“How old are you?” I blurt out and then blanch at how unprofessional of a question that is. I close my eyes and curse under my breath. “I’m sorry, you don’t have to answer that.”
“I’m twenty-six, Big Daddy,” Cassandra replies with another wink and then immediately dives back into conversation with my daughter.
Big Daddy? I frown at that very unpleasant label. Jesus Christ, so unprofessional. No fucking way…over my dead body. This will not work. I click my tongue and bring out my CEO voice. “Cassandra…I thank you for coming in, but I’m afraid—”
“You’re hired!” Everly bursts out, standing up so she’s eye level with me. She thrusts her hand across my face and reaches for Cassandra’s, mimicking me to a T how I’ve handled many successful boardroom transactions.
My mouth hangs open as I sit frozen, watching Cassandra stand in what feels like slow motion to take Everly’s hand and accept the offer.
“This is so awesome!” Cassandra shakes Everly’s hand so hard, she starts to giggle. “This summer is going to be GOAT!”
“Goats?” I exclaim, finally breaking free of my stunned-stupid response to my daughter taking over this meeting. How is Everly so charmed by this…this…I don’t even know what to call a person like Cassandra. “No one said anything about farm animals.”
Cassandra and Everly burst out laughing like they’ve been buddies their entire life. Everly places her slender fingers on my shoulder in a way that makes me feel like the eleven-year-old in the room. “Dad, GOAT means greatest of all time.”
My shoulders slump. “Oh.”
Everly leans over to Cassandra and whispers loudly, “I’m so glad this worked out. If we didn’t hire someone today, my dad was totally going to get a case of his stress poops again.”
“Everly!” My eyes fly wide when Cassandra turns her green gaze to me. I push a nervous hand through my hair and quickly rush out, “I don’t get stress poops. I don’t know what that kid’s talking about.”
Cassandra reaches out and pats me on the other shoulder. “Hey Mr. Fletcher, no judgment here. Maybe you should try some of that kombucha out there you won’t let your staff have? It’s really good for the digestive system.”
I groan and pinch the bridge of my nose. This summer is going to be a disaster.
“Rebecca just told me you’re moving into this guy’s guesthouse?” Dakota hollers to me from somewhere in my sister’s spare bedroom that I’ve been living in for the past few months. I’m tucked away in the small walk-in closet, so it’s hard to hear her.
“Be right out!” I call loudly before grabbing an arm full of clothes on hangers. When I emerge, I peer over the top of my sweatshirts to find my childhood bestie sacked out on my bed, popping one of my sour gummy worms into her mouth. “The guesthouse was a perk of the nanny job I accepted. And really, the only reason I agreed to interview in the first place.”
“And because you’re ready for a freaking job,” my older sister’s voice chirps as she pokes her head into my room.
Rolling my eyes, I hook the clothes on a metal bar inside a garment box I picked up earlier today. “I get it, Bec…you’re sick of me.”
“I’m not sick of you.” She pins me with a look. “However, I didn’t fully expect my sister to be such an active part of my first year of marriage.”
My shoulders sag. “Jacob loves me. We play gin rummy together all the time.”
“Exactly,” Rebecca scoffs. “Maybe I’d like to play gin rummy with my husband?”
“Would you?” I ask, surprised by that remark. Rebecca is more of a Netflix and do her nails type of girl.
“God no, I hate cards.” She confirms my suspicion. “But that doesn’t take away from the fact that this is the perfect job to get you moving again. There’s taking a break, and then there’s taking a break.”
“That’s what I’ve been saying!” Dakota agrees, licking the sour sugar off her fingers.
“Well…I’m still in the middle of my Great Defrost,” I huff out defensively and move toward the bed to snatch my gummy worms out of my former best friend’s hands. “And moving back in with Mom and Dad would have been hell.”
Rebecca sighs knowingly. Our parents are good people, but they live on acreage outside of Boulder with a few farm animals they raise as a hobby along with their day jobs. And as much as I loved doing chores for our small flock of ewes who were all labeled with old lady names before and after school when I was a kid, it just wasn’t what I was up for when I moved back home.