Unsuitable

“What I like least is when I can’t work out what a kid is going through. If they’re upset and I can’t soothe them.” Mia hummed and walked up his leg, holding on to his hair. “If they’re sick and I can’t make them feel better on my own.” Mia stood on his thigh and he moved his arm so she could lean over his shoulder. She poked her finger in his ear. “That’s what I hate. The not being able to find the answer.”

“Sometimes the answer is they’re going to scream.”

“Yeah,” he ducked his head to dodge another ear poke, “but if you know they’re screaming because you’re out of apples or they’ve been bitten by a mosquito, or they only want something that’s purple, you can try to distract them with a—”

“Human climbing gym. Mia, don’t hurt Reece.”

“Not hurty him.”

“You don’t need to let her—”

He looked around Mia to Audrey. She wore an expression that suggested she empathised, but that wasn’t enough.

“I want this job. To be able to concentrate on one kid, to have the job for at least twelve months like you’ve said, with an option to stay until she goes to school. That’s what I want. I thought I wanted to build houses, but I’d rather help build people.”

Maybe that was too much. Audrey reached for Mia and dragged her off him. But she studied him with eyes that were unguarded for the first time. “Living in when needed is not a problem?”

“No. I still live at home. I pitch in with the girls. My baby sister, Pippa, is ten and my oldest, Etta, is sixteen so it’s her turn.”

“Sometimes there might not be much notice.” Mia crawled from Audrey’s lap towards the TV.

“I’d cope.” Should’ve made that ‘I’ll cope’. Should’ve spoken as if he already gotten the job because this interview was tilting, maybe he wasn’t done yet.

“How long have you been looking for a nanny job?”

She’d know it was four months since he finished with the Flannery’s. “This is my eleventh interview.” He lifted his hands, rough and calloused, despite using gloves and Etta’s moisturiser. Audrey could make of that what she wanted. He’d never figured the hardest part of choosing to work with kids wasn’t the mocking he got from mates, or the pay and conditions; it was the assumption he couldn’t do the job as well as a woman, and worse, that he was somehow deviant, unsafe. “I’ve been bricklaying.”

“You’ve been unlucky.” And there it was, not so much a tilt in his favour but the whole thing had tipped over. That was sympathy, not what you wanted to elicit in an interview. Audrey was too smart to hire him because she felt sorry for him.

He shrugged. “It’s how it goes.” What could he do, other than give it up like Sky and Polly wanted him to? This interview was definitely done now. He pressed a hand to the floor to stand.

“I’d want to talk to the other families you’ve worked for.”

He was halfway to his feet. “Their numbers are on—”

“Your résumé. I know.” Audrey stood too. “I want to talk to your youngest sister as well.”

“Flip.” That came out like a swear word, because he was still in this, and that was a surprise.

“Is that a problem?”

“No, no, we call Pippa Flip. She came out backwards.” Absolutely no need for Audrey to know Flip’s name for him was Flop. That was more embarrassing than being able to sing with the crab, or knowing all the words to Let It Go from Frozen. “Are you saying I have a chance here?”

Audrey nodded. She looked at Mia. “I know what it’s like, Reece. Not to get the job you qualified for, for reasons you can’t control. But there are some really wonderful candidates. I need to think about this, about you and how it might work. I’m not making any promises.” She offered her hand and he took it. “Let’s move to the second stage.”

“A play date in the park.”

“Apple, Mum. Now.”

Audrey smiled, her first genuine smile. It made her look younger, less like a woman who had a rocking career, owned this house, and a very cute daughter. He liked this smiling Audrey. She’d make an interesting boss.

“Do you have any questions for me?”

He had a list of questions, from Mia’s favourite food to preferred activity to allergies and medical history, but what he most wanted to know about was her mother. What work did Audrey do that allowed her to pull the kind of salary that paid for this house, and could afford a full-time carer? Yeah, he wanted to know that, and it was partly a question of job security. But he also wanted to know how she ended up a single parent, and whether he’d meet a boyfriend over cereal at breakfast time, because Audrey Bates was attractive. She was a mix tape of hotshot, no-nonsense executive and disapproving exam supervisor; at least that’s how she sampled. He needed more of her to see her clearly.

“I have heaps of questions about Mia.”

“Apple, prese. I need, badly.”