careful

one

Nina Salazar-Roberts stands on the doorstep of a ridiculously tall house. The college graduate finds herself quite shocked by the fact that, in order to reach this point, she'd had to use a buzzer and confirm her identity to even be allowed onto the property. Nevertheless, she plasters a friendly smile on her face with her spirits high. When the door pulls open, there stands a woman with a less manufactured smile pulling at the corners of her lips.

She seems to look at Nina up and down for a moment before asking, "Nina?" The younger woman nods sheepishly. "Right on time! I'm Jennifer, you can call me Jenn. Please, follow me."

They walk briskly through the house and Nina tries her best to inspect its elements without appearing nosy. To the left of the front door, there seems to be a formal sort of living room. On the right, a very grand staircase wraps up the rotunda. They enter a rather large family room and then turn down a hallway connected to the back, right corner of the room. Jenn hooks a sharp left at a very large set of double doors. Nina watches the woman wrap three sharp knocks before pushing the right door open slowly.

"Mrs. Caswell, your interviewee is here," the woman says. She smiles at Nina a final time before scurrying out of the large office.

Once again, Nina glances around and attempts to maintain a calm, composed demeanor. At the large, dark oak desk sits a man who is staring down at a small stack of papers in his hand. With just a single step forward, Nina realizes he is reading her resume and feels a weakness begin to buckle her knees. Next to him stands a woman who is, for lack of a better word, one of the most gorgeous people Nina has ever laid her eyes on.

Without looking up from the resume in her husband's hands, she says, "Nina, I see you have met Jennifer. She's our house manager and keeps this place from falling apart with our crazy schedules."

"Uh... yeah, I did. She was very nice. It's nice to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Caswell." She rocks back and forth for a second but freezes when Mrs. Caswell looks up.

"I'm Gina Caswell, this is my husband, Evan. I'm going to be frank with you," she says as she pulls the top sheet of the resume from Evan. "I wouldn't personally have scheduled this interview with you. You have no prior experience, but it seems Jenn found something worth the time in this resume."

Nina gulps. "Well, I- I appreciate the time nevertheless," is all she manages to say.

Gina hesitates very little with her response. "So what makes you the perfect candidate for this position?" the woman who has just very formally introduced herself asks.

Nina's brain scrambles. I need money, I like kids enough to do it, I don't know? She thinks to herself. "I have the time to be fully dedicated to your children and I have a degree in early childhood development." She finds herself very pleasantly surprised by this answer she has just spit out.

"Mhm," the woman hums, looking down at Nina's resume with.. abhorrence? "Yet you've never nannied before."

Nina clears her throat and says softly, "Well, that's true, but I don't necessarily think that should uh... count me out, so to say." If she were to be completely honest with herself, the young woman found herself quite nervous around the woman and probably wouldn't fare well having her as an employer, but everything is worth a shot.

"And I should continue to consider someone as inexperienced as you just because you asked me to... why?" She looks bored with Nina. Her husband, Evan, seems to have no comment.

The brunette woman's eyes shift around nervously. There's nothing to help her appease this cold woman. Nina gets an idea. "I noticed you were looking for a day nanny and a night nanny. I'll do both for the salary of just one. Let me hang out with your girls for... an hour, and maybe I will be the fit you're looking for."

Gina looks at Evan. For the first time in the interview, he looks as if he has heard a good idea. So, they exchange a few conversation-like glances before turning back to Nina. "Okay," the woman agrees, "That's a fair deal, but it doesn't mean that we're saying yes."

"I understand," Nina confirms.

The woman huffs a sigh and motions for Nina to follow her.

Exactly one hour after their first conversation, Nina sits in a chair just outside of the office doors with her eyes diverted as her potential future bosses discuss quietly just the next room over. Anxiously, she taps her knee with her fingers, and right smack in the middle of her square breathing exercise she hears a shout from just beyond the office doors of Mr. Caswell.

"But I like her! I don't want a different nanny!" a little voice shouts. Nina can hardly fight the smile that tugs at her lips. She can tell the younger girl of the pair, Ella, is arguing the best a six-year-old could, in her favor. That, she appreciates.

The couple asks their eldest daughter, Sadie, her opinion of Nina. Sadie's response is rendered inaudible to the young woman, but she hears the sound of a small clap and footsteps running out toward her. It seems Ella is quickly approaching and nearly crashes into the woman, palming Nina's knees with caution.

"You get to stay!" Ella squeals, jumping up and down. As she claps repeatedly, it occurs to Nina that perhaps Sadie agreed with her and Ella had made a fair enough point to her parents. That, or Ella was their favorite, and Sadie's opinion mattered very little to the couple. The former concept sounds much more reasonable than the latter to Nina.

"Alright, get on somewhere," Gina tells her, giving her a gentle push toward the doorway. "Mommy needs to talk to this young woman."

The girls leave the room and Evan and Gina sit across from Nina once again. She watches as Gina inhales and exhales as if her patience has been tested. Somehow, this feels like the worst and best possible sign to Nina all at once. She braces herself.

"So, Nina, here's the thing: we wanted someone to get things ready for the kids during the day, pick them up from school, and run all the duties before dinner. And the reason we wanted a night nanny was because we needed someone to get them ready for bed and pack their lunches and bags and all of that," Evan explains.

"Okay, that's nothing too bad," Nina shrugs.

"Well, if you're to be doing both of those jobs, we have to ask: are you open to becoming a live-in nanny? We just feel it'd be easier." Gina taps a thick folder that sits in her lap. When Nina hesitates to respond, she adds, "I also feel it might be fairer to you considering the fact that you're doing twice the work for half the money. You wouldn't be our first live-in nanny and I promise, you will have alone time and space from the girls at times."

"Um," Nina drags out as she thinks, "I'm not opposed to it, no."

"Good," she replies. "Now, I have this booklet for you and it explains the rules, procedures, and expectations. This is technically our copy because we separated night and day procedures into two binders for our nannies, but they're identical, so we can just keep those. We'll get all of your information and payroll processed alongside a background check over the course of this week. And since the girls are on spring break, we'll be on vacation. We'll let you know when you can move in and start."

Nina allows herself to give the woman a bright smile and says, "That sounds great, thank you so much!" And she follows Jenn out of the house and to her car quickly.

That night, in bed, she begins a long read-through of the booklet she was given. While doing so, she has to pause several times in order to convince herself that she was just taking a job opportunity, not signing her soul over to the devil.

Turning the page over, she reads aloud, "Sadie is to sleep with her hair down or in a single, loose braid after a shower. Buns are okay for ballet. For school, she is permitted a single ponytail or French braid. Ella will not sleep with her hair up in any fashion. For school, she is permitted one half-ponytail." She heaves an annoyed sigh. "Does that really matter? It's hair."