Nanny

20

Kate

Braxton's car was a Rolls Royce Phantom, larger than a normal town car but not as huge as a stretch limo. The driver was waiting for us, and opened the door.

"Okay, this is nice," I said as we got inside. "I didn't expect to have the door held for me."

"It's surprisingly difficult to open the doors," Adam explained. "The car is bulletproof. The doors weight a ton."

I gawked at him. "Do we have a reason to be afraid?"

"We don't," he replied. "But when you're a billionaire, you can never be too careful."

The car pulled away from the Nash Capital building and began driving through the city.

"I might have to hide in the car when we get there," Adam joked. "To avoid your roommate."

"Oh, don't worry! She's actually out of town with her nanny family."

He breathed a sigh of relief. I couldn't tell if he was being sincere, or just joking. But either way, knowing my roommate wouldn't be there certainly made everything simpler.

The drive to Norwalk took over an hour thanks to Friday afternoon traffic. Adam spent the trip making phone calls to various Nash Capital managers to inform them of Braxton's trip. I spent the time making a list of everything I needed from my apartment.

When we got there, Adam followed me inside. "Mind if I use the bathroom?"

"First door on the left," I said.

I grabbed my suitcase from the closet and opened it on my bed. I quickly filled it with everything from my list. Fresh underwear, socks, two more pairs of shoes. My other two pairs of jeans. Ten of my favorite tops. Workout clothes.

"Sports bra," I muttered while throwing two of them in the suitcase.

A pair of nice dresses, in case we went somewhere for dinner in the city. My hair straightener, my curling iron, and my box of contact lenses. It felt like I was packing for summer camp. When I had grabbed everything from my list I still felt like I was forgetting something.

"Investing really is like gambling sometimes," Adam said behind me.

I looked over my shoulder. He was leaning against my door, arms crossed over his chest.

"Oh?"

"There's a lot of research involved," he said. "So it's not exactly like gambling. We make informed, educated decisions about where to invest our money. But there's still a ton of luck involved. Even if you do everything right, sometimes the dealer gets blackjack."

"Is that why you guys are flying to Tokyo on short notice?" I asked.

Adam nodded solemnly. "A new natural gas deposit was discovered in Siberia. That caused oil manufacturing and piping industries to spike, and it made renewables drop. One of our clients in Tokyo owns a factory that produces off-shore wind turbines. We're flying out there to do damage control."

"I know how that goes," I said while zipping up my suitcase. "I've had to do my fair share of schmoozing after making mistakes."

"Like the translating error?" Adam asked. "The big one that got you... You know."

"Fired?" I laughed. "Yeah. That one."

"Sorry to bring up a sore subject."

"It's fine. The sting has gone away now that I have this job."

Adam walked over and took the suitcase from me. "Time heals all wounds."

"So does money," I said with a laugh. "I got my first paycheck today. If anything, I should be glad I lost my job at the U.N.!"