromised.
We walked around the table at the same time, and I kneeled down to shake his hand. My heart melted when he put his little hand in mine. It made me think about KJ at his age. EJ’s chubby, dimpled cheeks, his big brown eyes, and Timbs on to match his daddy’s was just too cute.
“Hi,” he said clearly.
“Hi, handsome. Nice to meet you.”
He looked back to Enzo, whose eyes flickered to mine, and smiled. That subtle look alone had my stomach doing shit it wasn’t supposed to be doing.
“Nice me you. EJ.” He pointed to himself.
“Yes. Your name is EJ. I like your twists.” I pointed out.
“My hair.” He touched his head, making Enzo laugh.
“I forgot to tell you he was a parrot too.”
I smirked and stood up straight. Enzo motioned with his head for him to go back to his side.
“That’s cool. It shows his understanding. He’s adorable.”
Enzo’s eyes softened noticeably. The pride of being a father was written all over his face. “Thank you. He’s a handful. He think he grown too, but he’s a dope kid. If it’s something you think you can handle, I’d like to move forward.”
“Yes, of course. Is there anything else you need from me other than what may already be in my Care.com profile?”
“Yeah. Your permission for me to do my own background check.”
I paused, processing his request. I mean, it wasn’t unreasonable seeing as I was a stranger who would be taking care of his child in his home. I just didn’t think someone would be so upfront with the request.
“That’s fair,” I responded with my approval. “Is there anything I need to provide?” I questioned. “It’s not every day that one asks to do a background check on me.”
“I like to take precautions. And nah, I don’t need anything. Once I get the results back, I’ll shoot you an email with the pay rate, and then we can schedule a day for you to come by and maybe shadow me for a few hours to see his routine.”
“Okay,” I said, grabbing my purse. “Well, thank you again for having me. It was nice meeting you both. Bye, EJ.”
“Bye, Tyri,” he let out, putting his own spin on my name.
“Yep, that’s me,” I replied with a smile, not bothering to correct him.
“We’ll walk you out,” Enzo suggested before walking over and opening the door. EJ stood up against it, helping to hold it open.
“Thank you so much,” I said to him.
He gave me another big smile that warmed my heart. EJ walked between the two of us, as we made our way to the front. I waved bye to the receptionist, who returned the wave along with a nod. Stepping out into the cold air, something prompted me to take one last glance through the frosted glass. I caught Enzo watching me walk away. It wasn’t weird or in a way that would suggest that he was lusting after me. Just… noticing.
And something in the way he noticed me made me hope that the background check results came back sooner than later. I was ready to start my new job for more than one reason now. Super Nanny who? The fine nanny was on deck.
CHAPTER 5
The Nanny’s First Day
