“What would you do if Max started having a tantrum? Screaming and causing a scene in public?”
I glanced at Max, who frowned at his mom. “Does he do that?”
“Just tell me what you’d do.”
Suddenly the T. rex was tossing toy raptors across the room.
“Huh.” Offering the kid a beer to chill him out probably wasn’t the best answer. “Give him a cookie?” I took another bite. “They’re awesome.”
Max and the T. rex stopped attacking the smaller dinosaurs.
Mrs. G. frowned. “Well, that wouldn’t be my first choice. Maybe you could ask him to use his words.”
“Um, isn’t he already using his words? If he’s screaming and stuff?”
Mrs. G. gave me one of those fake mom smiles, the ones where you know they’re thinking all kinds of un-mom-like stuff, but won’t say it out loud.
One point to Mrs. G.
“Next question.” She brushed imaginary crumbs off her lap. “What if the house catches on fire?”
Did Mom tell her I was a total moron? “Get Max outside and call 911 from my cell.”
One point to me.
“All right, Slade. This one’s important. Let’s say you and the other nanny get distracted and the kids—”
“Wait, there’s another nanny? And did you say kids, plural?”
She raised an eyebrow, like she was surprised I knew the word plural. What had my mom said about me, anyway?
“Yes. You’ll be nannying with a…partner. She’s very experienced. Very responsible. She’ll be watching Max’s best friend, Gillian.” She hesitated, then whispered, “Gillian’s the one who might be throwing tantrums, not Max.”
“Yay! Gillian!” Max’s T. rex did a somersault in the air.
Another nanny? A girl, obviously, since who ever heard of a guy nanny, besides my mom and Mrs. G. Maybe she’d be hot. If not hot, at least cute. That would definitely make this babysitting gig more interesting. Depending on how well we hit it off—
“Slade? Did you hear the question?”
I blinked, refocusing on Mrs. G. “Sorry, I got distracted. Could you repeat the question?” I gave her my most sincere apology face, the one that worked on all my teachers when I zoned out in class.
Mrs. G. passed me the cookie plate again. “So the question is,” she continued, “if you and the other nanny were busy and then you noticed the kids were missing, what would you do?”
Damn. Was this the kind of stuff parents worried about? No wonder my parents had so many clients if people were this paranoid.
“I’d start yelling their names. Run around looking for them.” I noticed Max watching me closely. He stuck his finger in his nose and started digging. Great. Why didn’t his mom ask me how to deal with that? Cayenne pepper on the finger. My grandpa did it to me and it worked.
Then again, Dad said the type of stuff Grandpa did was the reason he’d never run out of clients.
“Um, check all their hiding places.” I took a bite of another cookie.
“And how would you know those?”
“From hide-and-seek,” Max piped up. He smiled at me, kind of shy. “He’d know where to look from playing hide-and-seek with us.”
“You like hide-and-seek, buddy?” I returned his smile. At least his finger was out of his nose.
Max nodded. “It’s my favorite game. Gilly’s, too.”
I relaxed into my chair and grinned at Mrs. G.
Point to Slade. And Max.
“Well, Slade, you’ve answered my questions satisfactorily. And your mom vouches for you. So, if you want the job, it’s yours.”
This job-hunting thing was cake. “So, about the other nanny?” I asked casually. “Who is she?”
Mrs. G. stood up to clear the coffee table. “You’ll meet her on Monday. She’s a nice girl. Very organized. I think you go to the same high school.”
Organized? Nice? Was that code for “troll”?
Nah, she’d be cool. I could think of lots of hot girls who fit that description. And I supposed one of us had to be organized, to plan the kids’ field trips or whatever.
This summer was going to rock. Easy money. Hanging out with a hot nanny. Maybe even hooking up with her, depending on how things went.
Mom was a genius, but I’d never tell her that.
Mrs. G. walked me to the door. Max followed, hovering behind his mom like a shadow. I kind of felt sorry for him. He was shy, and super serious. Maybe we could work on that over the summer.
“Thanks, Mrs. G. I mean, Mrs. Gonzalez. I promise I won’t let you down.”
Her eyes crinkled at the corners. “You can call me Mrs. G. And I know you won’t let me down. You and Trina are going to be perfect partners. I can tell.”