A Child's Choice

Chapter 3

By the time they finished moving most of their clothes, and Jacob's toys, into Mr Fellow's apartment, it was time for Jacob to go to bed. Ebony figured she could do the rest of it on Monday when both children were at school, and she had some time to herself. Then, after that was done, she could sort out Dakoda's messy closet, and see about stocking some food into their cupboards.

After putting Jacob to bed, and thinking about her next few days, Ebony decided to look around the apartment and get used to it, since she would be living there for goodness knows how long.

There were two stories to the apartment, with 5 bedrooms and the spare office on the top floor, with no elevator access. Each bedroom had their own bathroom attached, and Ebony resolved to ask which bathroom Jacob could use.

The bottom floor had a spacious kitchen, which Ebony thought she was in love with, the massive lounge room, a room full of toys and dolls, which she assumed was Dakoda's play room, and a good-sized office, which looked to be Mr Fellow's private area and she quickly shut the door, and a well-stocked library. She knew she could spend hours in the library, and noted the sad lack of children's stories in there. She also saw there was no bookshelf in Dakoda's play room, and went and found in the spare office, now Jacob's room, a notepad and paper to write down a list of things to ask Mr Fellow's.

Office hours, for Mr Fellow's.

Do I have to clean?

What's my food budget?

What school does Dakoda go to? Where is it?

Do I get paid for fuel?

What do I get paid?

Does Dakoda do anything outside of school?

Where's the nearest park?

Who buys Dakoda's clothes?

Can I get a book allowance for Dakoda?

It wasn't much a list, but she figured it was enough of one to start with, and that she could add any if she thought of them.

It was almost 9pm when Mr Fellow's and a sleepy Dakoda got home. Ebony immediately took Dakoda, and got her straight into bed. When she got back to the loungeroom downstairs, she found Mr Fellow's sitting on the couch, almost asleep.

"I forgot how tiring looking after a child can be." He said, seeing her come into the room. "How do you manage it without a nanny?"

"Determination." She said, after some thought, "It's hard work, but well worth it." She came and stood in front of him, no idea how she should be acting.

"Yes." He said, after blinking at her a few times, "We need to discuss your employment. Obviously, you're hired. I made a promise. I have a contract for you to review, and I need it signed by Monday. It outlines things like pay, benefits, days off, expectations, information you need to know about me and Dakoda, and a non-disclosure agreement you need to have back to me by midday tomorrow, since it's too late to ask you to have it to me by morning." He rubbed a hand through his hair, "Do you have any questions?"

"Hopefully reading the contract should answer most of them, and I'll get back to you on them." Ebony said, "But I do have some that you didn't mention anything about." He glared up at her, tired.

"What are they?" He asked after a moment, "Then I'm going to bed."

She pulled the piece of paper out of her pocket and he groaned, "It's only a few." She promised, and cleared her throat. "What are your working hours?"

"I'm usually gone by 8, most days except Sunday's. I try to be home by 6, but it varies. I'm not often home till after Dakoda has gone to sleep. I work Saturday's." He answered.