Jenny (Babysitter's Club 5)

She had a look of disinterest on her face, or was that discomfort? That didn’t make any sense; I’m sure that I hadn’t said or done anything to bring that on. Maybe it stemmed from the fact that she’d been expecting my wife to be here.

I looked up when Lauren walked in and took in the scene. She walked right over to me and leaned over to kiss my lips. I know that move, that’s her marking her territory. “Hi hon, sorry I had to leave you to deal with this, I got back as soon as I could.”

I hid my evil grin as she turned to greet the sitter. “Hello, you must be Jenny. I’ve heard so much about you, sorry, I wasn’t here to meet you.” She held her hand out to the girl who stood to her feet and took it.

“Hello, Mrs. Masters, no apology necessary.”

“Did you meet the twins?” I could already hear the strain in Lauren’s voice; this kid was as good as gone. I listened as she asked her a whole lot of questions, some that made me raise my brows.

They were the kind of questions you’d ask someone you were trying desperately not to hire. I figured she was trying to find a reason, an excuse actually, not to hire the girl. “So, you’ve never taken care of twins before.” She seemed to have found her reason.

I expected the kid to break into some spiel about having taken care of more than one kid at a time. When Lauren was singing her praises a few days ago, that’s one of the things she kept harping on, that some of the families that Jenny sat for had more than one child.

Now I listened as my wife talked herself out of a babysitter. “Drats, I really wanted this to work out, but as you’ve said, you’ve never taken care of two kids this young at the same time before. I’m so sorry to have wasted your time.”

The girl stood to her feet, and I could almost swear there was a look of relief on her face, and once again, I got the feeling that I should know her or that I knew someone who looked like her, maybe? Anyhow she started heading for the exit almost before Lauren was through letting her down easy. What the heck was that about?

After Lauren closed and locked the door behind her, she came back to me with wide eyes. “How long was she here?” I hid my grin.

“Not long, I was upstairs with the girls most of the time, they needed changing, and then you called and said you were on your way.”

“Okay, good, wow, no wonder so many housewives end up on talk shows crying about their stolen husbands. I can’t believe more than half the women in this neighborhood let that girl into their house with their husband and children. Whoo dodged a bullet there.”

“So, are we giving up on this babysitter thing?” I didn’t say I told you so or any of the other things that were going through my head. For once, Lauren’s unwarranted jealousy didn’t get under my skin and had actually worked in my favor.

“For now, I think I’d better look for an agency or something. Oh, well.” She got a worried look on her face as she came over to sit on my lap. “What is it? Something wrong with the case?” She waved her hand, dismissively.

“No, everything’s fine, just some last-minute papers that needed signing. I was just thinking; the neighbors said she lives around the corner, have you seen her before?”

“Nope, never have.” I smacked her thigh to get her to move. “Let’s go see what’s for dinner.”

JENNY

I should never have gone there; it was stupid of me. I felt exposed, silly, and, worst of all, like a fraud. Why didn’t I say something? Remind him of who I am? Too late now, even if I wanted the job, his wife had taken one look at me and decided that I was a no-go.

I’ve heard it all before, so I know where she’s coming from. It had taken some of the women who hired me a while to realize that I wasn’t interested in their husbands and was only there for the babysitting experience.

For one, my trust fund would put most of theirs to shame, so there goes the gold digger aspect, and for another, I have absolutely no interest in another woman’s husband, to me, that’s as about as low as you can go. These women trusted me in their homes, with their precious kids, how can I then turn around and betray them?

Once they got to know me and saw that I had tunnel vision and probably couldn’t pick their husbands out of a lineup, they usually relaxed, and we became fast friends. I’ve always felt more comfortable with people who were older than me, so it all worked out in the end, and I made some new friends along the way.